I do it to myself

What about you? Do you do it ? It's nothing to be ashamed of, so don't deny it. All kinds of people do it all the time. And that little self-indulgence can be so rewarding.

Get your minds out of the smut pit. I'm talking about hunting for your own name in the major search engines on the Internet.

I was updating my friend Lisa's website this morning and needed to search the 'net for new content since she's got two new books coming out in the next year. I found... Not much. Two interviews, a bunch of online bookstores. Three pages of results, most of which refer to an author named Melissa James Gibson.

Then I Googled myself, as I do at the beginning of every month, just to see what's out there. A Lot. I got to the 25th result page and was still getting hits. And this my writing friends is one key to self-promotion. Get Your Name Out There! Especially when you have upcoming releases and want to try to increase sales.

I've got a website I try to update every two weeks. I've done interviews and taught classes and sent out about 50 review copies and added content to my pages on Amazon. If anyone decides to look me up on the Internet, I guarantee they will find me. And hopefully they'll find their way to my website and read the excerpts and then find their way to the bookstore!