Any writer starting
out in today’s tumultuous literary environment has to make social media part of
their marketing plan if they expect to get ahead of the game. The insidious
part of social media, though, is that
as much as you engage in it, there is
always more that can be done.
You do the big three—Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. There is someone out there right now saying, “OMG, you aren’t doing anything on Tumblr?” Then there is Google+, Reddit, Digg, StumbleUpon, blah, blah, blah. There are countless social media vehicles I should be participating in that I have yet to even scratch. I have limited time.
Goodreads falls into this category. I have registered on the site, but I have done next to nothing with it. Meanwhile I keep seeing blog posts out there telling me that it is one of the best opportunities for writers out there. All I can say is, “It’s on my list.”
Now I see where Amazon has purchased Goodreads. I love Amazon as a reader. As a writer, it is great to see that there is an alternative to the Big Six. Then you start to see the articles, the lawsuits, the controversy. Is this all such a good thing? Is it such a good thing that Amazon now controls this outlet where writers and readers meet?
Then there is the part of me that says, “Screw it.” Who cares who owns what? As long as I can make it useful. After all, Coca-Cola owns Dr. Pepper, but that doesn’t make Diet Dr. Pepper any less of my preference for a drink (except that I gave soda up for Lent and now I am considering cutting it from my diet all together).
The bottom line is that regardless of who owns the social media vehicle, if it remains useful, than I should consider using it. That’s what the practical side of me says. If Ringo Star can make commercials for stock brokerages, then I can use Goodreads, even if it is owned by Amazon.
Until then, though, I have a good excuse not to be active on Goodreads. When someone questions my absence on that site I can lean, lower my voice, and in my best in-the-know tone whisper, “You do know that Goodreads is owned by Amazon.”
See ya’ later.
WhatIfYouCouldNotFail.com by Tim Sunderland is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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