Ex-literary and theatrical agent Lizzie Jackson is a web community consultant for the BBC and other market-leading companies. She talked to Nina Benson about how authors can benefit from an online presence.
Lizzie Jackson started the BBC’s online community from scratch in 1997 when bbc.co.uk started creating WebGuide (a web ‘travel guide’). This is now one of the largest online communities in Europe. She believes that online communities are a good resource for writers, “It is a great way to meet other writers and feel them out, plus you can be in touch with your readership and get instant feedback. Time and place are no obstacle. It is a great way to collaborate and to review.
However, feedback and criticism hurts worse online than it does in person or by letter. Members know that they will probably ‘meet’ this person again the next day, plus the comment has been broadcast online, on the internet, potentially globally. If you do hurt someone’s feelings, remember that they will probably feel much worse than they would in ‘real’ life.”
For writers, online communities offer many opportunities including online novels, online book launches and the ability to create a buzz around their writing.
‘The episodic and dramatic narrative works well online,’ she said. ‘And if you stick around a particular social area, you will gain a reputation whether it is from people tracking your past history or E-bay user business.’
Sticky readers
One of the advantages of online communities is that they are ‘sticky’ : readers are less likely to go away. They come back again and gain emotional attachment to the site.
Lizzie said: ‘You get the same emotional attachment with soaps – fan behaviour. But you wouldn’t get the same sort of attachment with a factual program. An online community is an attachment to the people as much as the brand. The emphasis is shifting from the media shaping the audience to the audience now shaping media. Communities are visible online; as soon as a name is mentioned on the internet, they are a potential member.
‘You never know what is going to happen when you have a community. I feel online communities are fulfilling the role that radio started off with the vox populae. It is a tangible presence, a physicality like radio.’
‘There are areas on the internet where you can’t whisper,’ Lizzie continued. ‘Your voice is heard very publicly, very quickly. If someone feels you are defaming them, you are defaming them globally. People working in new media now refer to audiences as audience members; they are having an enormous impact on media and not vice versa.’
Lizzie remembered one writer, at a recent Booker Prize ceremony, who wrote eleven novels online before one publication gained prize-winning recognition. There are dangers as Lizzie points out:
'You do have to have a lot of confidence to do that, and it is incredibly hard to retain the copyright or the IPR.'
