Just one more thing for authors to worry about:
Though MySpace bills itself as “a place for friends,” the networking site has become much more than just simple friendship: These days, it means business, and not just for owner Rupert Murdoch. First, musicians started flocking to the site as a way to promote their new releases and gain exposure by converting MySpace friends into listeners and fans. Now getting in on the act are authors, who by banding together with other writers, racking up thousands of friends interested in their titles, setting up pages for their characters, and holding online contests for writers and readers both, are using MySpace to garner their books a broader readership and help their publishing careers flourish. (Full disclosure: This writer has a MySpace page for her book, Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z.)