On Beyond Google

So you're constantly checking your Amazon rankings, and you Google yourself daily to see if anyone in cyberspace has mentioned you.

Welcome to professional writing.

But there's actually MORE you can do to drive yourself nuts.

Here are some new ways to obsess over your public appearance (or lack thereof). Simply search for your name, in quotes (i.e. "JA Konrath") and let the results roll in.

www.technorati.com will show you how much you are blogged about. So does www.blogsearchengine.com.

www.news.google.com will let you know how 'in print' you are.

www.bn.com proves that people do critique beyond Amazon. If you write mysteries, also visit www.booksnbytes.com.

www.dogpile.com will give you Internet saturation beyond Google. Also try www.mamma.com.

www.marketleap.com will show you how well your website is doing (and how well your peers are doing) with three different search criteria.

www.groups.google.com will let you know who is talking about you in newsgroups.

www.froogle.google.com will show you who is selling your stuff, and for how much.

Still not enough about you? Visit www.ebay.com will give you an accurate appraisal of how much your books (and signature) are really worth. Also try www.half.com, www.abe.com, and www.alibris.com.

I'm still waiting for www.jakonrath.google.com, so I can search my memories for where the hell I lost my keys back in '97.

If anyone has any other cyberspace mirrors (ways to see yourself) that you use, please post them. God knows I don't spend enough time each day dwelling on my career...

Added: Melanie Lynne Hauser has just informed me that you can check if your book is stocked in libraries by visiting http://www.oclc.org/worldcatdownloads/#top and downloading a toolbar.
I played with this for a while, and it works great.

Added: Melanie's husband just forwarded more time wasters to me, this one let's you track your Amazon rank: http://www.titlez.com/welcome.aspx also showing high, low, and average.

This one searches more blogs for you: http://talkdigger.com