7 Twitter tips all authors should know

Twitter can be a great tool for authors, whether they’re looking to promote a new book or simply engage in a little bit of procrastination. In order to get the most out of the social networking tool, it’s worth doing a bit of research to find out more about what it offers and how you might be able to use it. With this in mind, here are a few Twitter tips that all authors should know.

Choose who you follow carefully. It might be tempting just to follow back anyone who follows you, but if your aim with Twitter is to build up contacts and increase your knowledge about the publishing industry (or whatever your particular interest is), it will be harder to achieve your goals if you’re following lots of people who don’t add much in the way of value to your Twitter timeline. Be thoughtful when choosing people to follow, and create lists of different groups of people.
Don’t expect miracles. From many articles on social media, you get the impression that all you need is a Twitter account and a bit of regular Tweeting to hugely increase your book sales. In real life, this is unlikely to happen purely as a result of your newfound love of Twitter. It can definitely be useful, but it’s also useful not to set your sights too high. Don’t ignore all those other means of marketing.
People are online at different times of day. It sounds obvious, but not everyone is online at the same time, so it’s worth Tweeting at different times of day to make sure you catch as many of your followers as possible. It might be worth conducting a few time of day experiments, sending out similar Tweets at different times to see when you get the best response. You can use tools such as hootsuite.com to schedule Tweets if you can’t always manage to get online.
Don’t limit yourself. If all you do on Twitter is plug your book, it’s likely to make people switch off quite quickly. You need to make sure you’re Tweeting on a wide range of interesting subjects – you might have your specialist subjects that you focus on more than others, but mixing it up from time to time is definitely worth it.
Do some hashtag research. There are loads of Twitter hashtags that are used by authors and readers, so take a look and try out a few different ones to see which you think work best. For example, #amreading and #amwriting are popular, but you might also like to try out other options such as #selfpub or #crimefiction, depending on where your interests lie.
Be careful with what you say. Most Tweets disappear without much notice, but you never know when something you say will get picked up on, by followers or the press – particularly if you’re a little bit well-known for your writing. Before you hit that Tweet button, ask yourself if you’d be willing to be quoted on whatever it is you’re about to post. If not, it might be worth having a rethink.
An amusing photo of a cat will get you a long way on Twitter. So will comical cat YouTube videos. It’s worth having a few up your sleeve just in case.