Making use of Wikipedia for Publicity

Having a page on Wikipedia gives an author added authority, and if Wikipedia links to her website, it's great for her search engine placement. However, because of Wikipedia's Conflict of Interest policy, we can't write one for ourselves. I just searched a few favorite female authors and was surprised by how many were not cited on Wikipedia, compared to male authors. (i.e. The Dangerous Book for Boys has a page, but not The Daring Book for Girls, which is a footnote on the boy page.) So I have an idea:

Let's all make a New Year's pledge to start a Wikipedia page for some other woman author whom we think deserves one, but who doesn't have one yet. It would be a legitimate sharing of information, with no direct self-interest, though promoting women writers would benefit us all. What do you all think? Here is an intro on Who Writes Wikipedia.

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Permalink Reply by Allison Gilbert on December 7, 2009 at 6:54pm

Hi Eileen,

I LOVE this idea and think it's totally necessary. Why should men have all the Wiki glory and PW publicity??

And, selfishly, I'd love the help. My husband -- for a holiday present -- was going to surprise me with setting up a Wiki page. Alas, it's been near impossible because of what you rightly called, the COI policy. Right now, my entry is being debated and I need the reinforcement of outside parties....

Does anyone want to begin Eileen's experiment? You help me, I'll help you??

Thanks, Eileen!

Best,
Allison

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Permalink Reply by Priscilla Maxine McGee on December 8, 2009 at 4:55am

Hello Eileen, this is a great idea.Keep us informed on how the process works.
God Bless you
~Priscilla

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Permalink Reply by Eileen Flanagan on December 8, 2009 at 5:10am

I don't have time to organize or coordinate this. It's something we can all do since the instructions are free on Wikipedia. Another writer has already offered to do one for me. I think each person should decide whether they want to do it as a trade with someone or just as a gift to a favorite female offer. To have a Wiki page you really need published work and references to cite, so it won't be appropriate (yet) for everyone.

Maybe when a person completes a page (or has one posted for them) they could post it here. Then we could be inspired by each other.

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Permalink Reply by Michael N. Marcus on December 8, 2009 at 11:29am

Allison Gilbert said: >>Why should men have all the Wiki glory

They don't.

My high school class had about 800 students. One is on Wikipedia. She is a professor at Yale.

Michael N. Marcus

author of "Become a Real Self-Publisher," http://www.amazon.com/dp/0981661742

author of "Stories I'd Tell My Children (but maybe not until they're adults), coming 4/1/10. http://silversandsbooks.com/storiesbookinfo.html

http://BookMakingBlog.blogspot.com
http://www.SilverSandsBooks.com

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Permalink Reply by Rs Emeline on October 8, 2011 at 8:49am

Interesting idea. I could think of a few indie authors I'd like to write an entry for. Thanks for the information.

R.S.

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