Adult-me is on a blog tour this week and next for a book coming out on Tuesday, so I'm a little frazzled and completely forgot which day it was. Anyway, apologies for the tardiness of my post here.
Most of my readers are well aware that I write adult fiction (paranormal romance, urban fantasy, etc) under another name. When I first started in the business, I had these plans of keeping the two personae totally separate. That lasted about a day on Twitter before I accidentally tweeted something about my first adult release on my YA account. Then I said "Screw it" and removed the very thin veil of secrecy. My thought was that my names were different enough there wouldn't be any mistaking one for the other, so it was no big deal.
Considering the PRT books are on hold temporarily and my other YA projects are in various stages of submission, I haven't had a lot to talk about here or on Twitter. And I'm starting to wonder if separating my worlds so much was really my best plan. Don't get me wrong, I like having the two names to keep things very clearly separated, but I'm starting to think two Twitter accounts is... less than useful. I've had similar thoughts about two websites (though I think that is less likely to change in the long run) and two blogs in addition to group blogs (which may just mean I decrease my individual blogs to every other week).
I think I'm going to spend some time talking to my editors who work with both adult and YA and discuss the possibility of "merging" my accounts. (Essentially putting both author names on the account but a screen name that works for both.) I'm still not sure it's a good idea, but I feel like I'm neglecting people by not talking on the other account. Long story short, it's making me sad. I don't need more sad in my life.
Like many things I don't think this will be a quickly made decision, so bear with me while I ponder things. And in the meantime, if you wouldn't mind keeping your fingers crossed regarding some of those other projects, I'd be incredibly grateful.
Showing posts with label Twitter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Twitter. Show all posts
Friday, August 24, 2012
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Writing Cliques
People gravitate towards others like them. Sometimes it's common interests, similar personalities, socioeconomic status, gender, race... all sorts of reasons for it. In high school, we call them cliques. Funny thing is, that doesn't stop on graduation day. And it is very common in the writerly world.
In some ways, this is not a bad thing. You want your crit partners, writing group, etc. to really mesh well so that critiques and brain-storming and the like are as productive as possible. But there's a point when an author steps from behind those closed doors and into the public eye that the responsibility shifts a bit.
There are a lot of examples of this with authors-behaving-badly and spouting off in such ways that it drives away their fans, but what about subtler things? In order to have a unifying base, let's talk Twitter. Many, many authors are on Twitter. Some have huge followings, some don't. Some follow back everyone (or anyone who talks to them) and some don't. I'm not going to make comments based on that since you don't have to follow someone to talk to them.
However, some authors don't seem to get that Twitter is about interaction (and I'm going to pick--anonymously--on some authors whose books I adore here). If all you're doing is shouting into the ether, you're doing it wrong. Most people who follow you on twitter also follow your blog/facebook/website/newsletter... they're already fans. So shouting is pointless.
What's more annoying though? When authors throw out questions or statements that invite discussion but only respond to those in their little circle (the writing clique I spoke of earlier). Twitter is not the school cafeteria where your conversation is just you and your little table of friends chatting, or at least it shouldn't be. People are on Twitter to interact, and if an author chooses to ignore their fans (I'll be generous here with the one I'm thinking of) 90% of the time when they say something that invites discussion, it will serve to alienate fans. Yes, I have unfollowed authors because I liked their work, but I was getting really sick of seeing how they ignored their fans. Other people I know have stopped reading their work entirely because of this.
I've noticed another disturbing trend with big(ger) authors. They will start a Twitter event, whether productivity or character driven, that encompasses more than just their books. They will invite others to join in... and then within that event, they only communicate with those in their clique. Especially when it's a productivity thing (writing sprints, 1k1hr, etc). Those who aren't published and don't get mad words every day are the ones who need the atta'boys far more than some other author with multiple NY contracts under their belt.
The thing is, Twitter offers authors a really great opportunity to mentor fledgeling writers without the mad time-commitment. It's a type of support that is hard to come by these days and is almost a guaranteed way to make those writers (who are invariably readers as well) become lifelong fans.
So... I don't get it.
Sure, I understand the occasional @mention getting lost in the feed, even when asking for responses. And I totally understand not being able to respond to everything all the time (some of those people have thousands and tens of thousands of followers). But to ignore the opportunity to interact with all those people all the time in favor of hanging with just your clique...
Yeah. Not a fan.
In some ways, this is not a bad thing. You want your crit partners, writing group, etc. to really mesh well so that critiques and brain-storming and the like are as productive as possible. But there's a point when an author steps from behind those closed doors and into the public eye that the responsibility shifts a bit.
There are a lot of examples of this with authors-behaving-badly and spouting off in such ways that it drives away their fans, but what about subtler things? In order to have a unifying base, let's talk Twitter. Many, many authors are on Twitter. Some have huge followings, some don't. Some follow back everyone (or anyone who talks to them) and some don't. I'm not going to make comments based on that since you don't have to follow someone to talk to them.
However, some authors don't seem to get that Twitter is about interaction (and I'm going to pick--anonymously--on some authors whose books I adore here). If all you're doing is shouting into the ether, you're doing it wrong. Most people who follow you on twitter also follow your blog/facebook/website/newsletter... they're already fans. So shouting is pointless.
What's more annoying though? When authors throw out questions or statements that invite discussion but only respond to those in their little circle (the writing clique I spoke of earlier). Twitter is not the school cafeteria where your conversation is just you and your little table of friends chatting, or at least it shouldn't be. People are on Twitter to interact, and if an author chooses to ignore their fans (I'll be generous here with the one I'm thinking of) 90% of the time when they say something that invites discussion, it will serve to alienate fans. Yes, I have unfollowed authors because I liked their work, but I was getting really sick of seeing how they ignored their fans. Other people I know have stopped reading their work entirely because of this.
I've noticed another disturbing trend with big(ger) authors. They will start a Twitter event, whether productivity or character driven, that encompasses more than just their books. They will invite others to join in... and then within that event, they only communicate with those in their clique. Especially when it's a productivity thing (writing sprints, 1k1hr, etc). Those who aren't published and don't get mad words every day are the ones who need the atta'boys far more than some other author with multiple NY contracts under their belt.
The thing is, Twitter offers authors a really great opportunity to mentor fledgeling writers without the mad time-commitment. It's a type of support that is hard to come by these days and is almost a guaranteed way to make those writers (who are invariably readers as well) become lifelong fans.
So... I don't get it.
Sure, I understand the occasional @mention getting lost in the feed, even when asking for responses. And I totally understand not being able to respond to everything all the time (some of those people have thousands and tens of thousands of followers). But to ignore the opportunity to interact with all those people all the time in favor of hanging with just your clique...
Yeah. Not a fan.
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