www.MySpace.com/TheSistaHood

Elisha Miranda # uses MySpace for grassroots marketing of her debut teenlit novel _ The Sista Hood_. She has a MySpace page for each character in the story, allowing readers to follow the lives of characters beyond the book's ending. She also sells a CD with music based on the novel.

www.MySpace.com/CraftyChica

Kathy Cano Murillo#, author of five craft books, calls herself the "Crafty Chica." She specializes in Chicano and Mexican pop art, and is also a syndicated craft columnist for Gannett News Service. On her MySpace page, she advertises her books and promotes a three-day Carnival Cruise where readers can meet her and take classes on making the hip Latino-themed art featured in her latest title, _ Crafty Chica's Art de la Soul_. Murillo is also finishing up her first novel.

More social-networking sites

MySpace is just one of a growing number of social-networking sites. Amazon is an investor in #www.43Things.com#, which was founded by some ex-Amazon employees. On 43Things, members list goals, things they want to accomplish, and assign tags to help put them in touch with like-minded members.

Google owns another of these sites, #www.Orkut.com#. Others are #www.Friendster.com#, # www.LinkedIn.com#, and #www.Tribe.net#.

This sector of the Internet is growing and changing at a terrific rate, and bears watching. It's entirely possible that MySpace won't continue its overwhelming domination of Internet social networking indefinitely. A more likely scenario is that niche networks will emerge, splintering audiences into smaller sites focused on narrower interests. Someday, an entrepreneur will launch the "MySpace" of science fiction, romance, chicklit, or something else. Be on the lookout for up-and-coming networks in your sphere of interest. Or perhaps you'll have an idea for launching a network yourself.