APRIL HENRY, WRITER

Ayelet Waldman says that Facebook and Twitter helped push her latest release onto the New York Times betseller list.

On the other hand, blogger and columnist Sarah Weinman says, "I can't tell you how many examples I can come up with of authors who are out there semi-spamming Web sites, blogs, social networks, mailings lists, etc., because they are desperate to get their names out, and forget that interactions with prospective readers have to have meaning and purpose."

I guess I’m firmly in the middle. The biggest reason that I blog, and tweet and FB a bit, is because I’m a social person who works by herself on her couch. I don’t really worry about marketing. Maybe I should.

Read the article these two examples were taken from here.

In Redding, California the police were called because two men were trying to break into a recycling center. When a cop spotted the two men, one ran away, while the second remained at the scene. Six cops, a helicopter and a police dog were called to find the man who fled.

While they were chasing the guy, a resident heard on a radio scanner that the cops were looking for a man wearing khaki pants and a San Francisco 49ers sweatshirt.

And guess what? The man owned those same items of clothing. So he got this fun idea. What if he went outdoors wearing the clothing of the suspect they were searching for? Would the police notice?

"Well, we noticed him," a cop said. Russell Spade, 41, was arrested on suspicion of obstructing and delaying a police officer. He does not face charges in connection with the alleged burglary because, other than his clothing, he didn't fit the description of the suspect.