OK, here’s the deal.
I read a lot of articles on Richard Stark, Parker, and Donald Westlake. I’ve got all kinds of e-mail alerts set in all sorts of places.
Some of these I share with you and some I don’t. I (try to) sacrifice frequency for quality. Let’s take Darwyn Cooke, for example. Like everyone else on book tour, he tends to say the same things over and over again in interviews, and he does a lot of interviews. As a result, I’ve only linked to a handful of them, the decision based on whether or not I thought they provided fresh insight or new information.
But some of you out there may not want me as a filter, at least not to the extent that I’m serving as a filter.
So, I’ve been trying to come up with a way to provide you with more information without pushing marginal stuff on the blog. One idea I’ve had is a Facebook page. Those of you on Facebook know how easy it is to use–just paste in a link, press share, and out it goes.
Advantages
- I can provide information in a timely manner, even at times like now when I’m extremely busy. You can decide for yourself if the article is worth your time.
- If a piece that I thought was only OK gets a big response, I’ll know that I was mistaken and can then write it up at the blog for posterity and for general consumption.
- I can brag about how many “friends” I have.
Disadvantages
- You may have to be registered with Facebook to see the page, although I think I can set it public. You will have to be registered with Facebook to comment.
- This will probably only be an issue for the next few weeks or so, but there could be several posts per day due to the release of the Parker comic and Made in U.S.A., plus the announcement of the upcoming publication of Memory. Some people don’t mind, but some people get really irritated when there is a lot of stuff from the same source on their Facebook page.
- I don’t think I can run a news RSS feed in the sidebar of the blog with Facebook, something I’d really like to do. Maybe Facebook isn’t the best technology for what I have in mind.
- I could end up relying on it as a crutch and quit writing at the blog as often as I should. That’s all me, but I know myself and recognize that it’s a risk.
Tell me what you think. Do you need more Westlake-Stark-Parker-Occasional Other Crime Fiction news, or are you getting enough? Is this something you’d like to see? Is there another platform that could work better?
Let me know your thoughts, either in the comments or via e-mail.
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You’re doing great. Dont add more fluff just because it’s out there. Interviewers mostly suck because they ask the same stupid questions over and over as if nobody has asked those questions before.
Thanks for the input and the compliment. The more I think about it, the closer I come to concluding that Facebook is not the answer. I’d still like to add a news feed of some sort, but haven’t found the right tool yet. Suggestions welcome.
Consider using twitter, i dont twitter, but i do susbcribe to a few feeds – it will also allow you to have a twitter/blog combined feed i believe. Check out the top right hand corner of SFFaudio to see all our main feeds.