Is all publicity good publicity?

The mantra of traditional marketing has it that all publicity is good publicity, but I don't agree.  I think that statement must have been made by some Mad Men male, someone totally unconnected with the consequences of his actions.

I don't believe all publicity is good for a writer.  Personally, I don't want to read about an author's cosy family life.  It bores me to hell.  But it have several writer friends who do just that on Facebook, sharing self-indulgent photographs of the latest grandchild, or a family tea, for all the world to see.

Some of these writers are looking for an agent to represent their work.  Yet they haven't realised that the first thing a prospective agent will do will look at their on-line presence.  They have totally failed to grasp that they need to be careful what image they present to the world.  If their Facebook and Twitter feeds are full of their domestic doings, and don't mention their writing, a prospective agent might well question how committed they will be to a professional career.

We have to be aware that not all publicity is good publicity.  We might not like the idea of "spin", but we do need to manage our on-line presences. And that means thinking through the picture of ourselves that we show to the world.  We are all several different people in different situations, but we need to present a coherent persona to the world if we're to use social media to help our careers.

One type of publicity that definitely isn't helpful is being snarky to other people on-line. I recently experienced this from a well-regarded female SF writer.  Her tweet relating to my blog post was condescending as well as snarky.  I'd only read one of her books before that, and she's now guaranteed that I will never read another.

This is what we need to bear in mind when we comment on things on-line.  If we're trying to build our careers via social media, then we need to ask "how will this affect my career?" before we post something controversial, or out of kilter with the professional image we're trying to create.  We might still decide to post that content, especially if we're being deliberately controversial, to try and start a discussion about something. But the key is in being aware of what we're doing,

I have a writer friend who says "remember, journalists aren't your friends."  We need to bear in mind that the Internet isn't necessarily our friend either.  Think before your post.