I am living in a cave in an obscure forest on an undiscovered island in the middle of some unnamed ocean when it comes to social media and its influence. In short, I’m adrift.
And no wonder. LinkedIn has been around since 2002, Facebook since 2004, Twitter and Goodreads since 2006. Then there is Pinterest, Tumblr, and Google+ as well as hundreds of other social media sites, according to Wikipedia. In fact, there’s a site for every hobby and interest on the planet.
How did I get bypassed in all this? Being a rather introverted person, I probably did it to myself. I saw little need for more socializing than I already have among my close friends and family. I didn’t want to spend time “liking” people I didn’t know well. Nor did I want to have to post photos. Heck, I don’t even know how to use my cell phone’s camera. In today’s world of the selfie, I’m invisible.
Still, it appears that in the publishing world this isn’t a good thing. Instead you want to promote yourself; you want others to promote you too. You want lots of people to recognize your name and your photo and follow your every thought and action.
I’m still thinking about how to do this in a way that raises public awareness of my work, yet feels comfortable. Haven’t come to any conclusions yet, although I do think Goodreads is a reasonable place for me to start (even if it is owned by Amazon).
I’m going back to my cave now.
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