Trials of a writer gaining respect

I've written before how others don't take the career of a writer seriously - or many other forms of self-employment, for that matter. When you couple writing with internet marketing, it really gets a little tougher.

To get your name out there you have to do things that are considering "playing around" online. It's called networking, but it's also a lot of internet talking and playing.

Message boards - You talk to people. They like what you say. They check you out through your signature links.

Blogs - You write things people need to know or hear someone else say. They check you out through your profile, or through the links you list.

Membership Community sites like Facebook, Myspace, etc also give you exposure - and they are proving to be valuable networking tools.

But if a non-writer sees you "playing around" with anyone of these, they suddenly think you're not working and that makes being taken serious by them that much harder.

At least until you really start making money, and become a consistant income producer. Or so I've heard. I still haven't made it that far.