Ah the old MySpace debate again

The blogosphere has been weighing in about the cons of promoting on MySpace. Sybil at Redwyne (a blog I love!) even used a post I wrote a while ago on Alison Kent's blog to prove her points. I commented back, of course, if you care to check it out.

Evidently it's become very cool and trendy in the romance author world to knock MySpace and brag about how you find it annoying or stupid or you can't figure out how to make your page look less than cheesy. Fine. Okay. Uh, then don't make a MySpace page. Like, no one's holding you at gunpoint! If it doesn't work for you...cool. But there are millions of people who do get something out of it, so I think it's kind of naive to dismiss its merits entirely.

Personally, I get a ton out of it. I get to commune with my readers, for one thing. (Nora Roberts weighed in saying she's not interested in communing with her readers - she'd rather write more books-which is obviously working for her since she has three thousand books out a year. Me? I enjoy the back and forth with my readers that I get on MySpace. In fact, it's one of my favorite parts of the job!) I also get to notify them about upcoiming events, book releases, signings, sneak peeks of the next book in the series, etc. It's like the 21st century version of a fan club. I have a very nice regular website, but no one ever visits it. They all go to MySpace.

Bottom line: people can say anything they want about the effectiveness of MySpace marketing. It works for some. It doesn't work for everyone. Just like ANY type of promotion. **shrug**. I find it very worthwhile myself and really that's all that matters to me! (Though I will say it's definitely more effective marketing YA and than adult stuff.)

Okay rant over. :)
MARI