Saturday, January 03, 2009

Call Me Vain

I am not sure if I should be ashamed to admit this and it may be a bit of vanity on my part, but I have subscribed to Google Alerts. The question on your mind is what I am alerting myself to?

I have decided to send email alerts to myself anytime my name or handle, a.k.a. Katiebabs, comes up in a blog or website. I never knew that Google had this until some told me that authors will use this device when their name or review of a book is posted. I assume that others do this in their fields of choice.

I have to admit it is kind of cool to see your name in places you would have never thought possible.

A perfect example is of one alert I just received with my full name on Ebay. Freefall by JoAnn Ross is available there to purchase. And because I reviewed the book for one of my review sites, part of my review is there with my full name and the review site.
Here is the section where I was mentioned:

Review
An intense thriller. . . .the perfect edge of your seat mystery. . . will most definitely blow you away." -- Kate Garrabrant, Romance Reviews Today

I have to admit, I was a bit giddy when I saw that. :D

So who is willing to admit they have googled their name or started their own alert?

Katiebabs (KB)

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I subscribed to Google Alerts too. I'm not ashamed, lol. I tagged Historical Romance Novels and Upcoming Romance Release. That's so cool that your name was up there! Go Katie! :D I gotta go check it out now...

Anonymous said...

You're right you are vain.

Renee said...

I've subscribed. Information is never a bad thing. And sometimes fun, too!

A couple of days ago I got one and found out someone in the Jim Butcher forum listed my upcoming releases as good UF info. I was able to respond, and let them know I have my best UF 2008 picks.

Enjoy the credit on ebay! :-D

Anonymous said...

Dude, way ahead of you. Google Alerted myself loooong ago. Vain shmain. I agree information is cool to have. It really doesn't hurt a thing.

Anna said...

I did too, not to be ashamed about. It's kinda fun. LOL!

Marg said...

This has never even occurred to me! Part of the reason may be that I don't put my full name on anything.

I'm off to google myself now!

Kristie (J) said...

Can't say as I've ever googled me.

Pamela Clare said...

I've used Google alert for news stories/issues that I'm researching for the paper, but not for my work as an author. The truth is, I don't know that I WANT to know every time my name is mentioned, because not everything people post is positive. I have to protect my fragile muse, after all. I try to avoid temptation to google my name, as well, for the same reason. Generally, if someone says something nice, someone who knows me — say, Kristie, for example — lets me know about it. :-)

Chantal said...

I've done my real name a time or two to see what comes up.