Tweeting for the Life of Your Book

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson

 

Award-winning author of the HowToDoItFrugally  Series of Books for writers,
including USA Book News' award winners. (http://www.howtodoitfrugally.com/)

 

Last year I lead a free workshop at Lea Schizas's and my famous (and getting more famous every year!) Muse Online Writers Conference (www.themuseonlinewritersconference.com). The crowd it drew made me realize that authors are starved--indeed, famished!--for information on how to make Twitter work for them, especially once I told them that Twitter is the one network--the one promotion that I have tried--to which I can actually trace online book sales.

So, I decided to pass along some of the Twitter resources--tips and applications--that I have included in my Sharing with Writers newsletter in the past. You can see it is a long list because I have been enthusiastic about Twitter since I first typed my first Tweet!

So, Ta da! Here it is! Note the stars denote an application or tips that I consider essential or use all the time.

Twitter Tip: A new Penn State study showed that 20% of all tweets are brand related. If that's so, why not your brand? By brand, meaning your author name or book title? The study also shows that tweets are far more suited to book promotion than telling people what you ate for breakfast.

**Tip: People keep asking me how Twitter can help sell books. Maybe it can't. But it can help brand you if you keep your tweets content laden and on target instead of talking about going to bed and what you ate for breakfast. Great branding leads to book sales. When I hadn't been tweeting long, my Twitter Promo record included: Three blog interviews. Two podcasts. And a new friend who's helped me plan my trip to the New York Stationery Show--frugally! (-: My address is www.twitter.com/frugalbookpromo.

Soooo . . . .Sign up (easily) at www.twitter.com.

Twitter Tip: To find appropriate people to follow with your Twitter account, use http://search.twitter.com. It's important to use Twitter to learn new things from new friends. It’s as important as getting your message out so try to be inclusive in who you follow.

Twitter Tip: Evaluate how you're doing on Twitter and how others are doing but do be careful 'cause stats can be misinterpreted. Try www.twittercounter.com .

Twitter Tip: You can clean out your nonfollowers from your Twitter account with www.mycleenr.com--but only if you have 700 or fewer. They're working on accommodating those with a bigger following.

**Emergency Tip: One of the major drawbacks to social networks like Facebook and Twitter is that your account can be suspended. After all the work building them! And sometimes through no fault of you own. Here's an article on what to do if it happens to your Twitter account: www.susangilbert.com/your-account-has-been-suspended/

Tweet Tip: Regarding HashTags at http://www.hashtags.org:Did you know that by using the # (hashtag) sign before a word, you can tag your tweets? This site tracks the most popular hashtags. As an example, I use a hashtag #Tweeps4Writers which indicates that the tweeter I recommend might be a good resource for writers. So you can look that hashtag up right now and find many authors and book marketers I have recommended.

Tweet Help from author and marketing guru Tony Eldridge: Create an AddThis Button (Social Bookmarking) to your website or blog. This one is fun because it's an easy-to-follow video! http://MarketingTipsForAuthors.com/ArchivedTips/3169/tipaddthis.html

Tweet Help: Here's another video from Tony Eldridge. In this one he discusses TweetLater and other Tweet Scheduling Tools. http://MarketingTipsForAuthors.com/ArchivedTips/5189/TwitterScheduleTweetVideo/tipsscheduletweets.html

Twitter Tip: To find out who’s following you back go to: http://dossy.org/twitter/karma/

Twitter Tip: Take a poll on Twitter: http://twtpoll.com/new.php

Fun Only Twitter Tip: Have you seen this fun Twitter application? http://sxoop.com/twitter/  Wahhhh, I want a computer mat with my followers' faces on it!

**Twitter Tip: You can assure your tweets get more attention if you research the recent trends on Twitter at www.twopular.com, then design a tweet or two accordingly and use hashmarks (#) to draw more attention to them.

Twitter Tip: Poets can treat their fans to Haiku on Twitter. It’s a focused way for poets to focus and still connect with followers. You can use www.makeliterature.com/twihaiku/twitter-poetry where fellow users will provide reviews, critiques and opportunities for your work to get retweeted by others.

Twitter Tip From Allyn Evans:  Do you know about this opportunity?
http://www.twooting.com/members/twooting/adminpages/interview_request . I'm going to let you research this. Please let me know what you think about it! (-:  (Note: Sharing with Writers is an interactive newsletter. I publish others' tips and include links and book titles!)

**Social Network Tip: Check the biography on your social network sites. A study claims that 82% of unsuccessful Twitter accounts have no biography. Even if you use Twitter or Facebook for your personal friends only, it is a courtesy to introduce yourself. You’d do that at a party, right?

**Twitter Tip: To delete people not following you go to:

http://friendorfollow.com/frugalbookpromo/following/ Why would you want to do that? Generally you don't want to follow people who aren't interested in a two-way conversation and you certainly don't want your stats to show you following hundreds of people more than follow you!

Twitter Tip: Here's another way for you to promote your Twitter account. Share your hashtags with @Americanauthor. He or she says, "If you have any favorite #hashtags be sure to share them on my blog @ http://tinyurl.com/myhashtags and http://1stmillionairesclub.blogspot.com/2009/08/hashtags.html . Once you have collected thousands of names, you can upgrade your membership to SocialOoomph.com and handle unfollows through them.

Twitter Tip: If you think your tweet might be worthy of a retweet, keep it to 120 characters. That leaves room for the retweeter’s own @username in it. Your followers are more likely to retweet if they don’t have to work too hard at it. Those extra spaces can be used for “Plz RT,” too. It’s a suggestion that often helps.

Twitter Tip: Learn where a tweeter lives by using real-time tweets at www.twittervision.com. It’s valuable for author or retailer events confined to a specific area. Watch it for a minute to find people in your area and to find twitterpals in other places in the world.

Twitter Idea: Did you know that Twitter is increasingly being used in ways related to search engine research? If not, turn to CNN for just one evening’s news and you’ll understand it. How can you turn this into something that will help position you as an expert?

Tweet Tip from Yocheved Golani, author and self-help coach (http://www.linkedin.com/in/yochevedgolaniink): I'm bumping along in Twitterworld, making mistakes and learning as I go. Found this nifty tool so I want to share it with you: a twitter translation tool called http://www.tweettranslate.com/ Have fun communicating in several languages. Yocheved tweets at twitter.com/yochevedgolani

**Twitter Retweet Tip: One of the tricks to getting wide exposure on Twitter is to get other people to retweet your tweets. Here are two articles that will tell you how to do it: How to Get Retweeted by @GuyKawasaki: http://blogs.openforum.com/2009/02/18/how-to-get-retweeted and The Science of Retweets by Dan Zarella: http://mashable.com/2009/02/17/twitter-retweets  .My favorite method is to give information that people are likely to want and need. The other is to occasionally ask to be retweeted.

**Social NetworkTip: Tell your friends and/or followers about the success someone had because of a service you offer or because they read your book. And example would be, “A Sharing with Writers subscriber (www.howtodoitfrugally.com) received a computer from a fellow subscriber when she lost her job.”

TIP: For a really big list of Twitter aids go to John Kremer's Twitter Tools page: www.bookmarket.com/twitter-tools.htm

**An Idea I had that might work for you, too! What do you think of this:  You know my semi annual All Tips edition of Sharing with writers. What do you think of publishing it, one tip at a time. on Twitter. I’m thinking I could RSS feed it to Facebook, too. What do you think the pluses and minuses would be? Would you as a subscriber feel neglected?

**Twitter Tip: Twitter with us is the easiest frugal-of-time marketing process I know of!

In the News: Dan Evans, new editor of my hometown newspaper, the Glendale News-Press, says, "Journalism cannot be a once-a-day information vitamin." He's started tweeting. How do you give and get your information? I get lots of mine from Twitter where I can ask questions and get answers from experts and people I trust. My address is www.twitter.com/frugalbookpromo ; I hope to be there until the Twitter craze goes away. I don't think that will be any time soon.

Twitter Tip:. Find who is mentioning you or your book’s title on Twitter by going to www.tweetvolume.com. Also, www.twittterholic.com .

Twitter Tip: Want to see how you're doing on Twitter? Try www.twittercounter.com But be careful! Stats can be misinterpreted.

Twitter Tip: Add your blog to Twitter by using Twitterfeed.com. If you do this, though, be sure the first line of each blog post is provocative. It should be anyway, right?

Twitter Tip: Don’t add your Tweets to Facebook using RSS feeds unless you don't tweet often. It’s OK to tweet frequently, but your Facebook pals may get tired of it if 10 a day appear on your Facebook page!

Twitter Tip from Terry Doherty, editor of The Reading Tub: Tweets can sign up to have their books listed in Author Directories in different categories of interest. Use these links:

http://twitr.org/
http://wefollow.com/
http://www.highspotinc.com/blog/2008/12/a-directory-of-book-trade-people-on-twitter/ 
(http://www.highspotinc.com/blog/2009/02/a-directory-of-authors-on-twitter/
For the last two: You can apply to be on the lists, either via these links, or by tweeting Jennifer Tribe (http://twitter.com/jennifertribe )

**Twitter Tip: If you're wondering who's Twittering about you, wonder no longer, TweetBeep: http://tweetbeep.com, is a service that will alert you anytime your name, book title, product, or company is mentioned or Tweeted about! ~ From your Author's Advocate, Patrika Vaughn. www.acappela.com)

Twitter Tip: Here’s a good article on using Twitter for business . For us, “business” includes selling books and branding yourself! http://ethnicomm.com/blog/marketing/using-twitter-for-business-%e2%80%93-some-ceos-just-aren%e2%80%99t-listening/

In the News: Subscriber and photo-artist for my poetry chapbook She Wore Emerald Then May Lattanzio sends this information: Paralyzed people and people who can’t speak can now use their brains to tweet. See how Twitter is influencing medicine and science! Truly! http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/22/twitter.locked.in/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Tip: If you Twitter, you'll want to extend the reach of that effort at Twellow.com When you do this, be sure to put yourself in all relevant categories. It may just be "Authors and Writers" but you may fit other places, too, depending on your area of expertise. Like "Teaching." Or, in my case, "Marketing" and "Publishing." You can categorize yourself in up to ten of them.

Tip: You must Twitter! Michael E. Carluen, Twitter guru, says "Carolyn, tell your colleagues. This is a free advertising medium for authors via Twitter! And I love to see and follow authors!" Just join Twitter and then type in www.twitwall.com to do longer "I've been thinking . . . " tweets. The posting page has a place for you to expand on a special offer or thought. Michael picks up his faves for his weekend edition.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits the free Sharing with Writers newsletter. To subscribe, find the subscribe window on the left of her home page at www.howtodoitfrugally.com or in the left column of her Sharing with Writers blog at www.sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com. That way you won’t miss any future Twips (That’s Tips with a Twitter lisp).