Old Reviews and Google Alerts

[alanajoli]

I've discovered Google alerts. Now I get a note in my inbox every time I post a blog entry (or every time one of my reviews goes up at Flames Rising). Those seem to be my most common internet mentions lately, and the alert function is keeping me from googling myself too much, so it's been a fun little experiment. Notably, Alana Joli Abbott brings up alerts that are consistently actually me. Alana Abbott, on the other hand, brings up a lot of Alanas and Abbotts that are not grouped together. Still, fun technology.

Ideally, the alert system should keep me from missing the odd reviews of short stories I've had published, or new reviews of my books, that get posted from time to time. As it turns out, I'd missed a really brilliant review of Departure posted on Amazon back in 2007, and just read it for the first time today. Reading what that reviewer had to say really makes me eager for Regaining Home to eventually get out there in the world. Editor Shawn and I have agreed that we're going to keep working on it when we have time, despite the limbo it has been hanging in since I finished the manuscript back in 2007. I don't know what will happen with it for sure, but I hate the feeling of that story existing only in my head, when clearly, there are at least a handful of people who would love to have the chance to read it.

One of these days!

Comments

[mmuenzler.livejournal.com]

Did you put quotes around your name for the second search, aka "Alana Abbott", to tell Google not to let them be separated by any additional words in the search? It'll still mis-grab things if there is punctuation between them (at least I am pretty Google doesn't have active boundary detection), but it should keep it cleaner. :)

(and feel free to whack me upside the head if this is an obvious suggestion which you already tried) :)

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

I hadn't tried it yet--in part because I'm kind of amused by the results as they are right now. The randomness of my name combination is sort of appealing out of context.

But I probably would do better with the quotes, you're right. :)

[slwhitman.livejournal.com]

I was going to suggest the same thing. Quotes are a good thing--if I google myself, I'll do one with quotes and one without.

I love that when I google myself, I'm first, but the second one is the Stacy Whitman who wrote "Shacking Up: The Smart Girl's Guide to Living in Sin." And then there's the Shape magazine writer, who may or may not be the same woman. Weird how we're both in publishing.

[mmuenzler.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that is strange to be both in publishing, but kind of cool in a confusing way as well. The other Michelle Muenzler owns all the Facebook and UTTyler hits, while I own all the publishing and LiveJournal and Twitter stuff, so we are pretty evenly split in our domains.

[slwhitman.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've been contacted for an interview by USA Today before, looking for the other Stacy Whitman.

[mmuenzler.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, that would have been horribly tempting to accept. Definitely a fun story as is to share with folk! :)

[lyster.livejournal.com]

Apropos of nothing, there's a quite good high school wrestler from my old stomping grounds in Ohio, also named Max Gladstone. We're currently locked in combat for being Google's Max Gladstone.