Interview: Maggie Dana on authors baring it all on social media

Last week Maggie Dana (Painting Naked, Momentum/Pan Macmillan Aug 2012) spoke candidly about the under-representation of middle-aged women in fiction, something that she says is symptomatic of the invisibility of older women in general.

However, being an author in 2012 means fighting against that invisibility and adopting a highly public authorial persona. Today's authors are increasingly called upon to have a public presence and to share both their writing lives and their personal lives with their readers.

Should authors wear their hearts on their Twitter sleeves?

'I have mixed emotions about this,' says Maggie. 'Two of my favorite authors have a different approach. Both have eye-catching websites, but one is also on Twitter and Facebook and shares details of her writing life; the other remains cool and distant and a little bit mysterious.'

Maggie says that as she is already a fan of both authors' books, none of this makes any difference to her as a reader.

'Good writing is good writing, no matter what face the author displays to the public, and I admire these two authors tremendously. I always buy their latest books sight unseen.'

What's key here is not the battle for social media supremacy, but communicating with readers in a way that feels honest and comfortable.

'If blogging, tweeting, and posting on Facebook works for you, then do it. If not, then don't. Readers will figure out, in short order, if you're trying to force it.'

According to Maggie, this isn't the only danger of social media. Though it can be a great way of connecting with readers, it can also be a great way to waste time.

'Social media is sneaky. It can take over your life when you're not paying attention and can be used as an excuse not to write.'

And authors are expert procrastinators, says Maggie.

'There are days I'd rather swamp out a closet than face a blank screen or edit the ten pages of rubbish I wrote yesterday!

Switching gears from paper to digital

The emphasis on self-promotion isn't all that's changed for today's authors. The shift from print to digital formats is something affecting most authors, and certainly Maggie, whose Painting Naked is a digital-only release.

Given her background as a freelance designer and typesetter, Maggie has given ebooks and digital-only design a good deal of contemplation.

'The first time I clapped eyes on a Kindle I was appalled,' she says.

Her description of the experience is probably familiar to many of us: loose lines, rivers of white space, tight leading, a lack of hyphenation, random breaks in the middle of paragraphs, and fuzzy type on a grey background.

'It was like reading wet newsprint. So I dubbed the whole thing a disaster and declared the Kindle fit only for lighting fires.'

Of course, the Kindle lit a fire in a very different way.

'It was a huge, unstoppable, roaring blaze and I've had to eat my words. These new-fangled gadgets are here to stay.'

Though they might not feel or smell like a book, Maggie admits that the latest generation of e-readers and tablets produces typography that sometimes comes close to satisfying even her critical eye.

'As more print book designers embrace e-reader technology and join forces with the wizards who create and continually improve HTML, these reading devices will only get better and better.'

Although there are marked differences between designing for print and digital texts, Maggie says that one thing remains true no matter what the medium.

'Several years ago I wrote an article on how book design affects readability for ''How Publishing Really Works,' where I said: 'A typographer's first obligation is to the reader.''

Book design, whether print or electronic, has one purpose, she says, and that's to get the words on the page into the reader's mind as effortlessly and as seamlessly as possible.

'If the reader is motivated to absorb the information but finds him- or herself unable to do so, the book's design is not doing its job.'

Although Maggie has grown accepting of e-books, there are other technological developments, such as video and other multi-modal developments, that although perfectly fine for non-fiction books and textbooks, should be kept well away from fiction.

'Fiction is one of the few remaining places where our imaginations can roam free, where we can build word pictures in our minds that are ours and ours alone. They don't even belong to the author. Which is exactly as it should be.'

What's up next for Maggie?

Maggie is clearly not letting social media procrastination get the better of her, as she has a number of things in the works.

She has recently finished a novel called Not Mine to Keep about a middle-aged birth mother who searches for the child she gave away 35 years before.

'Adoption law and the rights of birth parentsor lack thereofcontinue to be a legal minefield in the US, where I live. The story is set in the same New England village as Painting Naked and features a new protagonist along with several familiar supporting characters.'

She is also working on the fourth book in her'middle-grade/tween series for horse-crazy girls.

'A Horse of Her Own will be published in mid-December, thanks to the encouragement of quite a few young fans who email me frequently to ask when it will be ready!'

See part 1 of our interview with Maggie Dana, where Maggie discusses the dearth of middle-aged female protagonists

Visit Maggie's'Website'|'Twitter'|'Facebook

Visit the'Painting Naked'product page at Momentum Books

Your turn: What do you think about authors being asked to have an increasingly visible presence on social media? Do you think that this helps or hinders your enjoyment of a book?