publishers on twitter :: Author Website Design & Marketing Promotions

Twitter (and related tools)

Twitter is a free social messaging utility for staying connected in real-time. What does that mean? Think of it like Instant Messaging on Crack. It’s a way to connect to dozens, perhaps hundreds to hundreds of thousands of people all at once — and directly into their account.

http://www.twitter.com |

Cost: FREE | Time Usage: Minimal to Obsessive

Words You Need to Know

tweets. –> Your 140 character twitter message;

tweet in verb form: the act of posting to twitter

retweet –> when you tweet something someone else has already tweeted . Always starts with RT.

@replies. –> this is how you reply to someone in a conversation.

hashtags. –> #hashtag, used to create conversation topics easily followed. Use the # with the words behind it to be included in any conversation.

DM. –> Direct message on twitter from one person to another.

Tips for Writers in Using Twitter

Make a business plan for your Twitter use – for business purposes.
Sign up now. Give yourself time to get adjusted. Take a few weeks to add some people of interest to follow. (Get a list of agents and editors on Twitter here.)
The more people you follow, the more will follow you.
Be selective in those you choose to follow — for this to work, you need to be smart.
Get involved in conversations, don’t just promo yourself. Look for hashtags in people you follow, get involved in those conversations that interest you.
Personalize your Twitter page. It’s a bio and you can get a custom background.
(Yes, I design them. See Services.)
Add a badge to your website and your blog that includes your twitter status updates. The beauty of the internet these days is the interconnectivity. Work smarter, not more.

Tools

There are a number of related tools to help you use Twitter to your advantage. I’ve tried to focus specifically on ones that will help you manage this or enhance it’s usage in your marketing efforts.

To make it easier to tweet and reply:

Tweet Deck – This allows you to manage your account, replies, direct messages as well as select to follow certain conversation threads. | Installs on Computer
Digsby – Works like an IM account, but allows you to see all your social networking tools at once, including Twitter (multiple accounts), facebook, myspace and more. | Installs on computer
TwitterMail - Send tweets from your email | Website sign up
Twitterfeed - Autopost your blog entries to twitter | Website sign up
TweetLater - Autoresponders to your tweets | Website sign up

To monitor and watch conversations and certain key terms

monitter.com - A website you can visit and put in #hashtags or topics to all tweets related. | Steps: web browser
twitterfall.com – A website to watch the upcoming trends and custom searches.
Tweet Deck [recommended] – I listed this in both places because it has multiple uses. In addition to managing your account, you can follow conversation threads. | Installs on Computer

Blog or Website Functionality/Additions

To add twitter capabilities to your blog and/or website:

Twitter Remote - Add a widget that shows which twitter users recently visited your site/blog. Usable on both blogs and websites. | Easy cut and paste.

WordPress plugins

Tweet This – This adds a Twitter icon to every post and page, so your readers can talk about your blog entries on their Twitter accounts with ease.
WP Twitip ID – This adds an extra field to the comment form on your blog to enter a twitter username (for your visitors)
Twitter Badge – Display badges showing what you are posting on Twitter.
The Twitter Updater – Automatically sends a Twitter update to your Twitter account when you create, publish, or edit your WordPress post. You can customize the text for the updates, and turn the auto update on/off for the posts
TwitThis is an easy way for people to send Twitter messages about your blog post or website. When visitors to your website click on the TwitThis button or link, it takes the URL of the webpage and creates a shorter URL using TinyURL. Then visitors can send this shortened URL and a description of the web page to all of their friends on Twitter.
Twitter Tools – This wordpress plugin creates an integration between your WordPress blog and your Twitter account. Pull your tweets into your blog and create new tweets on blog posts and from within WordPress.
Twitter WordPress Sidebar Widget – Customise the number of updates shown in your sidebar, individual links to each status update on Twitter, style your Twitterings using CSS, choose whether to display your Twitter name before each post and customise text between the post text and the relative time.
Twitter Feed – Posts your blog updates to your twitter account. Login to twitterfeed using your OpenID, provide the URL for your blog RSS feed, and how often to post to Twitter.
Twitt-Twoo – Allows you to update your Twitter status from your blog’s sidebar.
Tweet Blender – Allows for multiple tweeters. Great for group blogs.

Just plain entertaining or interesting

SecretTweet - As a writer, I’m fascinated by this. It’s like true confessions in 140 characters or less. Go to this website to post your secret, anon comments. Then go twitter.com/secrettweet to sign up to receive the tweets.
PollDaddy Twitter Polls - Create a poll and send it out easily.

Helpful Links

How @replies and replies work on Twitter
How To Search Twitter
How to Get Followers
Twitter How To
How to Find Your Twitter RSS Feed

THE LISTS ON TWITTER

Conversations you can follow and participate in

#askagent
#smallpress — talk about the small press books you recommend
#writegoal
#bookpub
#litchat
#followreader
#amwriting
#writingparty
#amwritingparty
#authors
#writechat
#thrillerchat
#editorchat

Twitter Chat Schedules

A full Twitter Chat Schedule can be found here: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=ruaz3GZveOsoXUOOt86B3AQ No point in trying to keep up with the list. Just click the link – it’s an interactive spreadsheet that allows people to update their information.

Agents & Publishers on Twitter

And finally, a list that’s as complete as I can make it so far (I will add to this list) of agents and editors and pubs you can follow. But first, I want to quote Literary Agent Janet Reid from her blog : “One of the great ways to make twitter a total waste of time is to follow someone who isn’t using twitter for what YOU are using it for.”

Not everyone searches out replies to them. Not everyone does searches by hashtags. Some people use it as an extended version of IM to chat with friends, coworkers and others and pay no attention to anything else. Others use it extensively to converse on topics, offer advice, and such. Check out their pages, see what they tweet about most and adjust your expectations from this accordingly. Twitter can be a great tool– as long as you use it in a way that makes sense for you.

THE LIST

Literary Agents

Publishing Industry

Agent Query: http://twitter.com/agentquery
Angela James/CarinaPress: http://twitter.com/angelajames
AuthoressAnon: http://twitter.com/AuthoressAnon
Bantam Editor: http://twitter.com/BantamEditor
Barbara Vey/PW: http://twitter.com/barbaravey
Book Pubs: http://twitter.com/bookpubs – Added 5/2010
Books Reviewer: http://twitter.com/BooksReviewer
Colleen Lindsay: http://twitter.com/Colleen_Lindsay
Jodi Meadows (slush reader): http://twitter.com/jodimeadows
Kirkus Reviews: http://twitter.com/KirkusReviews
LitChat http://twitter.com/litchat
LitMags http://twitter.com/litmags
Moonrat (acq editor at NY pub): http://twitter.com/moonrat
MJ Rose: http://twitter.com/MJRose
Publisher’s Weekly: http://twitter.com/PublishersWkly
Publishing Talk: http://twitter.com/publishingtalk
Query Shark: http://twitter.com/QueryShark
Ranty Editor: http://twitter.com/rantyeditor
Self Pub Review: http://twitter.com/selfpubreview
Sue Grimshaw: http://twitter.com/SueGrimshaw
Writer’s Digest: http://twitter.com/WritersDigest
Writers2Follow http://twitter.com/writers2follow

Book Publishers

Portfolio: Websites

Portfolio: Print Work

Archive for publishers on twitter

Twitter for Writers