Six Degrees of Separation

As any writer will tell you, if they’re honest, we would all love to see our books become the next bestseller, however remote the possibility. To that end, we try to pursue the best marketing strategy we can find or afford for those who have self-published. Unfortunately, even the best marketing has only a brief window of opportunity to make your presence known to the public. However, in this age of information technology, we often ignore the most powerful and most enduring tool available to us: connectivity.

This past Christmas as I sat with my family watching “It’s A Wonderful Life”, I couldn’t help but think about how much each of us touches the lives of others in large ways and small. We are all interconnected, often in ways we may never fully understand or comprehend. George Bailey, the unassuming hero of the holiday classic, never fully realizes how many lives he has effected until he learns one enchanted Christmas Eve how different his small sphere of influence changes without him having ever been born. He discovered the power that one person can make in the lives of others.

The theory goes that each of us is connected to any one other person in the world by only six degrees of separation, meaning loosely that if you pick any name at random from the cosmic hat of nearly seven billion people living on the planet, there are only six or less individuals forming a chain of connections between you and that random person. Now, throw into that theorized equation the power of the internet and you have a very useful toll indeed for connectivity. Of course, one of the most popular and most successful ways to connect and get your name out into the public eye is through what is called social networking. It is more commonly known as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or any number of networking tools. Connectivity is the attraction that makes each one of these new media forums so appealing. Networks, however, are not the only avenue of connectivity.

By becoming a member of an author/reader site called the Polka Dot Banner (thank you Jamie Saloff for making this possible for all of us), I discovered fellow author, D. L. Wilson’s novel, Unholy Grail, a book that has several points of interest with my own book, The Leper King. I am an avid reader and shopper at bookstores and libraries, but I had never heard of the novel or the author before. So much for marketing. But now I have, and I look forward to reading his book with enthusiasm. It cost me and Mr. Wilson nothing to connect my interest with his novel; nothing more than the time it took for us both to participate in an author network. No marketing. No fees. No disappointments. Nothing. That is the beauty of such sites as the Polka Dot Banner and others like it. Connectivity.

It is not just enough, however, to simply connect; it requires putting yourself out there and taking a chance, whether it is with networking or blogging or simply developing a website to promote yourself and your work. I have an author fan page on Facebook started by my son and daughter. Most of those who have become “fans” are people I don’t know; they are friends or family of those few I do know. And that is how it works. You connect with somebody, who connects with someone else, and so forth. Six degrees of separation.

Still skeptical. Try this. Almost two months ago I received a brief email from a stranger asking to connect with me. As it turns out, he is my third-cousin and he found me by chance on the internet after Googling his name (we both have the same last name). After a quick search, he linked from my website to the author contact page at the publisher and sent me a message. In the time since, we’ve corresponded numerous times and we’re getting to know each other. All this because my name popped up on the internet as an author in connection with various media and networking sites. By the way, my newfound cousin has since joined my Facebook fan page along with two others connected with him. Six degrees of separation.

Now I can’t promise that each one of us will find some lost relatives because of connectivity, but I can promise that when it comes to marketing, the more people who know about you via Facebook, Twitter, or even the Polka Dot Banner and other author sites, the better chance you have of reaching the most unlikely and amazing people and, perhaps, a life-long fan of your work. Whether we write the next bestseller or a book with a slightly less than stellar performance on the charts, by connecting with people we have the opportunity to touch people’s lives and make a difference in ways we’ll never know, even if it’s one person at a time. I certainly hope I have.

www.scottrezer.com
www.scottrezer.blogspot.com
http://www.polkadotbanner.com/index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=434&Itemid=27

Six sites worth checking out to help you get started now and connect:

• The Polka Dot Banner (authors/readers)
• Author’s Den (authors/readers)
• Facebook (social networking)
• Twitter (social networking)
• Live Journal (social networking)
• Blogspot (blogging)