I'm prepping a talk for a group I'm going to speak to this weekend, and my talk deals in part with authors' responsibilities in promoting their books, especially online via blogs and social networks.
I haven't been in publishing long enough (about eleven years) to remember a time when authors weren't expected to participate in publicity and promotional efforts, if indeed such a fabled time ever actually existed. But especially in working with romance authors (a genre where pseudonyms are the norm), I think a lot about how difficult it can be to promote your work and yet maintain some semblance of a private life.
I'm a rather private person by nature; I don't really write, as longtime readers know, but even in high school, when I dreamed of being a bestselling author, I was absolutely certain that I would use a pseudonym. I wanted to be famous, but I didn't want anyone to know it was me, I guess.
At any rate, this is something I think a lot about, and as a result, a lot of the points Stacey May Fowles makes in her article really resonated with me:
On not putting yourself out there
(Link via @sarahw, I think)
For those of you trying to make a name for yourselves, where do you draw the line? Do you have rules about what you do and do not "put out there?"
1 comment:
I write under a penname so I can have privacy when I want it, but I neither want nor expect privacy when I'm at a book-related event or convention, or RWA meeting, etc.
I love Tweeting things and I always keep my avatar pic of myself up-to-date, so people can (and do) recognize me when I go someplace as Shoshanna Evers. I love meeting readers and chatting with them!
However, I do keep some things private. My sex life, for one (surprisingly hard to do, as an erotica writer, since many readers assume I am partly the heroine in my books). My son's life (the majority of it) is private (unless you meet me in person, in which case, just try to shut me up about my little monster, lol!).
Whenever I'm unsure whether or not to share something, I ask myself if I want to be a spokesperson about that cause/issue/thing. If not, if it's out of my league, then I stay quiet and leave it to people who have the expertise.
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