Dear Editor…
I’m not on Twitter and wonder if you feel it’s worth it for writers? I’m on Instagram and Facebook.
Thanks,
Elle
Dear Elle…
Instagram and Facebook are great for spreading awareness of your books and yourself. If you’re using them effectively—engaging others, cheering their news while sharing your own, spending quality time there rather than just bull-horning your books—you’re already doing your promo efforts a solid. You’ll increase your discoverability by doing the same on Twitter, so if you can add it without up-ending your promo/writing/life balance, do so. Are you unpublished? If so, know this: Writers do land agents via Twitter events (#PitMad; #PitchWars). Yes, really! Bonus: Twitter etiquette says we can tweet more frequently than we can post on Facebook. As with all promo efforts, strategize first. What do you want from Twitter? What kind of tweets will you post and retweet to achieve that? What can you do besides be a tweeting billboard for yourself (which people hate)? When will you log in and engage others? “Social” media is about relationships, after all. My trick: I’ve set a phone reminder that blasts the word “Amplify!” at me three times a week to remind me to take a moment to tweet someone else’s good news or books on DearEditor.com’s Twitter and Facebook. It’s my goal with DearEditor.com to support writers by sharing info and by amplifying their voices … and it just makes me feel good. That’s the final item: What’ll make it fun for you? If it’s a chore, you won’t stick with it.
Happy writing!
The Editor