Social Networking for Writers

Along with building a website, one of the best ways to get your name on peoples’ lips is to participate in social networking. There are several top-notch social networking websites you can use, which are free and link people with common interests or goals.

In addition to these sites, where you create a profile and have a MySpace-esque page, you should also explore online communities on blogs, forums, and message boards. The more active you are in the online writing community, the better.

Here are the best social networks for writers to join:

• LinkedIn
• Xing
• Twitter

Some of the best online writing communities can be found at the following websites:

• Absolute Writer’s Water Cooler
• Writing.com
• Freelance Writing’s Message Boards
• WritersNet

Also there are many social networking sites that allow you to upload your work for review fairly easily and quickly. One of the best “general” sites is Worth of Publishing. You can also find tons of genre-specific websites that are similar. Be prepared for harsh reviews on these sites though. Not everyone online is nice or even constructive with their criticism.

On top of joining regular writing communities, if you’re a blogger, you also want to use article submission sites, when compiled and, through community effort, rate articles (and include links so you get more visitors the higher you are rates). Every topic matter has its own submission sites, but some general ones include:

• Digg
• Stumble Upon
• Technorati
• Del.icio.us
• Reddit

Don’t forget to also join social networking sites, message boards, and other websites for your niche, not just for writers. For example, if you write about video games, you will probably want to join N4G (News 4 Games), and if you write about the environment, you probably want to join Care2.