Niches are Bitches

I am beginning to understand the whole social networking as a tool thing. I got on Twitter to see what all the fuss was about and I got back on facebook because I felt I was missing out on my extended family and staying in the loop with people who now use it as their primary communications platform. Also, I eventually intend to create a page for myself once I have finished my novel.

Ultimately, I do hope to promote my writing, but for the present,  I simply feel like I have to keep up or I’ll fall behind. Every resource repeats the same message, “Publishers no longer promote you unless you are a top-seller. ALL authors, indie and non, are responsible for their own advertising and marketing these days.” The other message is,  “social networking is the be-all, end-all of said marketing.”

I can’t argue with that. But it has become more and more apparent to me that I am not cut out to be one of the social-networking success stories. Why? I’m not a niche personality (nor am I famous.)

Blogs are successful when they have one theme: being a mommy or a daddy, a Christian, an atheist, a critic, a skeptic, a new age guru with natural cure for everything, a liberal, a conservative, a knitter, a tech whiz, a Mormon, or a purveyor of all things about one specific topic. People subscribe to these feeds because they are reliable sources that either bolster their lifestyle or keep them up to date on something specific so they can sound informed at their next dinner party.

Much to the disappointment of people who find this site googling “TARDIS,” my blog is not a Whovian haven. I am not really any of the aforementioned things, either. As much as I’d like this blog to be cooler and more relevant to independent authorship, the fact is I am just a normal person with simple interests who writes books. To pretend at anything else would be unauthentic.

Twitter users are successful when they are a celebrity. Let’s face it; unless you already have a following for being a niche voice in your field, a TV star, or have a habit of tweeting pictures of your ass in a bathroom mirror, no one is hearing a word you say or following you. The only people who can be completely random on the internet and still gain traction are famous people. And though it is cool to be able to connect with a famous person, the chances of them noticing your natural wit or your amazing novel , and actually retweeting you, are slim to none. This is not to say I won’t try, of course, just that I am aware of my odds.

I’ll do my thing and try to keep up with the times. We’ll see what happens. In the meantime, I promise I’ll just be, unabashedly, me. Thank you to my 26 google friend connect followers, 41 reader subscribers and the 30-70 people who click on my site on any given day - whoever you are, whatever you come for and why ever you stay -  for reading this random,  niche-less blog.