Writers and Second Life

One of my goals over the Christmas holiday was to check out Second Life and its potential use to freelance writers. I had tried Second Life once before but found it too chaotic and confusing so let my account languish for many months before coming back.

This time, I purposely set aside a few hours to learn some fundamentals like how to walk around without knocking into other virtual people and buildings. One of the main challenges, I found, was getting enough uninterrupted virtual time.

Every visit, I was inevitably interrupted by someone who wanted to say hi and see if I needed any help. And in every case but one, it turned out that the friendly soul want something from me in the end… to take me to their virtual store, to convince me to use their paid service, to turn me into a vampire. And all this happened when I was in the beginners’ tutorial area!

When I finally felt confident enough to go exploring, I went looking for places of interest to freelance writers and found several writers’ retreats, creative havens, and literary-themed areas. I was impressed by the creativity that went into some of these places.

There were also areas where authors and publishers could promote their work in virtual bookstores, galleries, and reading events. I even picked up a Book Fair Goodie Bag that included virtual t-shirts, e-book samples, and virtual Japanese puffy chair pillow.

It’s clear that there are plenty of opportunities for authors to promote themselves on Second Life. I would be curious to know statistics, however, to find out if the potentially huge Second Life audience translates into actual sales.

It’s one thing to set up an attractive virtual bookstore, for example, but how many Second Life users would choose to teleport to your area, browse the store, and make a purchase? If they wanted to buy a book while they were online, wouldn’t they be more likely to just order it from a store like Amazon.com?

On the other hand, Second Life seems like a fantastic way to network with other writers, if you can be comfortable learning how to use that environment. Just read Joan Kremer’s post “NaNoWriMo & Second Life: A Powerful Combo for Novel Writers” if you don’t believe me. Groups like Athena Isle Writers meet regularly on Second Life.

And that’s where those virtual bookstores need to pay attention. It’s not enough to just post the covers of your books and hope that someone wanders by and is intrigued enough to buy. You need to engage your potential readers. Author Diana Allandale, for example, gives a regular book reading at her virtual store in Second Life.

Second Life is not for everyone. You need to have a computer and the bandwidth to be able to run the Second Life software, for one thing. You need to get past the learning curve in order to be able to master basics like walking around and interacting with other avatars. For a freelance writer, there’s also risk of spending time on Second Life when you should be writing instead.

At this point, I suspect that I will only be visiting Second Life for specific events like author readings and scheduled writer gatherings, and limiting my casual visits.

Meanwhile, however, I think I’m going to lounge by the ocean for a little while, listening to the surf and the cries of the seagulls as they circle overhead, and revel in being able to escape Toronto’s winter…even if it’s only virtual.