Food for thought.

[valis2]

I've always shied away from the thought of having a yahoo group of my own just for my fic (mostly for updates), but after reading this entry about readers who are not on LJ, it kind of makes sense.

What do you think? Do you think it looks silly or like the author is too big for her britches? Perhaps it's all in the way it's presented.

Thing is, I have a great way of notifying people...ffnet. Most of my regulars have gone there, it seems. But I'm always just one complaint away from being yanked, so I wonder if it might be a good idea to do a group, just so that the non-LJ readers have a place to check into in case something does happen.

Any thoughts would totally be appreciated.

Comments

[sylvadin.livejournal.com]

No, I don't think an author is being 'too big for their britches' doing so, particularly if they are a competent writer with a large fan readership. In that case they're simply offering a convenient site for their followers.

There's already plenty of writers and artists who keep their own private Yahoo groups. No reason why you shouldn't also. I've seen plenty of comments on other such groups from readers who, for various reasons, feel more comfortable reading stories on Yahoo than on LJ.



One issue I will warn you about is the reality that Yahoo's management will, at times, nuke a group out of existence without warning, and with the group owner having no options for appeal of that arbitrary action. (An example is what happened to the original Yahoo Snape-Hagrid group.) If you do go with Yahoo, be sure to save a daily digest AND, as owner, keep an up-to-date list of all the current members and their contact email addresses on a safe storage location off Yahoo. That way, if disaster happens, you can reform your group somewhere else AND contact your readership to let them know where to find that new location.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Excellent, sound advice. Thank you so very much.

I think it might be a very good idea. I have long agonized over posting updates at groups; I'm sometimes nervous that I'm "spamming" people. If I update to a newsgroup where everyone wants to receive updates, though, then I won't feel such spammy guilt, I think.

This was so helpful! Thanks.