When Do You Need An Online Presence

 In today's digital society, having an online presence is so important. Because readers spend so much time online, the more an author does to reach out to those potential readers will be key to success. But the real question is, when do you start that process. 

I see so often that authors spend a lot of time talking about their involvement with blogs, websites and social media in their query letters. The issue, however, is they have nothing to "sell". For authors not published yet, spending a lot of time developing an online presence is really a waste of time. Authors should be spending more time thinking about how to develop that strong product. 

Now, once an author signs with an agent or publisher, this would be the time to start thinking about that presence. The type of novel you are writing and the content you use will be become the foundation for your websites and so forth. It will also determine which directions you head with your social media. Each genre will be a slightly different direction.

So, if you do send out a query and have a presence, feel free to tell us. Will we go and look at it? Probably not. But tell us. If you don't have one yet, don't panic. There will be time.