Promoting Books On Twitter

I have to admit that I used to put much more effort to working with Twitter than I do now. I know that it has more to offer than I am making use of, which is why I was attracted to an article that I saw on promoting books on Twitter. (Here is the link, so you can red it in its entirety - How To Promote Books On Twitter.) 

Spoiler alert - the article starts at day one - how to sign up for Twitter!  Then it moves on to the basics of creating a profile, how to Tweet, how to follow people, and how to get them to follow you. Personally, I wish that this had been presented as a separate article. If you are already on Twitter, I woud just move right down to the meat of this article, which is selling books with Twitter!

The first thing addressed here is hashtags, which I almost never use, although I know full well that I should! This is how we attract followers - by letting them know what we are talking about! There is a list of specific hashtags for authors, which is a goldmine! There is a listing of hashtags by genre, and for getting idustry information, creative writing help, and connecting with readers.

Of course, you also have to Tweet about your book! I am going to make best use of this section to get my books out there for the holidays. Whether we self-publish, or publish through a brick and mortar, as authors we need to do the heavy work of promoting our books ourselves. There is no magic wand! The greatest tools that we may have at hand are the social media - Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, and Google +, to name a few.

We also have to think about the very basics - Twitter is a 140 character base. If we choose to use links (and we shoud!), then using a shrtened link is a huge help. This article presents a link shortener that I have never heard of (I am of the Tiny Url generation!), but that I will be trying out.  One of the main reasons that I will be trying out this tool is that it focuses on where the individual clicking on a link is from, and takes them to the relevent link (think Amazon and all of its incarnations in various countries).

Competitions and give aways are also discussed. This has never been a tool that worked wll for me, but I know others that it has worked very well for. Certainly something to consider.

Twitter apps and tools are something that is beyond where I am right now, but certainly something that should be considered. I know that I need to up my tech savvy. and this doesn't lok that hard.

There is a great deal of information here - take away what works for you, leave the rest behind!

(c) December 2015 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without the written consent of the author.