Paul Charles now has a rather swanky web presence in the form of his brand new website and accompanying blog. It's very well put together and easy on the eye. And it got me thinking about writing websites in general. It's something I've noticed that the typical Norn Iron writer is a little lacking in. Why is that?
Maybe Adrian McKinty was on to something with his recent blog post. When relaying an excellent Guardian review of his latest, Fifty Grand, he admitted that he didn't feel all that comfortable with blowing his own trumpet. And his blog, interesting and thought-provoking though it is, doesn't feature a great many posts about his writing processes or career highlights.
But if we take a look at Stuart Neville's internet activities you'll get a lesson in using the internet to its full marketing potential. Stuart has a website dedicated to his writing career, a blog, a Facebook account and a Twitter account. He's also published a number of stories online (which is how he was first noticed by Nat Sobel, his agent) and been active in getting his novel into the hands of bloggers.
I've met both McKinty and Neville in person and they share a lot of similarities. Neither of them have humongous egos, despite their jealousy-inspiring achievements, and they both have a good sense of humour and the ability to spin a yarn outside the pages of their books. Is it to do with when and how they got published? McKinty, as far as I know (correct me if I'm wrong, Ade), went the more traditional route; paper manuscripts and postal submissions; whereas Neville's publishing success is an internet fairy tale of online magazines and email submissions.
Discuss?
