As I mentioned in the previous post, if you are a writer, joining Twitter is a must whether you are just starting out or have a book to promote. It is a fantastic way to connect with other writers, gain knowledge about how to market you and your work as well as help to sell your books.
I'm not the computer guru, so it took me a bit to learn the ins and outs of Twitter. Hopefully, I can save you from that. With a few simple tips, you can be on your way.
First off, make sure that you identify yourself in your bio as a writer. It will help other writers to find you. Also, you should use your name or your pen name. This just makes it easier for other users to locate you. Them more creative your bio, the more likely you'll attract followers. If you have a website or a blog, put the link up with your bio. Hopefully, it will drag some of your followers or browsers over to take a look.
Along those lines, always provide a link, whether you are tweeting about your blog, book, or a fantastic recipe sight. In general, people do not want to have to search or type in the name of the website. They'll be more apt to take a peek at what your promoting or writing about if all they have to do is click.
If you're just getting started, you will want to search for other writers or writing sites. Believe me, there are a bunch! All you have to do is look and then click to follow. Generally, if you follow another writer, they will follow you back. However, if you are going to follow Patricia Cornwell or another famous author, do not necessarily expect a follow back.
When you do get a follower, remember that the same basic rules of manners apply on Twitter as well. Always thank a person or organization for following you and follow them back. If a person retweets one of your tweets or mentions you in a tweet, you should also respond with a thank you.
For the most part, the only people I don't follow back immediately are the ones who buy followers or who are offering to buy followers. A good general rule to follow is that if someone is asking you for money than that is a big red flag. I always take a few minutes to check out the person's blog or website too. That helps you get an idea of what they are about and the kind of books they write. This hasn't happened to me, but obviously if you are wary or offended by what you read, than thank the person for the follow and then don't follow back. If you don't follow back, the person will most likely unfollow you.
Once you've set up your sight and found some writers or other favorites to follow, you're ready to tweet. As a writer, tweets will probably come fairly easily. I love tweets that are informative, helpful to my writing, alert me to interesting blogs or sites, and the ones that are just plain funny. As in life, just remember to think before you tweet. If your going through a divorce or just broke up, you don't want to go tweeting about your ex's skanky new squeeze. Those kinds of things will come back and haunt you.
Also, if you are using Twitter for your writing than it's more professional than personal. Posting photos of yourself wearing a lampshade may not be the best thing if you are trying to attract some publishers.
Once you have built up a following, the feed can become really overwhelming and it is difficult to keep up with all of the tweets so don't try. If you get a new follower or someone mentions you in a tweet, you will get an e-mail. I set aside a certain amount of time to read the ones that I can. There's enough things to sweat in life so this shouldn't be one of them.
Finally, it is really easy to loose track of time whether you are on Twitter, Facebook, or just surfing the net. Since I'm doing a balancing act between kids, home, husband, and writing, I have limited time. I allot my time in sections so I have time to tweet, blog, check e-mails, submit, and work on stories.
There is a lot of great stuff on Twitter apart from writing. So don't forget to leave yourself a bit of time to play too!
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