Is another social network useful at all?

[Brent Robison]

It seems to me that, despite Facebook, MySpace, and all the others, a network that is based on real common interests can be good thing. Plus, I like this place we live, and am constantly amazed at all the talent here. What are your thoughts?

[Wendy Drolma]

Thanks for creating this network Brent. I'm glad to be your first member.

[Sigrid Heath]

I agree. I'm on Facebook and my life and job are sufficiently demanding that I don't check in with Facebook as often as I should. (My profile is way out of date.) But I like the idea of a virtual community of people with a shared passion -- writing and reading. And, because times are hard, and we'd all like (I would imagine, except for the monks among us) to get our work to larger audiences, the networking possibilities might be interesting. At least, I suspect they might... Never having done anything like 'networking' before.
So, thank you, Brent! Once again, with enthusiam.

[Sari Botton]

Nice to see you tonight. Thanks for putting this together. How about also starting a Hudson Valley Writers group on Facebook? I already use Facebook and like it - I'm on it every day.

By the way, here are the pertinent addresses for my fledgling Yahoo group, "Hudson Valley Publishing Network":

Group home page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hv_publishing
Group email address: [e-mail]

[Nancy Rullo]

I use my Facebook page almost every day, and believe I would find a Hudson Valley Writer's Group very informative and useful. The proof will be in the actuality of what happens - or more importantly, what doesn't happen.

I am in several networking groups, some of which have been extremely important in my life, and others which have faded into obscurity due to lack of continuing interest on the part of the members, or from infiltration of subgroups that were disruptive.

I look forward to an exchange of ideas from this group. Thanks a lot for getting it started.

[Eileen Charbonneau]

Another thank you, Brent. It's great to see both friends and new faces to me! My critique group will put up as a GROUP after we decide what to call ourselves!

[Eileen Charbonneau]

Sigrid Heath said:

I agree. I'm on Facebook and my life and job are sufficiently demanding that I don't check in with Facebook as often as I should. (My profile is way out of date.) But I like the idea of a virtual community of people with a shared passion -- writing and reading. And, because times are hard, and we'd all like (I would imagine, except for the monks among us) to get our work to larger audiences, the networking possibilities might be interesting. At least, I suspect they might... Never having done anything like 'networking' before.
So, thank you, Brent! Once again, with enthusiam.

[Nancy O Graham]

Aside from common interests, what makes a network fun and interesting is face-to-face events.

So, how about a meet-up at a library or pub?

And how about a reading to benefit Queens Galley or something?

Thanks for starting this, Brent.

Nancy

[Brent Robison]

I'm hoping that members will use this interconnected little universe in whatever way works for them -- to set up benefit readings or other kinds of meet-ups, create peer workshops with a life outside the website, or anything you might imagine....

It might mean connecting to other groups like Sari's publishing list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hv_publishing or to Facebook. After some thought, I decided not to create a group on Facebook because I wanted more focused functionality and an identity that would not get lost in the vast ocean... but I encourage all possible interconnections with any other universe.

Thanks to y'all for actively joining in!

[Ray Melnik]

I like MySpace. You would be surprised at how many authors are there. There are bookstores, publishers, writers, novelists, editors, reviewers, agents and many other people who work in publishing. I’ve been able to meet some great people there. The Internet is a great way to do promotion now.

Here is my page if anyone else here is on MySpace.

http://www.myspace.com/rmelnik