On Being Googleable

Or, more specifically, an Online Presence. Because as it turns out this Online Presence is important to authors. Readers like to Google things these days. Agents like to Google things. Editors like to Google things. And they all want to be able to find you. They want to be able to see whether or not you're taking this writing lark seriously. They want to see whether you're funny, entertaining, interesting, informative, clever, likely-to-be-fun-to-work-with, sounds-like-you'd-write-a-great-book-okay-I'll-buy-it.

I've had a blog and Twitter for over a year now, but while both do have a 'work' angle, I've mostly used them so far to have fun and talk to other people. Making it all about Work just won't cut it for me - or anyone, I imagine. If it's all about Work, it gets stale. Fast.

But, in the interest of building and growing that Online Presence, I've started putting together other little pieces to make a bigger Online Presence Picture. I've finally designed some business cards. I've got a website in the works. I'm trying to get some cool shiny Author Photos done.

And I now have an official Facebook page. Yay! And now that I have it, I bite my fingernails in anxiety and think 'what if no one Likes me'? It's kind of like a low-key equivalent of going to a book signing and thinking 'oh my God I'm going to be sitting here like some pathetic stalker and no one will turn up to get a book signed!' 

(Not that I've done this. But I know people who have and it sounds painful.) 

So do pop over. Or click on that 'Like' button in the blog's sidebar. I'll give you cookies.

And I'd love to hear your take on this. Do you think this Online Presence thing is important? What networking and social tools do you use?