How to use this Page

Does Twitter mystify you? Is everyone around you talking about it (and using it), but you’re not sure why Twitter would be useful to you as an author?

I like to think about Twitter as one big global “town square” where you can share your opinion, have conversations, share, and do it in real time! Twitter is a great platform to build and interact with your audience.

Even if you’re an old pro at twitter or new to the tweet-a-sphere, check out these quick tips on how to use Twitter to talk about you and your books.

BE AUTHENTIC AND FIND YOUR OWN VOICE:

• Don’t just post links. Be you and show your readers that you’re a real person.
• Not sure what to say on Twitter? Follow other people with similar interests as you. Share your hobbies, personal interests, favorite sports team, or your thoughts as you watch TV shows or read a book.

• Find your own authentic voice.  For example @ruthreichl tweets in a beautiful writerly voice:

• @JudyBlume tweets about her life in a direct and frank manner:

• @timFederle is really funny:

SHARE YOUR PROCESS:

• Followers want to learn about your life! Share your writing life and writing tips.

• Use photos, videos, and vine to share your process.

• Get advice and tips from your followers. Crowd source content if you want.

ENGAGE:

• Respond and tweet about you and your books.
• Engage with your followers, talk about what they’re doing.

• Host a Q & A on twitter. Remember you don’t have to answer every question asked of you. Pick the ones that allow you to share the message that’s important to you.
• Do an account take over. This is when you tweet from another account and reach a new audience. Sometimes authors do this with bookstores or media outlets.

SEARCH TWITTER:

• Search for your name on twitter, or your book’s name. This will show you conversations people are having about you and your work that you weren’t tagged in.
• Use hashtags.
• See what public conversations are happening about you or your book.
• Search by using: http://www.search.twitter.com

BE CREATIVE:

• Write stories on twitter. Check out the hashtag #TwitterFictionFestival2014, where tons of authors experimented with fiction and tweets. Learn more by visiting their archive: twitterfictionfestival.com/archive.

• Tweet a short story like R.L. Stine did.
• Shared a non-fiction essay like author Teju Cole. He shared a whole essay “A Piece of the Wall” in 140 character tweets. He created its own account to do it.

• Create conversations with other authors.
• Invent characters, or tweet as your character.
• Tweet about parallel worlds.
• Experimenting creates interest and gathers followers. Create new things and you’ll get attention.

HOW TO TELL IF YOU’RE SUCCESSFUL:

• Don’t focus on your overall number of followers.
• Focus on how much your followers interact with you.
• Pay attention to the rate in which you collect new followers (i.e. one per day, etc.) and see how that relates to your activity on twitter.
• Are you getting lots of re-tweets? Is your message moving past your followers to new groups of people?
• Don’t “buy” followers from services that promise to increase your twitter numbers. Twitter doesn’t like these accounts and deletes them when it finds them. Plus you’re not interacting with the followers on this list. It’s just numbers and not genuine interaction.

HOW OFTEN SHOULD I TWEET?

• As frequently as you want. It’s up to you to see what works for your schedule.
• It’s good to create a habit. Tweeting once a day is a great way to create a habit. Think about tweeting every time to sit down to watch a show, etc.

ON CREATING MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS:

• You can create as many accounts as you want.
• You won’t lose followers if you change your twitter handle. Feel free to create a new handle with the account you have instead of creating a whole new account.
• Don’t create a personal account and a professional account. Followers want to get to know you and will want to see what’s in the personal account.
• Create a new account for your character!

TWITTER PROTOCOL:

• Put on your public face. Twitter is live and instant. Behave as you would in public.
• It’s a great place to debate, but keep it simple.
• Don’t use too many hashtags. Stick to one hashtag per tweet. More than one hashtag can start to look like spam.
• Everything you tweet is searchable. Nothing is private unless you use Direct Message.

WHY USE VINE:

• It’s super popular with the teen market right now.
• Engages with your followers in a visual way.
• It’s great for visual storytelling.

OTHER NOTES:

• Try and focus your twitter campaigns around you book release.
• Check out @twitterbooks. They’re always tweeting interesting things that other authors are doing!

• You can follow me on Twitter at: @ingridsundberg

Happy tweeting everyone!

This Wednesday at 9pm EST, I will be talking on #YAlitchat (on Twitter) with the wonderful authors Ellen Hopkins @EllenHopkinsYA (author of Crank, Glass, etc) and Laurie Halse Anderson @asklaurie (author of Speak, Wintergirls, etc) about controversy and banned YA books. I hope you’ll join us in the conversation!

To join in a Twitter chat, one of the easiest ways is to go to TweetChat.com, log in with Twitter, and then type the hashtag “YAlitchat” into the search box at the top (and then click on “go”). From there, you’ll be able to see the entire conversation and join in any time. Your tweets will automatically have the hashtag added at the end of them, so others following the chat see what you say.

Hope to see you there.

On August 24, I will be participating in #YAlitchat on Twitter with amazing authors Ellen Hopkins @EllenHopkinsYA and Laurie Halse Anderson @asklaurie, talking about “controversial” YA books–what it’s like to write books that are seen as “not good for teens” or are often banned. I hope you’ll join us in the conversation!

To join in a Twitter chat, one of the easiest ways is to go to TweetChat.com, log in with Twitter, and then type the hashtag “YAlitchat” into the search box at the top (and then click on “go”). From there, you’ll be able to see the entire conversation and join in any time. Your tweets will automatically have the hashtag added at the end of them, so others following the chat see what you say.

Hope to see you there.

Are you a writer? Editor? Publisher? Then you might want to seriously consider being on Twitter.

Yeah, I know–another social networking tool. Do you really need another? But I’ve found it a great tool for finding out what’s going on in the publishing world; connecting with other writers; and finding new books I might enjoy. I’ve also been using it to try to promote my own books.

For a fantastic article on how children’s and YA writers (or any writer) can use Twitter to help them, check out @inkyelbows article.

Still not convinced? Read this wonderful, detailed article by @charabbott that documents some surges in book buying because of Twitter.

I frequently share useful writing articles on Twitter; you can follow me at @CherylRainfield

Want to know which YA authors are on Twitter? YA author Mitali Perkins is compiling a list of YA authors who tweet. Check out the list–and the authors included in the comments.

Thanks to YA author Marlene Perez for the link.