making plans

I came away from Henry Hutton's presentation at QRB (on using social networking to sell and promote your book) this past Saturday feeling yet again like I'm on track, yet not using these resouces to their fullest potential.

As you can see, the first thing I did when I got home was change the look of my blogpage. On one hand, I like it because it has that classic Blogger look. On the other hand, it has that classic Blogger look... is it blending in w/ too many other blogs now? Has it lost its originality?

Regardless, methinks that Kairos Calling's days are numbered. I've been hinting at this for awhile now, but I left the presentation feeling more certain than ever before. I started this blog a little over a year ago, and my purpose was to have a place to have the conversations about writing somewhere other than my personal blog. I figured, why not put it someplace where more people could read it? It wasn't until months later, when I made the decision to self-publish, that my purpose started shifting. Rather, it became more vague. Now I was talking about myself as an author. Now I had something else to say.

I was also more anonymous back then. No mas. I have a new intention: I'm a published author w/ books to promote and sell. I'm a marketer, a publicist, a self-starter. I have things to do as well as things to say.

Anyhoo, as previously stated, Kairos Calling's days are numbered. The blog is going to undergo transformation to be Elisa Lorello's blog, or the Faking It blog, or something more specific to my endeavors. I'm looking forward to the makeover, actually; it's going to coincide w/ my website makeover too.

As for Facebook, well, you know I've already drunk that kool aid (although, despite Mr. Hutton's advice to make one's profile page public, I'm keeping mine private and making use of the Faking It Fans page instead). And yes, beginning in May, I'm joining Twitter, too.

My twin brother and I had an interesting discussion about all of this. He argues that these social networking sites are destroying the written word, not to mention interpersonal relationships. I conceded some of his points, but reiterated that I had no qualms about riding the wave of its popularity in order to promote myself and my books. "The minute you tell me everybody's doing it is when I get really scared," he said.

I stood by my position, but felt the weight of his statement. The next day, as I discussed the importance of making valid claims with my students, I briefly mentioned logical fallacies, and when giving an example of Bandwagon, well, one came to me rather quickly: "Well, for example, when I argue that social networking is the way to go w/ marketing my book because everybody's doing it," I suggested.

Was I wrong? Is it a logical fallacy? Or is it a very real truth? I honestly can't be sure.

Nevertheless, as soon as this semester is over, my other career kicks in full time, and I can hardly wait. There's a lot to be done, and I'm excited about all of it.