Terry Burns, literary agent for Hartline Literary Agency, says:

I’m in a half dozen writing groups including ACFW, Western Writers of America, Panhandle Professional writers and a number of others.

I social network in Shoutlife, Facebook, Book Marketing Network, Christian Authors Network, Good Reads, Jacketflap, Edgy Christian Fiction Writers, Shelfari, and I even have a small presence on Myspace, plus others.

I do it to increase visibility and to keep a finger on what the writing community is talking about. Obviously I can’t participate to any degree on all of these so I lurk a lot, but I do watch the subjects that are being discussed, sometimes just scanning content, other times reading, and sometimes participating.

It probably has a lot to do with the number of submissions that I’ve received as an agent. I can’t document what it has done for book sales, but I believe it has impacted it significantly. I believe it to be very helpful for my career and my reputation.

Am I shortchanging the groups by being in so many and participating so little? Probably.

On the other hand, it gives me the advantage of watching what is happening over a wide range of internet activity, insights that I accumulate and pass on where appropriate, which is a tradeoff for the groups.

To this point I consider it beneficial or I wouldn’t be participating to this extent.

Parenting expert, Brenda Nixon, author of Parenting Power in the Early Years: Raising Your Child with Confidence — Birth to Age Five (who, by the way, had her WinePress book picked up by Regal!) says:

I’ve used Shoutlife and other groups to make new “friends” and for socializing around the virtual watercooler. Writing can be a lonely profession so it’s healthy to reach out to like-minded people. On Shoutlife, I’ve shared some Web sites and articles on parenting (since that’s my forte) and also some speaking/writing tips to help my Shoutlife friends.

I can’t measure in numbers if social networking has made an impact on book sales. Probably, social networking has been more about creating an Internet presence and gaining exposure for my expertise, products and services.

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