6 reasons your Twitter account is doing your writing more harm than good
We all know that Twitter can be a useful tool for authors, particularly for those who take the independent publishing route. It’s a great way of engaging with readers and helping to build your author platform, but it’s also the case that your Twitter account could end up doing your writing more harm than good.
With this in mind, here are six reasons you might not be getting the most out of your Twitter account – they’re certainly things to watch out for.
Lack of use
One of the main reasons your Twitter account could be doing more harm than good is through lack of use. There’s no point having an account if you then don’t use it. It takes time to build success through social media sites such as Twitter, so a certain amount of commitment is needed – otherwise you could just end up looking a little bit flaky.
Too much focus on irrelevant topics
It’s also important to make your Twitter account relevant to your goals, or else it won’t help you achieve them. That’s not to say you can’t Tweet about things that are irrelevant to your writing – in fact, that can help you appeal to a broader base – but it’s also important to keep your writing aims in mind.
Too much time spent plugging a book
That said, too much time plugging your book on Twitter can put people off. If all you’re Tweeting is the same link to your book, over and over, it’ll quickly get old and people will start to unfollow you. There’s nothing wrong with promoting your work, but it needs to be sufficiently balanced with other stuff to stop it becoming tedious. In many ways, Twitter is about social engagement first, promoting your books second.
Lack of engagement with others
Linked to the above point is the fact that your Twitter account could end up doing more harm than good if you don’t engage with other people. If a reader sends you a Tweet, reply. Of course, it might not be possible to reply to every single Tweet that you get sent, but if you don’t respond to any of them, it doesn’t look that great. One of Twitter’s benefits is that it allows you to interact with other people – who might buy your books – and that’s something that writers should definitely take advantage of.
No coherent strategy
A lack of strategy can also lead to your Twitter profile drifting and note having as much impact as it could. Think about what you’re hoping to achieve through social media and how you could go about doing that. Random Tweets are fun, but you still need to be thinking about your goals.
Too much use
Finally, your Twitter account could end up harming your writing simply by taking up too much of your time. It can be very addictive and, while spending a bit of time on there every day won’t do much harm, we still need to make sure we’re leaving enough time to actually write. After all, there’s no point promoting our writing on Twitter if we’re then not getting the writing done.
How do you make sure your Twitter account is a help to your writing rather than a hindrance?
