I'm Baaack

Sorry for the absence my dear friends, but I suffered an injury to my right forearm doing manual labor and it took some time to heal!! This week I want to talk about the importance of networking and how you can go about beginning your network. There is an old saying "It's not about who you know, it's about who knows you." It is very true, especially in the writing world. There are literally thousands of unknown authors out there trying to get published every day and some of them are really good, but then we see drivel and garbage getting published and it can be very disheartening for those of us out there trying to break in. It is important to network and get to know people in any way you can. Join forums and group discussions, join a local writer's group, start a blog, start a website, join social networking sites such as facebook and Linked-in.
These are very time-consuming efforts and may take away some time from your writing (Believe me, I know) but no matter how good your work is or how much you write, if you don't have a way to get your foot in the door your work may never get published. Networking takes time, but the payoff will be worth it in the end. You never know who in your writing group might make it, but if you worked with them and they know the quality of your work they might be willing to introduce you to their agent. Agents run discussion boards and participate (often under different names) so when they see your name come across their desk (figuratively speaking) and they have seen how professionally you handle yourself, then they are more likely to give you a chance.
Now a word of caution: As you navigate these circles, keep in mind that you are promoting yourself. Be as professional and courteous as you would in "real" life. Recently a friend linked me to an author's melt-down after she didn't care for a review and the woman pretty much killed her career because of her little scene. The internet is a big, scary place and EVERYONE can know anything within seconds! The Hollywood adage that there is no such thing as bad publicity is NOT TRUE!!! No one wants to work with a diva, especially an author diva!
Although the effort is time-consuming and may take a long time, eventually the effort will pay off. For example, I recently made a great contact with an author named Dawn Tevy who also hosts a blog-talk radio channel and has some really great contacts out west. I am now on with her Thursday nights doing a review of To Believe or Not to Believe by Rahasya Poe with the possibility of doing more book reviews with her in the future! She has put me in touch with a great web designer and I got a free year for my website which will be starting soon! All this happened just days after another author friend of mine urged me to join Goodreads.
So get out there and network!!!

(For those of you interested in checking out the radio interviews, you can access them on Dawn's websites
www.angelsandwarriors.org
www.angelsandwarriors.com
www.blogtalkradio.com/angelsandwarriors



Hope you enjoy!)