Virtual Harlem Renaissance: Bestselling Novelist Connie Briscoe And Her Second Life Book Club

If you regularly read USA Today, you might have noticed last week's cover story profile of novelist Connie Briscoe, author of the hugely popular New York Times bestseller Sisters & Lovers and the upcoming follow-up, Sisters & Husbands. If you blinked, you might have missed the single offhand reference to the metaverse: "She has launched the Second Salon Book Club based in Virtual Harlem, a location in the online world of Second Life." I've written about SL's Virtual Harlem before -- interview with the founder here, profile of a Billie Holiday-themed machinima creator here -- but until now, I didn't know there was a book club based there too. (Appropriately enough, hers is inspired by literary salons of the Harlem Renaissance.) Here's the information page on Ms. Briscoe's site, and here's the group's Facebook page, which counts 125+ members. She's not the only successful author in the group: next month, for example, Kimberla Lawson Roby will make an appearance in Virtual Harlem, too.

In Second Life, Connie's known as Zillow Dejavu, and she's a veteran Resident; she even wrote about SL fashion for Second Style Magazine.

"I can't remember how I discovered Second Life," she tells me by email. "I actually first joined before my official join date in 2006. I had a previous character named Zora Dejavu who somehow got lost. Thus Zillow Dejavu was born." After the break, she talks about exploring the world as Ms. Dejavu -- and using SL as a promotional platform for real world book authors.

"At the time [of first joining] I really just used Second Life as a sort of escape. I was in and out a lot, sometimes leaving for months and then returning, just to see how things had changed. I mostly just explored in fascination by some of the builds. I would see something in-world and run and tell my husband how unbelievably real it looked. I also did a brief stint writing about fashion for Celebrity Trollop.

"Technology has always interested me, and I'm often an early adapter. (My first computer was a Kaypro II if anyone is old enough to remember them.) The book business is changing big time right before our eyes because of the internet and the Amazon Kindle and other technology. If authors want to reach readers they have to go where they are and where they are is on their computers and the Internet.

"I see a lot of potential in Second Life for authors to promote their books. The author doesn't have to hop on planes at 6:00 in the morning, spend nights in hotels, and eat restaurant food for days on end. You can read and chat with fans right from your desktop, especially now that Second Life has voice. Admittedly, the technology doesn't always work as smoothly as you'd like but it's getting better and will continue to do so. Sure there's something missing in that fans don't see the author in the flesh and they can't get their books signed. But most fans never go to book signings anyway. They're too busy or they live in places that authors never get to. Second Life provides the potential to reach them. Not to mention the many authors who never get to go on book tours. There's potential for them to reach readers too."

Connie's RL photo by Chris Hartlove. Her SL profile courtesy of Zillow.

Comments

[Iggy O]

Virtual Harlem is a wonderful set of sims. It was a standout part of the recent conference on Virtual Worlds: Best Practices in Education.

Hamlet, I'm glad you've covered it before and I'm pleased to see more publicity coming to this part of SL. I wrote a bit about it after the conference, and there are SLURLs to a few places I visited:

http://iggyo.blogspot.com/2009/04/virtual-harlem-trove-of-good-pedagogy.html

[Porsupah Ree]

I do hope that publishers wind up making some attempt to keep up with authors such as her - with lamentably few exceptions, options for reading literature largely remain confined to paper only, nothing else. It's a fine medium, with much to commend it, but electronic distribution affords substantial benefits of its own. Hopefully both will be made available, for whomever wishes to enjoy the fruits of authors' labors, in whatever manner suits them most agreeably.

I suppose about the only major drawback to holding a "signing" in SL, for the forseeable future, is the same impediment to holding concerts: the low number of avs supported per sim. Still, smaller venues continue to have appeal, even for world-class bands - the same surely can hold true of SL. Not to mention the simply fun aspect of the choice of venues available, as demonstrated here, or indeed, the av you choose for yourself.

[Zillow Dejavu]

@Porsupah. The low number of avs supported per sim is a concern, as Kimberla Roby sometimes gets a couple of hundred fans at her book readings. I'm not expecting those kinds of numbers in SL; However those who show up will go out and talk about it and the publicity leading up to and following the event also help. Also, since there are so few obstacles to doing this kind of thing online if an author (or anyone) is popular it's relatively easy to have a second or third appearance.