Raising my profile

Writers have always  had to publicise their books, but it seems to me that today it's become a full-time job in itself.  The challenge for the unknown author is to let the world know they exist.  Sure, I have blogs and a Twitter account, and I'm active on them regularly.  But how do I get people to know they, and me, exist?

I'm beginning to think the most effective ways are roundabout and sideways.  For example, when I have something interesting to share about my writing task that day I'll tweet about it using the hashtag #amwriting.  I've been surprised by how the most obscure comments get retweeted.  

My latest one was about having to do research to find out how camels run.  Hardly earth-shattering stuff, but someone found it interesting enough to retweet.  And that means exposure to all the people in his timeline.

Just occasionally you're handed a gift of publicity.  I had one of these this week.  One of the panelists on the Exuberance and Experience panel I'm on at Loncon 3 is Aidan Moher.  Who just happens to be the editor of A Dribble of Ink, which just happens to be Hugo nominated this year.  

So number one, I'm on a panel with a Hugo nominee.  Great start.  But the real bonus was that he did a blog post listing the panels he was on at Loncon 3, including the names of the panelists.  So now my name appears in a blog post by a Hugo-nominated magazine editor.  That's the sort of bonus publicity you can't pay for.

This is the value of using social networking to raise your profile.  You never know where it will lead next, or who will become your nextTwitter follower.