1)>think of your top five favorite active writers.

John Irving: Once upon a slow day, a bored bookstore clerk (now ex-bookstore slave, thank God) riffled through his books and found a book called Garp…
online presence - uhm, does he have a website? hell if I know.

George Martin: By the power of comic book adaptations!
online presence - yeah, I read it and most of it’s boring but now and then he talks interesting stuff and I like his football talks.

Charles de Lint: found him in the library.
online presence - I think so, I’m “friends” with him on myspace but I never check to see for blogs, just watch the bulletins, but by now it hardly matters.

ok, that’s some of superfaves, but there’s a difference between them and:

2) New writers:

John Scalzi - picked up his book because I found his blog and was curious;
Jim Hines - can’t remember, heard about him, found his lj and he makes me laugh, but by then I was already committed to buying Goblin Quest, so am actually not sure.
Cherie Priest - discovered via online drooling and raving of other people. The drooling of others was far more effective than her online presence, which is cute, and I do like it for the fact that she’s not playing to the crowds, but would I have noticed her from blogging? I don’t know, but it does keep me up to date with what she’s busy with, sold, etc, etc. So, it helps, and for new writers, having access to blogs of people like Jim Hines, Eric Flint and John Scalzi is gold, because they’re very honest about the process and business of publishing.
And then there’s the likes of Jeff Vandermeer, who’s blog tends to be contemplative about writing itself, and that’s exciting for me as both writer and fan.

So, to answer the question, the important distinction between my groups 1) and 2) is that the latter group were all found online.

>readers (of blogs and books) are smart enough to sense when you’re writing just to be noticed versus actually having something important/interesting/humorous to say.

yeah.

After reading this entry, however, I went back through my book purchases in the last couple years and realized that I’ve never bought a *novel* based upon a blog, although I regularly read blogs by authors, agents, and editors. I try to read between one and three SF/F novels a month and I usually expand my reading list through blurb and first chapter browsing, both online and in bookstores. I’ve also recently bought novels based upon the recommendations of friends I trust and, once in a while, based upon exposure in the SF Book Club or Locus.

Unfortunately, I don’t know if I’m an average SF/F reader or book buyer.

Most of my blogging is pretty mundane. Dogs. Around the house. Lyda, I was following your fish misadventures very closely. I felt so bad for you.

I feel that good blogging, like perfect pitch, is a gift. I think the most successful are blogging extroverts, who think as they write, or for whom writing *is* thinking–it pours out, lucid and funny and touching, all on the first take.

I rewrite and edit. I shouldn’t have to do that. It’s too much like work, and I do think blogging should be fun. Otherwise, there’s no point.

Thus I tend to blog only when I have something to say — or I spend FAR TOO MUCH TIME thinking of something that’s actually meaningful to me — time that I should be spending writing fiction.

I hear ya, sister.

However, whether that really helps an author get more popular or not is another question. My understanding is that book stores like authors to have web sites because it helps them answer customer questions. And I think once a writers has readers, those folks like to go to the author’s site to check what’s coming up. I do know some avid readers who will try a new author and if they like the book, they then check for that author’s website to see what else is out there.

As someone trying to break in, I have a website because supposedly editors sometimes check to see if new writers have them.

Of course it you’re Stephen King or JK Rowling, you don’t worry about it. But in my opinion, most authors can’t afford not to have a website.

So, yes, sometimes it works.

For my current top favorite writers, I think mostly they are old favorites, ones whom I discovered via reading reviews online or by friends’ recommendations. But for discovering new writers I definitely enjoy reading their comments on blogs (their own or others’). And often I hear about new writers I like on the blogs of authors I already read (”My friend x is coming out w/this amazing book, you should all read it!”).