Go back to Mel's Home Page

As part of my new drive to become famous selling my own work I've signed up for LinkedIn and Facebook.  Until recently I felt that sites like these were a time sink of the worst kind.  I felt that I was better off writing more stories than I was telling my online buddies what I'd had for dinner.  But as I may have mentioned before, I have been convinced that in a world where few publishers are interested in promoting the work of their midlist writers, that would be me, self-promotion is the only game in town.

Both LinkedIn and Facebook seem reluctant to explain exactly how they work, but it is possible that after taking the road less traveled a few times I will be able to figure out what is going on.  My main goal is to not permanently delete anything I want to keep.

I discovered that I already know a lot of people on both sites, and friending them will be only a matter of pushing the right button.  (I'm sure that attempting to fight turning the word <friend> into a verb is pointless, and will only make me angry.)

LinkedIn is the more professional site of the two, and it gives each member an opportunity to write a recommendation for other members.  This is fun, and I've already posted a few recommendations, though occasionally I must dance around the fact that I am not exactly as familiar with my friend's work as the recommendation would make it seem.  Many of these friends have recommended me back, which makes me feel good.