It is the advent of social media that has allowed the indie writing scene to take off – being able to spread the word to a huge audience is a boon that not long ago was never available. Being able to find – and talk with – potential fans all over the world is what made has allowed some authors to really make a success of their writing.
Of course at times it can seem to big, but that is part of the uniqueness of the internet.
I’m slowly getting myself set up out there.
I have been on twitter for some time – as @mistandshadows – but have now started to branch out.
I now have a public facebook page and a facebook author page. (I also have a private one for family and close friends, but this is for general public use.)
And I am also on goodreads, which I really need to get back to updating. I am slowly going through my rather large collection and adding to it.
So if you use any of those services come and say hi.
Mist and Shadows 
Do you listen to the Webcomics Weekly podcast?
If you go through specifially, there’s some really nice general self-marketing techniques that you might find useful. But it seems like you’ve taken on a lot of what they’ve been saying too. 😀
I should possibly take a look at it and see what else I can wrangle up from it.