Tweetaholic? More on Book Promotion

I promised last week that I would write this week about Twitter, so I’m doing it even though I really want to tell you about my new DOG!!!! Well, I’ll tell you a little because she is sitting on my lap right now. She is a papillon, butterfly in French, and has the giant butterfly ears to prove it. She is A-dorable. No name selected yet, but we’re considering Jolie which means pretty in French or Poppy.

Okay, on to social media. As I said last week, I’m not a social media expert. I’m just sharing my personal experience, both as an author and a PR person. Last week we talked about Facebook and said it is a very personal platform. Twitter is a different animal. I am a Tweetaholic and use Twitter more than Facebook (although I appreciate Facebook more all the time). Twitter is far more a “broadcast” medium.  Much of the world’s news – earthquakes, fires, floods, divorces-- appears first on Twitter. On Twitter, you have “followers” and you want to have a lot of them because every one is a potential reader or friend of a reader. Start by following other writers – there are tons of them on Twitter. Not only do writers read a lot, they also have people who read them who might also want to read you. Yes, you only have 140 characters, but you get used to packing a lot into that short form, plus a link to something like your blog, your book buy link, a YouTube video, etc. (This post, for example, will be tweeted several times today.) 

Unlike Facebook, Twitter is ephemeral. You Tweet, it goes out, maybe it gets “retweeted” if people are interested, and it goes away. So you can come back later and tweet about the same thing. But, like on Facebook, you can’t be too pushy. People will unfollow you if you try to sell all the time. Only about a third of your tweets should be salesy. The rest should offer useful information, be retweets of other people, and comments on their tweets. While not as personal as Facebook, Twitter is still social, and the way you treat people matters.

People freak out over Twitter wondering how on earth they can read all those tweets, especially when you get over 1,000 followers. The answer is “you can’t”. You get an organizational tool like TweetDeck or Seesmic and use it to organize your tweets. You soon start to get a sense of who you want to follow most closely. When you come onto Twitter, you read the tweets you see and maybe comment on some. That might develop a new friend from somewhere in the world. One day I saw a tweet about a movie someone liked. I asked where she saw it. She said “the city”. I said Los Angeles? She said, no, Vienna!  A very international  platform.

Mostly, on Twitter, you comment on the people who have mentioned you. It sounds hard, but you’ll get the hang of it. There are regular events like Follow Friday when you can recognize people and they may recognize you and perhaps follow you in return. Regularly, you should follow people who interest you (Twitter will make suggestions or you can look at the lists of people you follow) and they may follow you back. Some people hate the relentless nature of Twitter. But it’s a fabulous place to promote your blog, your book, your book tour. You’ll find new people that you may want to friend on Facebook or Goodreads. It’s a must for self promotion by an author. Set aside a few minutes a couple or three times a day to participate. Just always remember that book promotion is more about the book than the promotion.  Which one do you like better?  Twitter or Facebook?  Why?

Also, if you pop over to my Book BLOG and follow and/or leave a comment, you may WIN a copy of Genetic Attraction, my M/M/F menage now available from Loose Id.