To tweet or not to tweet

Barbara R. · Dec 10, 2012

I'm in the fortunate position of having a book due out next summer with Viking (see my avatar), and I'd like to do the best I can for it. It's not my first book--in fact I have 8 published novels--but it's the first one in quite a while, and the world has changed in the interim.

I have an FB author page and a blog called In Cold Ink, which is doing quite well even though it's just a few months old. I have two websites, one for my books and the other for my writing classes. I'm on Goodreads, though not very active there, as well as Google Plus. But the online PR folk at Viking have recommended that I start a twitter account as well.

What do you guys think? I'm reluctant to get drawn into another time-suck, and I don't really understand twitter or how it works. I also don't, generally, think in 140-character bursts. Is it worth the time and learning curve required? I'd love to hear from other published or self-published writers about how efficacious Twitter has been for you. Thanks!

Literateparakeet · Dec 10, 2012

Barbara...I don't know, but i'm glad you asked because I have wondered the same thing. (my post will BUMP you thread though

)

I just wanted to say congrats on your book and your blogging success! That is wonderful!!!

Barbara R. · Dec 10, 2012

Thank you! I'm glad I'm not the only one wondering about twitter. In general I'm unsure of how much of a part social media plays in book sales, particularly fiction. If I were interested in cooking and I followed a particular cooking blog, I might very well buy a cookbook by the blogger. Not so sure I'd buy a novel, though. Different set of skills involved.

Just looked at your blog, btw, and was impressed. You are a gutsy lady, and an excellent writer.

Literateparakeet · Dec 10, 2012

I agree about the blogging and books thing. I have heard of a couple of humor bloggers that turned their blogs into writing success...but it was like the cookbook thing, ,you know, from humor blog to humor book.

Barbara R. said:
Just looked at your blog, btw, and was impressed. You are a gutsy lady, and an excellent writer.

Thanks so much. That means a lot to me.

orion_mk3 · Dec 10, 2012

You should sign up for Twitter if only to make sure no one else takes your preferred username. It's also relatively easy to link Twitter, FB, and blogs so that one post shows up in all three places, relieving you of the aforementioned timesuck.

Deleted member 42 · Dec 10, 2012

A Twitter account with the default egg avatar is generally perceived to be that of a spammer. Have an avatar that reflects you as a person; it might make sense to use a book cover.

Include a link to your Twitter feed on your Website, possibly on your Contact page, or in your sidebar.

Follow people you are genuinely interested in, people that that you know or find interesting based on their Tweets or Websites. You should Reply or Retweet people when it seems appropriate to you—that is, when they Tweet something interesting, or helpful.

Tip: Finding people to follow
If you find someone you think is interesting, or people you know and like are already on Twitter, check their profile to see who they’re following; there’s a good chance you’ll find people with common interests.

Don’t be that Twitter user, the one who only ever tweets links to her own blog, and has no followers, and never engages in a “conversation.”

Twitter is about conversation, not broadcasting. Follow. Re-tweet. Engage in conversation.

And find me on Twitter (lisaspangenberg) and I'll add you to the AW Twitter list.

Barbara R. · Dec 10, 2012

orion_mk3 said:
You should sign up for Twitter if only to make sure no one else takes your preferred username. It's also relatively easy to link Twitter, FB, and blogs so that one post shows up in all three places, relieving you of the aforementioned timesuck.

Yikes. Never thought of that. Thanks.

Barbara R. · Dec 10, 2012

Medievalist said:
A Twitter account with the default egg avatar is generally perceived to be that of a spammer. Have an avatar that reflects you as a person; it might make sense to use a book cover.

Include a link to your Twitter feed on your Website, possibly on your Contact page, or in your sidebar.

Follow people you are genuinely interested in, people that that you know or find interesting based on their Tweets or Websites. You should Reply or Retweet people when it seems appropriate to you—that is, when they Tweet something interesting, or helpful.

Tip: Finding people to follow
If you find someone you think is interesting, or people you know and like are already on Twitter, check their profile to see who they’re following; there’s a good chance you’ll find people with common interests.

Don’t be that Twitter user, the one who only ever tweets links to her own blog, and has no followers, and never engages in a “conversation.”

Twitter is about conversation, not broadcasting. Follow. Re-tweet. Engage in conversation.

And find me on Twitter (lisaspangenberg) and I'll add you to the AW Twitter list.

Thanks for the offer. Guess I'll have to stick my toe in sooner or later...

magicmint · Dec 10, 2012

What Medievalist said is bad ass advice. Twitter is about conversing with people, find like minded people, and sharing information. Participation is key!

ZoeYork · Dec 10, 2012

I've had a personal Twitter account for a couple of years, and I've never found it that interesting - I log in every few week when something interesting is happening in local politics. I've had a Twitter account for my author profile since October, and I find that feed FASCINATING. I've gotten involved in some hilarious conversations (#CanadianBDSM was the most recent hashtag fun - what romance writers think about when we're bored!), and I've learned a lot about the publishing industry by following agents, editors and authors that I respect.

Barbara R. · Dec 11, 2012

I have to admit that I don't understand at all how Twitter works. If someone has the patience, please explain the hashtag thing, and how you find people, and how they find you...I'm way behind the curve, as you can see.

Snowstorm · Dec 11, 2012

I can't add anything useful, Barbara R., but your thread is very timely. I'm in the same position with a novel coming out next year (but this is my first!). I've never seen the real use for Twitter and this thread is so helpful. Thank you for starting it and to our AW powerhouses for their help.

Guess I'll have to stick my toe in sooner or later...

*pulls off sock*

Perks · Dec 11, 2012

Twitter is weird. The hashtag can be replaced in your mind's ear as roughly equivalent to "file under". So you can use it to flag a certain theme, like say you care about ivory poaching in Africa, you can tweet a link to a relevant article and add #savetheelephants or #stopivorytradingnow or something like that.

In the case of your book, you'd make an announcement or link to a review or something and add #adangerousfiction

Or you can use it in jest like you tell a story of falling down the stairs and add #graceismymiddlename

Barbara R. · Dec 11, 2012

Okay, I signed up as @RoganBarbara. Medievalist, I found and followed you. No tweets from me yet; still figuring out how it works and the etiquette.

Perks · Dec 11, 2012

I found you. Let's get this party started.

veinglory · Dec 11, 2012

Honestly it takes little time and almost no effort to open a twitter account. You can just use it for new releases etc, you don't have to tweet constantly. I saw a chart that showed the main reason people stop following an account is over-tweeting.

Barbara R. · Dec 11, 2012

veinglory said:
Honestly it takes little time and almost no effort to open a twitter account. You can just use it for new releases etc, you don't have to tweet constantly. I saw a chart that showed the main reason people stop following an account is over-tweeting.

That will not be a problem! Au contraire...

Deleted member 42 · Dec 11, 2012

Barbara R. said:
Okay, I signed up as @RoganBarbara. Medievalist, I found and followed you. No tweets from me yet; still figuring out how it works and the etiquette.

I strongly suggest writers use their Web site as a hub; so rather than tweet a lin to Facebook, put a link and excerpt from your blog/Website up on Facebook, and tweet the same Website link with a short description / reason to go there.

Links count in the 140 character Twitter limit, so feel free to use a URL shortener (many Twitter clients/services automatically shorten URLs).

Barbara R. · Dec 11, 2012

Thanks, Medievalist. But now this is one of the things I find confusing. The point of twitter is to drive up visits to my FB author page, which exists to drive visits to my blog, which exists to increase traffic on my website...where in all this am I helping my books along?

Deleted member 42 · Dec 11, 2012

Barbara R. said:
Thanks, Medievalist. But now this is one of the things I find confusing. The point of twitter is to drive up visits to my FB author page, which exists to drive visits to my blog, which exists to increase traffic on my website...where in all this am I helping my books along?

If you're engaging ONLY with the goal of driving sales, save your efforts and write another book.

If you engage honestly as yourself, a smart, interesting, caring woman who happens to have a number of books, and to have worked in publishing, you often have ancillary sales.

I bought two books by you because of your thoughtful posts on AW; I'd missed you entirely before that.

I'm glad I know about you and your books now—but if you hadn't engaged as a full human being (not just a sales person) I would have ignored you—and missed out on some nifty reading.

The point about making your own site the end traffic point is that ultimately you don't have control over Twitter or Facebook; they coud be bought, or fail or change terms or any number of things.

You want people to primarily associate you with a space you control and with your books.

I've posted about this stuff to a sickening degree in How to promote your book like an intelligent human being and not an SEO Dweeb

Barbara R. · Dec 11, 2012

Medievalist said:
If you're engaging ONLY with the goal of driving sales, save your efforts and write another book.

If you engage honestly as yourself, a smart, interesting, caring woman who happens to have a number of books, and to have worked in publishing, you often have ancillary sales.

I bought two books by you because of your thoughtful posts on AW; I'd missed you entirely before that.

I'm glad I know about you and your books now—but if you hadn't engaged as a full human being (not just a sales person) I would have ignored you—and missed out on some nifty reading.

The point about making your own site the end traffic point is that ultimately you don't have control over Twitter or Facebook; they coud be bought, or fail or change terms or any number of things.

You want people to primarily associate you with a space you control and with your books.

I've posted about this stuff to a sickening degree in How to promote your book like an intelligent human being and not an SEO Dweeb

I can't even tell you how much that means to me--and when a writer's at a loss for words, you know you really got to her. Thank you; I'm glad you liked my books. And thanks for the explanations, too--they help.

FCameron · Dec 11, 2012

I'm on twitter as @FredaCameron (my real name, BTW). I have a love-hate relationship with twitter.

I think twitter is best used to let folks get to know you with fun tweets, info, retweets about what you like. Occasional ads/links are fine, but many people bombard the feed with the same thing over and over--to advertise their books or websites. I now glaze over when I see those names and don't read their tweets, but I continue to follow them out of courtesy because they follow me.

I also follow quite a few agents--I keep following them even if they've rejected me!

I wish I had started following those agents before I started querying. I've learned a lot from their tweets. Some tweet about queries with enough info to be helpful about what they like/dislike.

Barbara R. · Dec 13, 2012

Thanks, FC. I have an agent and am not in the market, but would like to follow smart people in the industry. Any suggestions?

I have a few additional questions, now that I've signed up.

A few people who I've never met in life or online have started following me. How do those people find me? I've only tweeted a few times and nothing of substance. In general, how do people find people they want to follow, apart from looking up specific folks they know or know of?

If you have something you want to share that's too long for a single tweet, do you do a series of tweets? If so, do you link them with a hashmark tag?

Thanks again!

FCameron · Dec 13, 2012

Barbara R. said:
Thanks, FC. I have an agent and am not in the market, but would like to follow smart people in the industry. Any suggestions?

I have a few additional questions, now that I've signed up.

A few people who I've never met in life or online have started following me. How do those people find me? I've only tweeted a few times and nothing of substance. In general, how do people find people they want to follow, apart from looking up specific folks they know or know of?

If you have something you want to share that's too long for a single tweet, do you do a series of tweets? If so, do you link them with a hashmark tag?

Thanks again!

To find agents to follow, take a look at a few agents, then look at who THEY FOLLOW and you'll see many literary types follow each other (agents, editors, publishing houses, authors, etc.)

People stumble on you at first. If you aren't comfortable with a follower, don't follow back. You can decide to block them from seeing your tweets, but I do that only when I think they are after my content. You will get spammers (make sure you use a STRONG password with a mix of characters and numbers). I BLOCK spammers. Once you're on there awhile, you can spot them.

Some folks number tweets and some use "continued" on those that won't fit in 140. It's a pain! We're writers and want to use correct grammar, but you may have to cut, abbreviate and omit punctuation to fit the limitations.

By the way, some folks want you to follow them so they can sell you something. If you follow them for awhile, you can always unfollow. Some enroll in subscriber lists based on hashtags. I get types who blast out advertising all the time. Some will try to get you to "buy" followers. I don't do that. Numbers don't mean anything to me. I use Twitter for news and staying on top of what's happening in the literary world.

On some days, there are #AskAgent interactive q/a sessions. I use TweetChat to participate in those sessions.

#pubtips
#tenqueries

are also common hashtags you'll see when agents are offering up advice.

Have fun.

Deleted member 42 · Dec 13, 2012

Barbara R. said:
A few people who I've never met in life or online have started following me. How do those people find me? I've only tweeted a few times and nothing of substance. In general, how do people find people they want to follow, apart from looking up specific folks they know or know of?

I've added you to the AW Twitter list I keep. Also, people will look at your profile and tell other people to follow you.

Barbara R. said:
If you have something you want to share that's too long for a single tweet, do you do a series of tweets? If so, do you link them with a hashmark tag?

Thanks again!

The hash tag is generally used to indicate that your tweets part of a larger conversation involving other people; it's a marker of shared conversation and community.

For serial tweeting, you can use (1 of 3) (2 of 3) at the end of a tweet.

If it's much longer than two or three tweets, put it on a blog page, make a short comment and link to the page.

To tweet or not to tweet

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