By Kris
I never doubted the power of the Internet. I don’t think any of us can, given the way it has created communities from strangers across the globe, brought us an immediate form of communication that many prefer to the phone, pushed the 24-hour news cycle to such manic extremes it’s as if the entire planet perpetually OD’s on caffeine, not to mention alerting us to all the hot chicks yearning for us out there, money-making opportunities only available to the billion or so souls hand-picked by Nigerian philanthropists, and the plethora of enhancement products available for parts that some of us don’t even have. Okay, so it’s been a mixed blessing. But powerful. If I had any doubt of that, I recently received a demonstration of its speed and its reach.
It started simply enough. One of my publishers asked me to set up a Red Room page. In case you’re not familiar with it, Publishers Weekly has described RedRoom.com as “Facebook for authors.” Well, I’m not sure Facebook and MySpace and that generation of sites offer much in the way of genuine promotional opportunities for authors. I’m not convinced they sell books. When a reader wants to find a new author, do they spend eight hours viewing the baby pictures of countless strangers, or do they browse a bookstore or library?
But I do love networking with other writers, and Red Room seemed like it provided something unique. I set up my page, and I posted my first blog there, “Authors Behaving Badly.” You can read it here.
In case anyone is unaware, I am not only a published author, with my husband, Joe, I also own The Well Red Coyote bookstore in Sedona, Arizona. Nothing has taught me as much about the book biz as running a bookstore. And while I’m sure I don’t know nearly as much as full-time booksellers, who’ve been in the business longer than my four years, I do think my duel perspective gives me an unusual take on things. Most of the authors I’ve encountered in my bookseller capacity have been absolutely wonderful, but too many have behaved in ways that can only hurt their relationships with bookstores.
I’ve shared these remarks in a variety of forums and formats before now. But posting this blog on RedRoom.com also demonstrated the truth in another couple of clichés, including “Timing is everything” and real estate’s insistence on the value of “location, location, location.” Posting it on RedRoom.com, at this time, gave that blog an unbelievable ride.
Once RedRoom.com chose “Authors Behaving Badly” for their “Best of RedRoom” section, the Internet put on its muscle-flexing show. Thousands of visitors to my page there read it, according to the stats the site provides. But that was just the beginning. Writer after writer posted it to other lists, blogs and writing communities. I heard from people I haven’t seen in years, and each told me about reading it on this list or that, and the number of other locations they passed it onto. It moved from writer lists to editor and librarian lists. My mailbox filled with reactions from both acquaintances and strangers. Google Alerts worked overtime announcing new sites on the Internet that shared my remarks. All within days. It’s beyond my ability to count how many people may have read it — I’d need hundreds of fingers and toes! The speed, the reach, the power of the Internet absolutely stunned me, its semi-fan.
Though the number of views still continues to climb, the speed with which this blog was moving has finally slowed down. I’m glad of that. For a short time there, my head was spinning so fast, it threatened to fly off. But the Internet’s might has meant my remarks reached loads of people. I hope it's been read by up-and-coming writers, the newly published or soon-to-be, so they can learn from the mistakes of others. And I hope a few of the writers who’ve made the mistakes I wrote about, or others just as ill considered, have learned something, too.
What surprises and gratifies me most is that I didn’t receive a single negative comment or email. You might be thinking that nobody would defend rude, clueless behavior. Get real! Actual authors made those regrettable choices. And anyone who has been on the Internet for more than five minutes, not to mention the years most of us have, know there are people out there who will flame absolutely anything.
But not this, apparently. Not yet, anyway. That has made my belief in other authors even stronger. While the aberrations that still occasionally occur continue to shock and sadden me, I’m sure they represent only the tiniest part of us. I feel good about that.
Hi , i haven't read you in Red Room yet - i'll go there next - but reading your post made me think of advice that someone posted on the net somewhere.
They said that "people don't read" online, they scan looking for key words and went on to urge bloggers to write with this in mind (even to the extent that we should use bold type mid sentence).
Initially i found it depressing then realized that i like reading and maybe their were others who did.
then i noticed there are blogs - like yours - that encourage the viewer to stay and read.
So what do you think?
Are we a dying bread?
Posted by: Chris | May 17, 2009 at 11:34 AM
Thanks for the tip, Kris. A search for an author's name on redroom.com does seem effective:
"kris neri" site:redroom.com
I've added this to the demo Google Alerts account for Michael Pollan I'm working on. You might be interested in a public Google Alerts account I created as an example for independent book stores:
http://www.alertrank.com/mrgooglealerts/2009/05/17/public-google-alerts-account-for-an-independent-book-store-harvard-book-store/
Please leave a comment if this is useful for you, and if I missed anything you usually search for. Thanks!
Posted by: Adam Green | May 17, 2009 at 05:00 PM
Chris, I hadn't heard that, but I guess it could be true for some people. There are people who skim books the same way. Many people are so busy and trying to get as much done as quickly as possible. I have to admit I've sometimes not read emails as thoroughly as I should, and immediately make a note to myself to slow down. Maybe my experiences are unusual, since both my work as an author and as a bookseller brings me into contact with people who love to read, and who love savoring every word. But I do see lots of devoted readers, and I see loads of kids, of all ages, who love to read, too. So I don't believe we're a dying breed. I just think that, with the internet, we now see more of all kinds of people, and all kinds of reading styles. But I believe there are lots of people like us out there.
Posted by: krisneri | May 19, 2009 at 11:16 AM
Adam, thanks for sending that. I'll take a look at your page as soon as I can to see if I can make that work for me. Thanks!
Posted by: krisneri | May 19, 2009 at 11:20 AM
Hello,
I'm spending my time here for the kids of Haiti.
I'm doing this for a non-profit haiti group that gives time to
creating oppurtunities for the kids in haiti. If anyone wants to donate then do so here:
Donate to Haiti or Help Haiti
They provide children in Haiti a positive outlook through education.
And yes, they're legitimate.
It would be awesome if you could help us
Posted by: LTFrank | February 11, 2010 at 11:02 PM