Twitter Tips for Authors – guest post

Indie Author News original source

 

I don’t like Twitter. It’s like spitting into the wind. Ok, maybe not as disgusting, but the reward is pretty much the same. What I don’t get is how there are people out there who follow a kajillion people. Personally I follow more than I’d seriously like.

 

What does that say…774 following? Honestly, I use twitter to promote my book, which apparently according to this article I’m linking to, I’m not supposed to do that, or to curse vehemently and with great passive aggressiveness. The latter is very relaxing, I must say.

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What to tweet and not to tweet (for Authors)

– Do not sell your book!
Nothing annoys your followers more then asking them “Please buy my book”, “Please, read my book”, “Now only 99 cents” etc. Followers are quickly annoyed and will call this ‘shameless’ self-promotion. And you might think the same when reading only these kinds of tweets from people you are following and might decide to not follow these Tweeps anymore.

– Make yourself as Author interesting
Tweet about your writing and the progress of your new book project. Having received an amazing review, award, etc. Share the publishing process, provide tips for others. Share sale success etc. If you make yourself/your book interesting enough  your followers will probably investigate and buying your book and/or reviewing your book. (soft sale)
Let your followers know if your book has been featured, or you’ve done an Interview or a guest-post. Let them know about reading or signings, how to get freebies, etc.

– Get involved in discussions
You’re seeing your followers discussing interesting topics – get involved. Or ask a question to start a conversation.

– Re-tweeting
If you see interesting or helpful tweets from others you’d like to share – RT (Re-Tweet) it to your followers. This helps interesting posts to get a wider audience. Your followers will RT your Tweets as well if they are interesting for them. Don’t ask for RT’s – your followers will re-tweet your tweets if your posts are good (interesting, helpful) enough for a RT.

– Using Hashtags (#)
Use Hashtags – so Tweeps who search for for a category or genre can easier find your tweets, like #thriller #para #ya #WritingTip etc. Don’t overuse them – else tweets can be more difficult to read with to many hashtags.

– Build relationships with other writers
“Thanks for the RT” doesn’t exactly build relationships. If someone retweets your tweet or mentions you, take the extra two minutes to check out their Twitter profile, see what they write, and comment on it in a tweet with a ‘Thank you’ included.
Fellow writers are mostly also readers and are great to have relationships with to share tweets, writing tips, found a beta reader group, etc. Do NOT use these relationships trying to sell them your books. (This can be seen a lot on Twitter)

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“- Do not sell your book!
Nothing annoys your followers more then asking them “Please buy my book”, “Please, read my book”, “Now only 99 cents” etc. Followers are quickly annoyed and will call this ‘shameless’ self-promotion. And you might think the same when reading only these kinds of tweets from people you are following and might decide to not follow these Tweeps anymore.”

Then why the hell am I on Twitter, and why doesn’t anyone else take this advice? I’ve removed people/companies that do NOTHING but schlep their books. Multiple posts daily with quotes from reviews (real or imagined, who knows) with links back to their books. At least a half dozen times A DAY. I try to do it maybe once every couple days, but I’m always amazed when people say, “Oh hey, when does your book come out?” or “You wrote a book?”

 

(This is me. Confused.)

More fun…

– Be honest. Have fun. Don’t try to sell anything.

            Pretty sure this is said at least a dozen times in the article. I get it. I’m annoying.  Sheesh.

– Twitter about stuff that has to do with your blog, but also Twitter stuff that has nothing to do with your blog.

            On occasion I’ll tweet about the F word and how I enjoy sunset pictures. I’m sure that’s fascinating.

– Write each word like it matters, because it does.

             No it doesn’t. This is twitter. Anything I say will be lost in the 1 billion people tweeting about Justin Bieber or Beyonce. Is Beyonce pregnant again? I bet she is.

– Don’t follow more people than you can handle. If you’ve got too much going on, you miss a lot of the good stuff.

              Thank you. That one is gold, but there’s that compunction to follow-back because the person took the time to follow you. Probably didn’t read one single tweet out of the 10s of thousands of tweets other people have put out, but it’s the follow-back thought that counts!

– Stop thinking that twitter is pointless and just try it. It’s all about community, reach out and be a part of it.

               Did I just get reprimanded by an article? I think I did.

– Better to be friendly and positive than negative and critical in your Tweets

                Pfft. This is the internet. I’m pretty sure everyone read the ‘Don’t forget to be a mindless dick face’ memo. I had to sign mine.

Maybe I’m being too negative about Twitter? I suppose it can be helpful. Personally, I’m shocked that the ‘auto Direct-Message’ offense was left out of this one.

– Don’t sign up for one of those ‘automatic Direct Message your new follower, plugging away at your mediocre product’, because that shit is annoying. Don’t DM me. I don’t DM anyone. You DM me, you better have a fully written, 140 character love letter steaming up my inbox, because I have expectations when I get a private message, thank you! DMs. I really dislike them. Like, “Oh I dated him once, I really dislike his ass” dislike.

Just sayin’.

Come find me being passive aggressive on Facebook and Twitter.