What We're Writing Week: Julia is Catching Up and Checking Out

 JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Don't be alarmed by the title; I'm not checking out of hotels or my day to day activities. I used the phrase because I love me some alliteration, and the writing I've been doing lately is all of a sort - reaching out to readers.

 

I have to admit, when I was pouring over issues of WRITERS DIGEST and reading mystery novels to learn the craft, I never expected the life of the author to involve so much, well, communication. Ironically, many of us are well suited as writers because we love to sit in a small room by ourselves and not have to talk to anyone. We're not misanthropes - a visit to any mystery conference will disabuse you of that idea - but we all like spending a lot of interior time. I suppose if we didn't turn to the written word, a lot of us would do well as contemplative monks (although Jenn and Hank and Rhys would be HIGHLY energetic ascetics.)

 

But I began my career at the dawn of the social media age. The first change was the author website, which enabled readers, for the first time, to connect to their favorite writers without showing up at a bookstore or library. As more and more people got online, we switched from physical newsletters (yes! I had one, done by a lovely local printing business!) to email newsletters. 

 

Then came the social media sites that are now part of our day-to-day lives. I can't recall if anyone was using MySpace professionally (anyone remember how big MySpace was for about five minutes?) but once Facebook stopped being just for college students, the whole world joined up, and authors came in droves as well. Then, for a while, the novelty of YouTube meant Book Trailers - a whole business popped up around producing them! Facebook stayed, and grew, but YouTube was quickly colonized by content producers putting out stuff that was, let's face it, much more entertaining than book trailers, so authors migrated to the cool new world of Instagram.

 

You also had to be on Goodreads, and LibraryThing, and everyone became bloggers, and it was about then when you'd start to hear writers huddled together at conferences asking each other how much social media was the right amount, and how did everyone manage to get any actual, you know, writing done while also posting and mailing and Tweeting and commenting.

 

Don't even get me started on Tik Tok. No. Not gonna go there.

 

Most of us have settled down to a few, reliable ways to connect with our readers, in part because EVERYONE has gotten a bit tired and jaded with the social media world. Quality, not quantity, has become the new standard. Which leads me to my catching up - on FB comments and writers' emails, and checking out - other authors' newsletters, because I'm restarting my own NEWS FROM THE KILL and I want to make sure it's up to date; ie, giving readers what they want and nothing they don't.

 

So, dear readers, tell me: what sites online do you find gives you the best value when interacting with writers? And, if you subscribe to any, what do you like to see in author newsletters?