Networking in Person

We hear so much about social networking that we almost forgot that there is also the real thing. You know, actually meeting people face to face. I belong to two organizations particularly good for that. One is Sisters in Crime and the other is Mystery Writers of America. I've been attending a lot of events for both organizations for years, and volunteering where I could (because that is an excellent way to get to know other members, to network in what can often be a clique-ish group.) Consequently, a couple of years ago I was elected president for Sisters in Crime Orange County, became vice president last year for Sisters in Crime Los Angeles, and was elected president this year for the Southern California chapter of Mystery Writers of America. I'm not saying you have to be on the board of these chapters to get anywhere, but these groups offer multiple chances to network with fellow authors and learn a thing or two about what readers want. 

If you're serious about making a career in writing mysteries then networking is essential. After all, you are going to run into these people again and again at conferences and other author events. I've helped up-and-comers and veterans have helped me. In fact, I can't think of a more welcoming group than people who write about ways to kill.

But you will have lots of chances to meet and greet readers, librarians, and booksellers as well. This is networking, too, in case you missed it. And there's no better way to hand sell books than to get in good with librarians and booksellers.

I can't tell you how many times newbie authors shrug off libraries. People only borrow books from libraries, they say. That's a lost sale! But nothing could be further from the truth. Remember, libraries have to BUY the books in their stacks. And if they have a lot of branches, it would be wonderfully swell if they bought at least one book for each branch. That's a good chunk of sales right there. And if you have several formats of your book--large print, foreign language, audio--that's even MORE sales. And let's face it. My books come out in hardcover at a $26 price point. Readers who aren't familiar with my work may not feel comfortable plunking down that much money, so they try it at the library first. Hopefully, they might like it enough to buy the other books in the series.


If you're invited to an author luncheon sort of event, don't just sit aloof at the head table and chat only with your bookseller or the organizers. Get out of your seat before festivities begin and work the group! This is like a wedding--your wedding--and you should be going to each table and chatting up the people at the table. These are your guests. Enjoy yourself. If you enjoy yourself, your audience will. And a happy audience likes to give your books a chance.

You just never know when or where a good networking opportunity will present itself; in the grocery line, at a swap meet, on vacation--anywhere you find yourself. I'm not saying to hard sell, but if the opportunity arises when someone asks what you do, have that bookmark ready to give away.

Anti-Social Networking

by Sheila Connolly

Conventional wisdom these days would have us believe that writers must establish and maintain a presence on a variety of social networks, in order to attract fans and readers.  I'll be happy to admit that it's a good way of connecting with people you don't know (those of us who do know each other spend a lot of time communicating with each other already).  At the same time, maintaining that visibility takes time and persistence.

I try to pop in on Facebook fairly consistently, if not often.  That other big one that starts with a T?  It had been months since I visited, and when I tried this month, I found it didn't like me any more.

I've had an account for a while, and I've been meaning to study all the simplified guides for dummies that helpful friends have provided and learn to use it effectively, but I haven't had the time (I thought overhauling my website, which I hadn't updated in a shamefully long time, was more important).  When I finally took a look at the T-place (I'm trying not to attract their attention, since we have a rather odd dialogue going now, of which more to come), I found that the last comment there was from a source which has been identified (heck, has identified itself, and proudly) as a mega-hacker.  Maybe I should feel honored to be a target, but the net result was that my account no longer recognizes me.  (No, I haven't changed my email; yes, for those of you who are concerned, I changed my password on my other unrelated accounts.)

So I entered into a conversation with the Help people (at least I think they're people--these days, who knows?) at T.  To their credit, they have responded, more than once.  To their shame, they keep giving me the same instructions to change my password, which I have now done four times.  It does not solve the problem.  I tell them that, and they tell me they can't reconstruct my problem--everything looks fine to them (those hackers must be good!).  I even enlisted a friend with a functioning account to intercede on my behalf, and they still came back with the same non-solution.  Stay tuned for further developments--it's an ongoing dialogue.

Anyway, it's clear to me that this hacking has made my email available to an interesting assortment of outside parties, who have chosen to use it to reach out to me.  I wish I had been keeping a list of their tag lines (no, I have not opened anything that I don't recognize!  And most of these are easy to identify as bogus.).  What is intriguing is the stated purpose of all these emails.

For a change, they aren't offering me sexual aids (that's a different hacker, who I think has finally given up on me, although I kind of miss the creative taglines hinting at certain body parts and physical acts).  Most of the current crop wants to give me money.  And not just modest money, but millions.  It's sitting in accounts somewhere else in the world, just waiting for me to claim it, if only I give the sender all my financial data and my Social Security number.  Wouldn't it be grand if I had won all the things they tell me I have?  I could retire to an island in the sun.  Heck, I could buy an island in the sun.  Today's entry was: CAN YOU PARTNER WITH ME ON THIS TRANSFER OF $23.5 MILLION.  Why do they think I could help?

What strikes me as more curious is how badly written these taglines are.  They are rife with misspellings and grammatic flaws.  They are often written in ALL CAPS.  They are functionally illiterate.  Which seems odd, since if they are writing me, they know that I have a computer and an email account, so I must have some modest intelligence.  Why couldn't a scammer find someone (who speaks English) to spell-check his or her work?  It's like they don't want people to open their clearly fraudulent emails.

So who, in this phobic world, actually opens these things?  Are there enough gullible people to make it worth the while of those hopeful scammers out there?  Sure, it doesn't cost them much to push out a mass email from pilfered lists, but they must assume there is some promise of success in luring in clueless wishful thinkers.

As far as I can tell, the best solution is to scrub the T account I have (if it will recognize me well enough to allow me to do that) and start all over again.  Which means losing whatever friends I have accumulated--which probably includes a lot of people wanting to sell me something, including their bodies.

Tell me again why I want to be part of this?

This Is Your Brain on Facebook

Sandra Parshall

Facebook. MySpace. Twitter. Blogs. Websites. Internet listservs.

Somehow it has become an absolute necessity for writers to use them all, and use them frequently, in the hope of enticing readers to buy books. Like love-starved hermits hoping to make a human connection out there in cyberspace, we sit at our computers, tapping away, posting here and posting there, trying to hawk our books without actually sounding like we’re doing a sales job. Be interesting! Be funny! Be shocking, if you can’t be anything else! The whole point is to attract attention, make people want to know more about you — make people want to read your books.

I had a website before my first book came out. After some resistance, I joined other writers to start this blog. Heaven knows I’m on enough internet listservs. But I refuse to join MySpace, which I’ve always associated with teenagers and pedophiles. I held out against Facebook for a long time before I finally gave in recently. Twitter? No way. Okay, I have a Twitter account, I even have a couple of followers, but I have never tweeted. Not yet.

It’s astonishing how obsessed writers have become, in such a short time, with creating a “cyber presence” that readers will encounter at every click of the mouse or touch of a mobile device keypad. Look at the numbers, though, and you’ll understand why that potential audience is irresistible.

Try to absorb this fact (gleaned from the January/February issue of Scientific American Mind magazine): If Facebook were a nation, it would be the fourth most populous country in the world. (The U.S. is the third.) With more than 250 million members on every continent, six-year-old Facebook is way ahead of the older MySpace, which has 125 million users. Twitter has millions of users, but every source I’ve consulted gives a different figure. Is it only seven million or is it 75 million? Whatever — a lot of people are tweeting and following, and writers see them all as potential book-buyers. Facebook seems an especially promising source of new readers, because its fastest-growing membership segment is the 40 to 60-plus age group, more likely than the kids to spend money on books.

But does it work? Considering how much time social networking eats up, is this an efficient way for writers to reach readers? In the short time I’ve been on Facebook, I’ve noticed that most of the messages being exchanged are between writers who know each other — friends chatting about their daily lives. Most writers who have both personal Facebook pages and fan pages have a lot more friends than fans. Even in a universe as vast as Facebook, writers have formed an insular little society of their own. Facebook seems to serve the same purpose in writers’ lives that internet listservs do: providing relief from the isolation of writing. Anytime we feel the need, we can reach out and make contact online, tell somebody what we’re doing or thinking, find out what they’re up to (not much, usually).

In the latest issue of Publishers Weekly, nonfiction author Melinda Blau writes about her own experience with using social media for book promotion and confesses that, like many writers, she let it spiral out of control and take over her life. All her time online hyping her book hasn’t led to fame and fortune. Time to quit, she says. But she’s not giving up social networking entirely. She’ll do it just for fun now, not for book promotion.

I’m torn between wanting to do everything I possibly can to make readers aware of my new book (the title is Broken Places, and it’s out in February, in case you haven’t heard) and feeling a little desperate about spending time online when I could be writing. Because I’ve always been shy, online socializing and promotion has an undeniable allure. Where to draw the line is the question.

Are sites like Facebook useful only for socializing, or do they help writers find readers? What do you think? Have you ever bought a book because you “met” the writer on Facebook or MySpace? If you’re a writer, do you think social networking has helped you increase sales?