I'm Not All That

My name is Joan Mora. I am not a male sculptor from Spain. But if I were, I’d have an above average web presence.

Yesterday, J.A. Konrath blogged about becoming cyber-effective. Yes, I’ve still got to hire an agent and get a book deal, but when that happens, unless I’m featured on a talk show, selling lots of books will come down to publicity budget (hee hee) and word of mouth (or word of internet).

I’m slowly trying to build my presence, with my blog and Facebook. It’s fun reading others’ blogs and I learn all about publishing, writing, book deals, and cocktails. Sometimes I get the nerve to comment. And when my 2009 resolutions work (sending queries results in hiring an agent, entering contests results in snagging an editor’s attention, writing 1,500 words a day results in more books to sell), I’ll be ready for launch.

Konrath mentioned marketleap.com, a free site that allows you to check your search engine saturation, and how many other sites link to you. I already knew in a Google search, my name showed up 1st and 3rd. But I never suspected my search engine saturation would be 1,305 (whatever that means) and that in a link popularity check I’d have an above average presence (7,356).

I bragged to Pamela about it. When she did the test, her number was a lot lower than mine. But why? She’d been blogging longer and more frequently. I was feeling quite smug. Until she said, “When I put your name in, I only get 47.”
“Huh?” She must be doing it wrong, of course. After all, I’m an accountant. I know numbers.
“Joanmorawrites.blogspot.com, right?”
“Uh.” That’s when I realized. That sculptor had stolen my web presence. I’m not all that.

But with hard work and perseverance, one day, I will be. That Konrath guy sure fuels me.