Saturday, June 27, 2009

Convince Me!

I just read a large article on Funds for Writers about Twitter stories of 140 words. I must confess I didn't understand much of it. It seems the writer gets paid a small amount for these Twitter stories. (A very small amount I might add.)

It seems everyone and every business, news channel etc is on Twitter. Tell me, what is the point? Is Twitter beneficial to the writer or a time waster? Inquiring minds need to know.

Has Twitter helped you in any way with markets or writing tips?

5 comments:

Shirley said...

I've heard of those twitter stories, although I haven't actually seen any of them.

I'm on twitter. I admit that I don't check it often, but sometimes I do enjoy getting the KY3 news updates, since I rarely watch the news.

You can also find a few editors and agents on there if you look hard enough. And publishers.

Anonymous said...

I don't twitter, but I don't have a book to promote. I might do it if I had a book but every hour we spend on twitter and facebook, myspace, email is an hour not spent writing! I think we need to get our priorities straight...
Note three periods; don't you just hate it when someone uses four!
Ops, I'm off topic, sorry. dp

Beth said...

I follow agents, publishers, writers and published authors. Many of them are following me now (some VERY famous ones). It's fun to see how they promote their next book launch or next book tour. I print out some of their marketing ideas and put it in a file for future use since I have just finished writing my novel. (Still editing, though).

It's worth the contacts but takes too much time. You can learn to scroll through and just read the ones beside the icon you like. If you're like me, though, and fairly nosey, you'll have to read each one.

It's important to be on these social networks to market our work. It does take up a lot of time, though.

I'm following Harlan Coben, Jennifer Weiner, Jane Porter, Hank Phillipe Ryan and several other not-so-well-known authors. Interesting to see what they say about the writing process.

Beth said...

Pat (this is you, right?)
First, why don't you ever comment on my blog? LOL. I always comment on yours. Boo hoo. I need more followers!!!

Secondly and seriously, if you decide to try Twitter (why not-- it's free and you can stop if you don't like it) be sure and use terms in your bio that are important to you. That's how like-minded people will find you. They do searches for writers, agents, publshers or whatever they're looking for.

Here are some terms you might want to use: writer, Bible studies instructor, online writing instructor, mystery writer, mom, grandmother, or whatever your main interests are. Believe me, similar people will find you.

I have people following me from the UK, Scotland, New Zealand, Portugal and the states. It's cool. They're mainly writers, marketers or agents. Feel free to follow me. Lisa Wells from ORA is on Twitter quite a bit and I update mine once or twice a day when I check my email.

Hope this helps. I can be pretty persuasive. Should have been an attorney.

Side note: I'm also following Jodi Picolt and she's tweeting about the premiere of My Sister's Keeper and how the film ending is different from her book. She posted pics of herself with the stars in the film. Pretty cool. She also asked her readers to stop emailing her if they didn't like the ending because she didn't have control over it.

Things like this are interesting to read because if any of us make it big (wouldn't that be amazing), it helps to see how other writers promote their work, address readers and handle the media coverage.

I also have followers who supply marketing tips, writing prompts and much more. Sometimes people just say they're watering their flowers or exercising but you can scroll through those. I say that on occasion as well.

Let us know what you decide!

Palooski65 said...

I've found very little networking response on myspace or twitter. By the time I spend the time I do on facebook, I don't pursue the other two since my response doesn't seem as gratifying--ratio of time spent against responses.

I really need to retire--seems like I don't have enough time to do all the "have tos" let alone "want tos." Hopefully, the end of the year.

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