Reading & Writing Lounge

• Much as I dislike Google’s rather invasive privacy policies, Google Alerts is simply one of the better things to come out of that stable.

Here’s how it works:

• Go to http://www.google.com/alerts
• Type in your keyword that you want to be alerted on.
• Choose the frequency - once a day, as it happens or once a week.
• Complete your email address and verify it with the email Google sends you.
• Sit back and receive your updates as requested.

How a writer can use it :

• Use the alerts to be notified of your own name. If your name, for example, is Mary Smith, create an alert for your name. Everytime the search engine comes across your name, you will get notified. How does this help? For starters, you are aware of which sites your name appears on. You can discover if you or your work are linked to by other sites. Any published work with a byline will also show up alerting you to possible misuse of your work online.
• Use the alerts to find work : If you’re looking for, say, parenting publications open to writers, create an alert “parenting call for submissions” or something similar. When Google comes across these keywords, you will be notified. Market alerts at your doorstep, what more could you want?!

There are many things you can do with the alerts, but keeping track of my own work and finding new markets are two of my favorite uses. Have you used Google Alerts before? What do you think?

Related on this blog:

• Need a prompt to write?
• Query Letters That Sell
• January dates