Thursday, June 14, 2012

Google Alerts

funny pictures - Cyoot Kittehs of teh Day: Say Uncle!
see more Lolcats and funny pictures

The pic above reminds me of Yoda and Beauty! Want to guess which one would be Yoda and which Beauty?

Sometimes I feel like that when google alerts arrive in my inbox. I set them up for my name and book titles, so I'd know if someone was talking about a book out there and I could pop over to their blog to thank them. After using alerts for a few years now, it hasn't quite worked out that way though which shows where I fall on the totem poll of romance authors.

Google alerts on my name fall into one of three categories (unless I'm on a blog tour then I'll get notices to those stops):

1) Links to my own blog
2) Links to a pirate sites
3) Links to reviews

The first are worthless. The second forces me to fill out take-down notices and alert my publisher when I have time. The third can be good or bad depending on what's said, and I tend not to click on them because I have and regretted it.

Google alerts on my books include all three of the categories with my name, but a lot more, too. I'm never sure what might show up in my inbox even though the string of words for the search is in quotes.

Whenever an alert for Memo: The Billionaire's Proposal arrives, I know it'll be totally random and maybe even a little weird. That book title never fails to bring alerts to economic and political articles and essays. I'm sure my hero from that book, billionaire Drake Llewelyn would laugh at some of them.

If the Ring Fits... brings alerts for a Harlequin Special Edition with the same title as well as many wedding blog posts. There's even a blog with that name.

This morning a fun one came across for my current release It Started with a Crush. The alert had nothing to do with my book, but it's a cute play on words. I'm a romance author and I love weddings so this brought a smile to my face! Check out this "It Started With A Crush!" on Wedding Photo USA with photos from D Coleman Photography.

Hope you have a nice Thursday!