Questions about SmartReads

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about how SmartReads works over on twitter. (@Smart_Reads)

There, I do a bit of free book promotion. At the very least you get a new follower and a free shout out. Absolutely no strings attached. Like the sign says: Supporting Indie-Authors Everywhere • Happy to promote your efforts • No strings attached • Literacy is a good thing

So, how does this work?
Simply follow. You get a follow-back and a post about your book. That’s it, right?

Well, not quite. There’s more...
SmartReads is closing in on 10,000 followers and it casts a very large net. That is, not only the 1000s of authors there get a follow back and a shout out. People from all walks of life like to sign up and they all get some attention. Everyone likes attention… and some crave it more than others.

There is only one hard and fast rule:
I do not retweet retweets (I can’t even say that with out stuttering). I focus on your efforts, not other people’s. What does this mean? Some folks tweet a lot, others infrequently. Think of it as on-demand promotion. If something is going on for you, big or small, make sure it hits the notification page and you’re virtually guaranteed a “like” and “retweet.”

The reason for this is simple. The feed is so massively large, I cannot keep up. Not to mention all the promo-bots that receive little attention. Smart Reads is run from the “notifications” page. If I see it there, it gets attention.

Do I tweet my own stuff? You bet.
Do you have to reciprocate? Not at all.
Though good karma begets good karma.

Finally, this question often comes up: Does twitter sell books? Short answer: no. Long answer: no, but it is very good for promotion.

Thanks for reading.