Tuesday, June 22, 2010

The Internet Counts

Imagine you're a painter.

Further imagine that everything you've ever drawn or painted—even bar napkin sketches, canvases you've painted over, torn-up first drafts and designs—you keep in the same room in your house. You keep the good stuff there, too, but it goes without saying that the incomplete works far outnumber the completed ones.

Now imagine that, somewhere in the mid-90s, everyone on Earth could instantly go into that room whenever they wanted and browse through all your material, finished and un-.

That's how the Internet works; everthing you've ever committed to its more-or-less infinite memory is still there. Blog posts you've taken down are probably cached somewhere, as are defunct websites, message board threads, self-published short stories/novels, and the like. Writers need to be mindful of what they post on the Internet—not only because that material, no matter how rough or polished it may be, reflects on their abilities as writers, but because as we move further into the Age of the E-Book, more and more publishers and literary magazines are considering work that appears on-line "published," and therefore either ineligible for submission or subject to copyright restriction.

The good news is that, unlike in decades past, it's relatively easy to reach an extraordinarily large audience. As long as you're careful about what you post, send via e-mail, comment on, &c, you can pretty much go nuts with building a (hopefully successful) media platform for yourself in the comfort of your own living room. Blog it up, post small excerpts (if you have an agent, be sure to consult him or her), self-publish if that's your thing (though we all know how I feel about it), and tweet to your hearts' content. Just know that everything you say is, effectively, on the record.

Tomorrow: guest post contest results!

14 comments:

  1. So true. I've found stuff on Internet searches that I thought I'd deleted a long time ago. Scary stuff, that is.

    (Nice tag in the middle there, E. Haha.)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well said! This should be a mandatory read before every facebook/twitter/myspace/website sign-in. It's amazing how many people make the mistake of using the internet as their personal toilet rather than a respected tool. Except their, er...contributions...don't always flush away. Awkward.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I fear the day my mother catches on to how to use Google effectively. She was flabbergasted to do a search on herself and find out she's on the Internet via her volunteer work. She thought it was pretty cool. She still hasn't figured out how to leave a comment on my blog.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Writers are just discovering what politicians have known for a while, that any slip of foolishness will be imbedded forever to come back and bite you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. And keep in mind that the more you tweet/blog/FB the easier it is to bore people. Readers who love the imaginative world you create may not find your cat, your kids, or your health anywhere near as interesting as you do.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I know EXACTLY what you're talking about when you say that deleted blog posts are stored away somewhere, just like in the end of Indiana Jones Raiders of The Lost Ark. I remember my own account was closed on a writing site, and on that writing site I published my formerly undone novella called A Heart of Ice.

    With my closed account, my works were also deleted. However, when I typed in my own story I found it somewhere and a site said that it was typed in 3 times.


    I also know what you're talking about when you talk about drawing something and people appearing in the room to look at said drawings. I do have drawings on my blog if you would desire to look at them.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I keep in mind the image I'm portraying online with every post and comment to another blog. You never know who could be watching. Hopefully that coveted Agent or Editor you've been wooing.

    Its a good topic, whether posting excerpts on your blog is "published" work. So hard not to though.

    .........dhole
    .........dhole

    ReplyDelete
  8. So true, and worth the reminder. Thank you. I already regret stuff that's out there. (e.g. internet dating profiles I made up when I was 17 as a joke. Oops.)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Great post!!!! Before I signed my publishing contract, I cared what I wrote online, but didn't sensor myself quite as much. Well....I sure do now. I don't want someone Googling me and finding some awful thing I said! Take Goodreads for example. I used to write reviews of books and say exactly what I thought...the good, the bad and the ugly. Not anymore (and I went back and edited the bad reviews I did make). I won't write a good review if the book doesn't deserve it, but I'll simply give my star rating...not add a text review. I don't feel right bashing another author's work.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Excellent reminder, Eric. Lurkers abound in the internet, along with spiders, weasels, ferrets, etc. With all the social networking hype, some forget that info in the public domain could recycle for a long time.

    An English instructor I knew - college level, said 'never put in writing something you cannot stand behind'(or support). That became one of my rules. I tend to be circumspect when needed.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Great post! I tend to be a bit careless in that respect. But, I'm trying to reign in that part of myself, without ending up a dullard or becoming disengenuous.

    It becomes a balancing act. And a, "to thine own self be true," kind of thing. But how true do you want to be, if it comes back to haunt you and maybe it's taken out of context or simply misunderstood.

    We live in very "interesting times."

    ReplyDelete
  12. Good and scary at the same time. So, while working my story onto the net might protect it, more foolish actions can also be called up. Nothing that would get me jailed, just a bit of humbling humiliation. Oh, lovely!

    Thanks for the heads up, there. I'll be more careful in the future!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I'm amazed at the blaspheme that some writers rant about on their blogs against agents. They're your bread and butter for god's sake, don't bite the hand that feeds you.

    Great advice I always try to adhere too.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Another great post, I appreciate all the work you put into this site, helping out others with your fun and creative works. idateasia scam | i date asia

    ReplyDelete