What Does Your Online Activity Say About You?

Good question, Rachelle, and a reminder that when we are on Internet we open ourselves up to the scrutiny of others. When I look at you, I’m amazed by the amount of energy and the torrent of stimulating thoughts you bring to Internet! You have a very broad mind and varied interests and you certainly know how to stimulate your readers with your blog.

But there is one question you ask that I don’t entirely agree with: you say and I quote “If an editor is waiting for you to deliver a book, and they see you Tweeting and Facebooking about pretty much everything BUT writing your book, what will they think?”

Indeed, what will that editor think? You seem to imply (but perhaps I misunderstood you?) that for a writer it is wrong not to tweet and Facebook about his/her book. Now, I do have an FB Author Page and I occasionally tweet about my books, but I’ve learned several things about talking about one’s own work and promoting it:
(1) never ever make a direct sales pitch (it backfires) and
(2) don’t tweet about it too often, at best try to get others to tweet for you (that’s the only sales tweet that works).

Also another thing: I find that writers who maintain blogs excessively focused on their own work are incredibly boring. I’ll confess something here: I look at their blogs once and never come back to them. What you need to do on blogs is either to follow the Joe Konrath model and your own, i.e. provide content that is useful to your readers because you are actually giving them guidance (in both your cases, your readers are writers) or you try to reach beyond writers (my case: I blog about books and publishing but I also try to go beyond those topics and include art and current events, particularly social issues like, most recently, modern day slavery).

Why do I do that? Because as a person (I mean human being) and responsible citizen, I’m genuinely interested in those issues and I (immodestly!) believe I have something to add to the conversation (after all, I’m an economist). And I also hope that I attract to my blog people who are likewise interested in these issues – issues I also happen to address in my books, albeit in a fictional form of course. So what I try to do is reach out to readers who are not necessarily writers!

Whether that strategy works or not, only time will tell. If it is a “strategy”, after all, I really can’t behave differently on Internet because that’s who I really am.I started blogging 2 years ago and it’s still probably too soon to draw conclusions…

Hopefully, my online presence tells people that I’m interested in them and am always willing to listen and, if possible, share any insight or advice they request.

As a modern pastor, Facebook is invaluable to help me keep up with people in my church. Their posts give me an opportunity to interact with them on a daily basis. I spend time in prayer for those who convey a need and try to give encouragement if possible.

My only indulgence online is this blog. I’m not a pastor here, just another writer. Ah, a tiny oasis of drama free interaction. For that, I’m thankful.

Good morning -

I think you raise an important point that anyone with social media should consider. I also agree partly with Gabrielle Meyer’s statement above, about matching home life and being real. That apologizing after a wrong is more valuable than being perfect.

I try to keep facebook positive. It is a shame that it is too easy to see both the professional page as well as the personal. So fb is where I show my inner comedian. Twitter I tend to post only news articles, and I think I need to liven that up a bit. On my site, I feel that I show interest in others. In fact on my to-do list is to make a greater effort to take the “I” out of my blog, because I’m boring anyway.

My greatest concern is seeming too perfect, which is what Gabrielle was speaking of. I recently posted a picture of my husband and I on my private page and it received a wave of attention. Some people even talked about how we were there favorite couple! I thought, oh goodness! If you only knew what a horrible wife I can be! It made me think of the quote, “do not compare your behind the scenes to others highlight reel”.

Though that last is a personal matter, it is so easily inter-grained.

I haven’t figured out the best way to formulate an online persona. I appreciate your thoughts, Rachelle. I do try to make sure when I post something on FB or Twitter that it is interesting, not mundane. I also hope that the person people read is a reflection of who I am.

Authenticity is important to me. I’m pondering your thoughts today.

On reflection, it almost seems as if it would be worth developing a business plan, and engaging an image consultant before developing a social media presence linked to a specific book.

My publisher told me to keep my blog largely message-specific, so that potential readers could learn about the person behind the values. I was also told that I have to be right, and turn out quality posts – always. Turn off readers and they won’t come back.

I started doing this, awkwardly, and them when I felt I wasn’t measuring up I went off on a couple of tangents, and had very low readership.

When I returned to the core message, readership went up. It’s still hard, because sometimes it feels like preaching, which isn’t natural for me, but it seems like what people want to hear. I get very few comments, which worried me at first – but as long as the tracking indicates that it’s being viewed I guess it’s going ok.

It’s early going yet, and sometimes it feels like I’m walking a tightrope – what will I write next, and how can I keep this up?

Has anyone else gone through a similar process?

What Gabrielle said!!!!

I try to be real and transparent, both about what I’m doing and my struggles. I am far from perfect, none of us are. So What I hope people see is a woman who loves Jesus like crazy and works every day to find joy in the journey of life and to give God glory, and to be the best wife, momma, and writer she can be, even though she knows she falls short multiple times a day!

Yet, I also try to think about the things you mention, and make sure that in being real, people aren’t hurt and I don’t relay a message that I’d rather not be broadcasted.

I used to keep my posts and tweets light and fluffy. Until Benghazi. I cannot keep quiet. I’m sure I’ve made my agent and editors mad but this so much more important to me than any book.

This is so true! And can go both ways. If an editor or agent is too post happy and is taking a long to get back to you, it might make one wonder.

“If an editor is waiting for you to deliver a book, and they see you Tweeting and Facebooking about pretty much everything BUT writing your book, what will they think?”

I would think a bunch of spam links would be a red flag too! Social media is about interacting with others, not constantly retweeting promotional links. That’s an immediate un-follow for me.

I think it just depends. There’s an author I saw in real life that Christians and writers look up to as their hero. She was as mean and beligerant towards one side of a political party as you could ever imagine. She was insulting and degrading, yet people love her books.

Also, I see lots of authors who take very bold stances on lots of mainstream issues: Rachel Held Evans, Sarah Bessey, Shauna Niequist, etc. and it doesn’t seem to hurt then.

I actually like to know where people stand, and I would prefer to read someone who took a passionate stand on a topic than would to read happy, “plastic” posts.

I self-evaluate every so often. If I’m going to preach this message I need to live it.

Case in point, however, as I seldom pitch the book I just had published. I am thinking about changing it up in Dec. and offering a short Christmas story I’ve written in daily installments. What do you think? Has anyone ever done that?