I also realized that what i’m puting on my blog could be considered “Published” and that someone who is looking to hire me might use it to ‘sample’ my writing skills. I’ve gotten a bit more serious about content and for the most part write off-line so I can properly edit my entries to maximize the effectiveness of the post. (I should probably do that with my responses to. lol)

I agree with a lot of what both you and Maura said, and as I work towards getting published these issues become much more serious. I’ll have to Google myself and see what comes up . Regarding pictures, there are already oodles of pics of me, my wife, and our infant daughter out there, so that part of my life is already quite public.

The theme that most resonates with me from your post is the need to maintain a public persona, but not a fake one. Be real within the limits you set; do not see this persona as just a conduit for selling your art. My blog and my Twitter are the main networking nodes that I use for this purpose. My Facebook is still personal, seen just by friends and family, although I do give out news about my writing there. So I am working on that persona in those realms of social media, and being witty, generally polite, and interactive are all characteristics that I am striving for in my persona. I think that demonstrating that you possess those traits can contribute to the social life of your work and your engagement with the communities and subcultures that are drawn to your writing.

There was a lot of great discussion from several people on Twitter regarding this topic, and I really have enjoyed how you’ve framed the “to dos.” The positive thing about this list, is that it applies to any writer — regardless of where they are in their career. There are a couple I would like to add that are more functional in nature:

+ Even if you’re not going to be on social media, register your name on the popular tools before someone else does. If you have a similar name to someone else, add a keyword like “writer” or “author” after your name.

+ Don’t be afraid to publicly post your policies regarding “reader” or “follower” interaction on your blog.

+ Set up a Google Alert for yourself to see how others are talking about you. Include name variations as separate keywords, so you can appropriate respond to people if they carry the conversation “from” social media to their blog. http://www.mlvwrites.com/2008/03/top-jobs-news-buzz-google-alerts.html

Googling your own name used to be considered vanity, but as you’ve said here — your employers, agents, fellow writers, publishers are doing it, too. I’d also say this is a really good idea for unpublished authors, too, who have the infamous “day job.”

Baby and youth pictures of oneself are a good way around that. I once posted a 25-year-old picture of myself, but unfortunately, no one who meets me now would ever associate me with that blooming youth.