Is Google+ A Good Place For Writers?

My answer is a resounding "yes". I joined Google+ before it opened to the public, thanks to a friend who sent me an invitation. I liked it from the start, and I like it even more, now.

The thing I like best, and have found most useful (since this is a post about utility, not just enjoyability) are Communities.

If you aren't on G+ yet, or if you've just registered, you may not know what Communities are. They're like Groups on Facebook or like clubs in real life. Someone sets up a Community based on, say, Schnauzers or Crafts for Kids. They can invite people to join the Community. People who join can invite other people to join. People can search within G+ for Schnauzers or Crafts or Kids and find the Community that way.

There are too many Communities for Writers to join them all! My two favorites are Readers Meet Authors and Bloggers, and Literary Agents Hate Kittens. I've met some wonderful authors, bloggers, and just folks in both of those Communities. I've made promotional connections, made connections through those connections, drawn readers to my blog and my books and picked up valuable information through those two Communities alone. This, in addition to the personal satisfaction of "meeting" a lot of people I like and enjoy "hanging around" with.

Interaction is encouraged. Hopping in to drop a link and never doing anything else is frowned upon. That means getting the most out of Google+ may be a little more time-consuming than Twitter, but it's time well spent, professionally and personally. When I publicized a KDP free offering of The Fall of Onagros, Book 1 of my SAGE fantasy, people I didn't even know grabbed it because they saw it in their G+ timestream, and they took the time to comment on the offering: "Thanks!" "Looks intriguing." "Sweet!"

I like that. Maybe you will, too. If you add me to your circles, let me know you followed me over from this post so I'll know to add you back. See you on Google+!

MA
Fantasies, mysteries, comedies, recipes

Google+ For A Non-Joiner

I've been on Google+ for several days and my opinion of it at this point is: So far, so good. This, from a reluctant joiner.

It's like Twitter, in that you can view the public post stream or just those from people in your "circles" -- People you've chosen and sorted into as wide or restricted a grouping as you like. I have a big circle called Fellow Writers and a tiny one called For My Eyes Only, where I post links and reminders and direct them only to myself. I have small circles for writers' groups I'm in. If particular people from various circles were to be attending the same convention or working on the same project, we could each make a circle for that event or project with each other in it and use G+ as a glorified email program.

Google+ has "Hangouts", which are chatrooms--video and/or text. I like the possibility of having virtual writers' meetings or interviews or appearances. I know there are other places where these are possible, but what interests me about G+ right now is how many useful internet features are integrated into this one product. As one of my elementary school teachers might have said, "Someone had his thinking cap on."

There are a LOT of writers on Google+, with more joining every day. I think it's going to prove to be a useful professional tool, if nothing else. Want an invite? Leave your email address in the comments section or email me at marian.allen.author at gmail dot com and tell me why. I'm interested in knowing your thoughts about it.

Marian Allen
Fantasies, mysteries, comedies, recipes