Market My Novel

For years, I’ve had a love-hate relationship with MySpace.

When it first launched, I thought it rocked. There really wasn’t anything quite like it. I met some cool folks in publishing, learned about new writers and groups and was able to keep up with some good friends.

It didn’t take long for the Dark Side of MySpace (I’m in a Star Wars mood.) to rear its ugly head and make the site a cesspool of raunchy, troll behavior and youthful goth idiocy. They started an area for books, but it never seemed to work like the music section – which boomed.

When I finally joined Facebook, I found my audience. 

After about five years on the site, with few contacts and a LOT of spam and creepy emails, I decided to delete my account.

This wasn’t an overnight decision. As much as I don’t like the site, I had several qualms about deleting that account. I asked myself:

• Am I going to miss out on contacts? 
• What if someone takes my name and makes it a porn site and I lose out on work?
• What if someone needs to touch base with me and they cannot find me because they aren’t on any site but MySpace?
• What am I missing if I’m not on MySpace?

After a lot of (unnecessary) soul-searching, I wrote out a list of exactly how I use MySpace. What I found was that I didn’t use it often enough and got nothing out of it when I did log in. I was also concerned about hacking. I logged in so little on the site, I was afraid someone could easily tap into it and add some photos of genitalia or other equally mortifying flare. 

Since I don’t log in much, I obviously don’t keep up with folks on MySpace. Plus, when I am on there, I notice that many use third-party applications to update their streams. It’s not like they are "live" where we can chat.

Branding is a bit of a sticking point – one that I haven’t completely resolved. Do I really want to give up the network name? For once, I was able to get my own name without any numbers or extra letters. What if another Angela Wilson takes it over and makes it a porn site?

I have to remind myself that there are hundreds of social networks out there and I am only on a handful of them. I cannot control branding on each network.

Reasons I’m just not that into MySpace:

Loaded. When MySpace started putting up homepage backgrounds with heavy graphics and movie clips, my Internet connection revolted. No way can the AT&T crapless wireless connect handle these graphics – even in a 3G network. The site is not designed for anyone with less than high speed DSL, which eliminates anyone in rural areas and the occasional urban dial up pockets. It has definitely streamlined from the last time I logged in, but it still slow. For the most part, Facebook moves quickly, unless I’m in the highly-addictive Movie quizzes section. Then, all bets are off.

Trashy. Too many ads, worse "come-on" emails than lines I’d hear in a bar, few groups I like and too many nasty commenters. MySpace is bad about not patrolling profiles for inappropriate content, or managing bad comments. 

Unfriendly. On MySpace, I had 167 friends, many of them true friends and not just network contacts.  I have more than 800 on Facebook, many in publishing. Obviously, this is highly important for me personally and professionally. Also, several business clients are on Facebook and I can easily connect with them. I’ve sent pitches to reporters, responded to urgent questions, requested books and interviews and attended events on Facebook. I’ve had no luck with any of those things on MySpace.

Are you on MySpace? How has it worked for you? Share your thoughts and your handles in the comments.

You can find me on Facebook, or email angela@marketmynovel.com.