My Name in Lights

   I have been researching all of the ways to get your name out there. There are so many sites that want a fortune to list your name in search engines and on other websites. Of course with a little effort you can do all of that for free. I just wonder if it's even effective at all. I'm thinking it's not.
   It wouldn't hurt to list on some of the majors like Yahoo, Google, etc. Just in case. But does anybody really use the rest of these sites? I have never heard of most of them and I doubt that many others have either. I also have to wonder who goes to a search engine and types in BOOK when they are looking for something to read?Maybe a few, but I think listing yourself on Goodreads or other book sites would be more effective.
   The only problem that I see with listing on a book site is that there are so many books out there. My book seems to get buried under the stack. So, what do I do now?
   Some say that social networking is the way to go. Now that I would agree with. Facebook is okay, Myspace without Tom is a waste, but Twitter, Twitter puts you out there.
   For me, Twitter has been the most effective tool for showing the world who I am. If you think about it, it's kind of like ripples in a pond. You tweet something cool, all of your followers see it, and then someone retweets. Suddenly not only have all of your followers seen it, but all of the retweeter's followers have seen it. Genius.
   A lot of articles that I have read say that I need to blog. Blog as much as I can. I try, I really do. I find that I don't really take myself as serious as some other writers. I don't have a strict list of things that writers are supposed to do if they want to be taken serious. Honestly, I don't care about all of that. I just want to write and I like to write about whatever is on my mind at the time. Especially when I blog.
   I have always looked at blogging as more of a diary. A window into who I am as a person. One day I may feel like writing about my crazy cousins, another day I may blog about my book. I just like to keep it more personal and less business. I'm not a corporation, I 'm just me.
   Someday I hope to see my name in lights, until then I'll settle for my name in print.