Boulder News

Western Authors & Web 2.0

Pam Houston Wades Into MySpace

By Jenny Shank, 3-27-07

I’d heard about the phenomenon of writers putting up their own MySpace pages, but when I read the list of authors who were actually doing it, I hadn’t heard of any of them.  The MySpace Authors group seems to be dominated by genre and self-published writers (the cover of group leader Steven Oliverez’s book features a whimsical fantasy font and an air-brushed, pastel landscape).  Colorado and California-based writer Pam Houston has long been one of the more web-savvy literary writers around, frequently updating her website with a list of her many appearances and publications, but she took it a step further last month and started her own MySpace page.

Now Houston’s fans can take the relationship further: they can become her MySpace friends.  Some of them are positively gushing at the prospect--“Sara” writes, “Thanks for adding me. I am so honored to get to post your first myspace comment.  I am a huge fan who has even been known to travel to CO to hear you speak.” In order to become someone’s “friend” on MySpace, the page owner must allow it, so Houston’s friending of her fans is a personal touch.  Houston also shares some of her preferences on the standard MySpace template: her “heroes” include Toni Morrison and Barack Obama, among her favorite singers are Jackson Browne and Van Morrison, and she says she doesn’t watch much TV “except Sports Center.”

The activity on the page has been light so far, but Houston’s fans have elevated the MySpace discourse far above the usual bong-and-thong-laden rambles.  For example, “JaneEyreZombieHunter” wrote in to suggest some reading for Houston: “Have you heard of or read Maile Meloy’s short stories?  She’s from Montana - think she’s based in California now, and her work has a power and feeling of truth similar to yours.”

I’m not the biggest fan of MySpace--I think the design is a bit busy and inelegant, and in order to contact members or leave a comment, you have to join, whether you want a page or not, which inevitably opens you up to a raft of spam from scantily clad women who want to be your friend.  I predict that other social networking sites will solve these problems and supersede MySpace in the coming years.  But MySpace is undeniably egalitarian and easy to use, and establishing a page would likely benefit other writers who haven’t managed to put together their own websites yet (ahem, Maile Meloy).  In this age of diminishing readers, setting up a MySpace page is one of the simplest ways a writer can keep in touch and market his or her books and appearances. 

MySpace is a natural fit for Pam Houston, in particular, as she seems to spend a good part of the year at one conference or another, meeting her readers and helping them with their own writing.  This spring and summer, Houston will appear at a half-dozen workshops, including stints in Taos, Aspen, and Ouray.  But her MySpace friends already know that.

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