The New Paradigm
As an author and public figure, I think a lot about social media and how to stay connected with my audience. I have no choice. Not to sound mercenary, but it’s part of the job, and every bit as essential as writing the books and comics themselves.
I’m not the only one who does this, of course, but I’m one of the few (along with folks like Warren Ellis, Joe Hill, John Scalzi, Scott Nicholson, Robert Swartwood, and J.A. Konrath) who muse on it in public.
Fact is, the internet is moving away from Blogging and websites in favor of hubs and streams. It’s no longer good enough to simply have YourName.com. If you want to reach the public at your maximum potential, you need to have Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, etc. You need to do this, because that’s where the public is. Take Facebook, for example. Vast as the internet is, there are users who never leave Facebook, unless it’s to click a link they saw there. And getting them to click those links and come back here, for example, is getting harder and harder to do.
Well, fuck that noise. This website is my hub, and although I’m on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube, Instagram, WhoSay, and more (links to which can all be found HERE), I still want traffic to flow here from all those other sources. Although this website still gets a lot of traffic, the numbers pale in comparison to what they used to be. And as a result, my audience on Twitter and Facebook and elsewhere ask me on a daily basis to use Google for them (to paraphrase Warren Ellis). I find myself having to post links to this website to answer simple questions — questions which could have been answered with a click of a mouse. I don’t say that to sound bitchy, but there are only so many hours in a day, and I’d rather spend those hours writing and editing and enjoying time with my sons, rather than posting a link 20 times to ‘When Deluge comes out on Kindle and Nook”. This is going to hold especially true in coming months, as I’m about to undertake a year-long project that will leave me busier than I’ve ever been before. (Can’t say what it is yet, but there’s a teaser hidden somewhere on my forum. Actually, two teasers…)
Yesterday afternoon, after I got home from my 5-year old’s preschool graduation, and was feeling weepy, I decided to cut firewood rather than sit around and mope. While I was swinging the ax, I pondered how to re-train people to come here on a daily or weekly basis. And I came up with this — a weekly schedule, so you know in advance what’s here.
MONDAY: Musings — lengthy essays on life, writing, the industry, or whatever else is on my mind. These have always been the most popular feature here (and even before here) and I’ve gotten away from doing them. So I’m going to fix that.
TUESDAY thru THURSDAY: News — book releases, pre-orders, announcements, etc.
FRIDAY: Plugs — things by others I think you will enjoy.
SATURDAY and SUNDAY: A recap of the week, as well as links to things from the rest of my social media web.
So, now you know what to expect. See you back here on Monday for some musings…
