CHIT-CHATS .... WHAT'S THAT?

I spent some time yesterday in a chat group, hosted by my publisher, Laura Baumbach, over at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LoveRomancesCafe/, by way of helping to launch the appearance on the publishing scene of Laura's new Passion in Print (PIPP) imprint, and my (actually, Willa Lambert's) AFRICA: SPICE ISLAND LOVE, first in my (Willa's) Seven-Continent series, which had the privilege of being one of the first three books published by PIPP. Willa hasn't done a major launch like this one, since her LOVE'S EMERALD FLAME rocketed to world-wide best-seller lists (fourteen foreign-language editions) as book #2 in the then-new Harlequin SuperRomance imprint.

For those of you unfamiliar with chats and chit-chats and the chat-rooms in which they occur, and the people usually involved in all the chatting, they're all merely part and parcel of internet "social gatherings" that are supposed to link like-minded people, for a predetermined amount of time, in order to involve them in Cyberspace chatter about something -- in yesterday's case in point, books and publishing -- they find of mutual interest. It's supposed to be a way for authors to connect with readers, and vice-versa; the theory being that books are more apt to be sold, not to mention be enjoyed, if there's some kind of a personal interconnect (if just on-line) between the person writing the book and the person or persons reading it. As a result of my attendance, yesterday, I posted excerpts from not only Willa's AFRICA: SPICE ISLAND LOVE, but from my MLR books I, DEBAUCHEE, and the anthologies RED and MELTING THE SLOPES (Laura, likewise, the MLR Press publisher of those).

I've included the qualifier "supposed" in certain sentences above, because, though I belong to more than my share of chat groups, usually associated with books, I'm not convinced that these groups actually "do" what they're ballyhooed to "do". Do they, I always wonder, really put me in contact with the regular guy and gal, on the street, out there -- who isn't a writer, isn't an editor, isn't a publisher -- merely a reader of books. Or, are they really just very "in" mutual-admiration societies, mainly those of us "in the business", who merely congregate to give ourselves and our peers congratulatory pats on the backs and, "Hey, haven't seen or heard from you in a long time!"?

I think I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I have actually come in contact, on any and all of these groups, with people who just read and aren't, somehow, associated with the business. Usually, or so it seems to me, it's just the same people -- fellow authors, publishers, editors -- over and over, no matter which group I'm checked into at the time. There's a lot of first-time authors, who seem to be there merely for pats on the back and approval, both of which are usually delivered in abundance -- ego-boosting, to be sure, but is everyone there to network, and mingle with readers, or merely to conduct mundane chit-chat like: "Hi, I'm Jill and God is it cold here in Kansas." "Hi, Jill, just watch out for tornadoes." "Hey, Jill, tell Toto to watch out for them, too." "Well, it's hotter than hell, here in Texas." "Hey, Karen, I hear your husband just ran away with your best friend."

Okay, writers, editors, publishers, are readers, too, to be sure. Maybe even, they do buy and enjoy the books of their peers. Maybe, they even buy my books. But, frankly, I'm more interested in getting out of that box and more into contact with those who are out there reading for enjoyment and not because they have hopes of someday soon publishing a book of their own, or have just had one published.

What I'm always being told, of course, is that the ordinary reader "is" on these groups but is what's commonly referred to as a "stalker" -- merely someone "there" who doesn't actively participate, merely follows posts from a distance; then, maybe, later, goes out and buys one of the books being promoted by some author during the session. And, maybe that is the case. I don't know. I can't be sure, except I find it hard to believe a few of them wouldn't have the gumption or incentive, eventually, to speak up and say something, if just hello, when one of their favorite authors appear on the scene. Then, again, I've been known to enter a genuinely active chat room, and suddenly find everyone go silent. Something I said? Something I didn't say? My internet bad breath?

Will I keep participating in chats, without knowing if they do what they're supposed to do, without being able to really measure if there's any return from my investment of time and energy (was that spike in sales for my I, DEBAUCHEE due to my participation in yesterday's chat, or just because someone decided, just out of the blue, that he or she wanted to read it?). Probably, I will continue, if just because my publisher Laura Baumbach, for one, who IS in a position to better measure return on investment, tells me that after these chats there is usually an increase in sales, and an increase in hits on the publisher's home web-sites. So, until she says differently, I'll likely be there, at one chat or another, for some time to come. Do stop by and say hello. I don't bite (unless, of course, I'm in my Vlad Draqual, vampyre, persona).