Tag: twitter

Follow, Follow, Follow the Twitter Brick Road

If you’ve been around the Internet for very long – more than a day or so – you will have encountered the advice that social media is a great way to promote what you’re selling.  In our case, books we’ve written.  And among social media, Twitter is a favorite.  Some of the marketing gurus make a case for following anyone and everyone you can find so they will follow you back, and you will develop a huge “audience” very quickly.  They often make it out to be a simple matter of follow, follow, follow the tritter brick road to riches.

   Continue reading “Follow, Follow, Follow the Twitter Brick Road”

Jedi Mind Twits: Follow Limit on Twitter

Photo by tychay

It’s like running a race; you’re hitting your stride, settled in and making good time.  Suddenly out of nowhere, a block pops up out of the track, you trip over it and end up stumbling and twisting all around trying not to end up face down in the dirt.

On Twitter you’ve been tweeting good stuff about you and your work, sharing interesting links, retweeting things for others and your following has been steadily building up.  You found another great person to follow and clicked the button.  But suddenly a window pops up and says “Looks like you’ve hit a limit” and it won’t let you follow this great tweep.  Why NOT!?  Continue reading “Jedi Mind Twits: Follow Limit on Twitter”

Jedi Mind Twits: Messaging

twitter, peeps, shout-outTwitter is all about sending brief messages to others, but what you send, how you send it and why can be tricky to learn.  Here are some pointers starting with the basics and moving into some lesser known tid-bits.

Twitter offers two types of message: a tweet and a Direct Message (DM).  Tweets are visible to the public DM’s are private communications between two users.

Direct Messages

Direct messages you receive from others are listed on the Messages tab on your Twitter home page.  A chronological list (newest on top) is displayed on the left, a reader panel on the right.  Click a sender to read the direct messages to and from that sender. 

In the Account Settings (click your name in the upper right hand corner of the screen, then Settings, then Notifications) you may choose to have a copy of your DMs sent to your e-mail address.  These include a link that will take you back to Twitter to reply to the DM if you like.  Continue reading “Jedi Mind Twits: Messaging”

Jedi Mind Twits: #HashTags

Last time we looked at some Nuts and Bolts usage of Twitter, to help newbies get the bike rolling.  Now we’ll begin looking at some of the fancier stuff; like popping a wheelie.  Some of this will help you get more out of Twitter, some will help you work faster, some will help you look like a Twitter Jedi Master.

This time we will look at hash tags.  Continue reading “Jedi Mind Twits: #HashTags”

For Twitter Newbies: Nuts & Bolts

Lawrence Block seems to be of the opinion that John Locke’s latest book, “How I Sold a Million Books in Five Months” is largely responsible for the sudden influx of writers and authors to the Twitterverse.  Whether Mr. Locke has had that much influence or not is not really the issue.  The issue is that I have noticed many more writers and authors in Twitter and their profile numbers indicate that most of them are twitter newbies.  Some of these folks have asked me about the cryptic shorthand Twitterers use as well as heaping praise and adoration upon me for my methods of welcoming new followers.  OK, maybe that’s just a tad over the top, but not by much: Twitter users, whether paduan learner or master, really do appreciate the recognition.

I remember a time (two months ago, to be exact) when I too was staring at the twitter screen and asking myself, “How in the world does this thing work?” and “What the flapjacks does THAT mean?”  So I thought I’d endeavor to cobble together a plain-English Newbie Nuggets guide to Twitter to help all these new folks get up to speed.

The Lingo

 The hardest part for me was learning what all that cryptic goobledy-gook meant, when to use it, when not to, and why you can’t just say what you mean.  As I write this I’m still learning some of it, but here is a quick run-down of  the most common terms, and how to use them.  Continue reading “For Twitter Newbies: Nuts & Bolts”

Twitter Feeds for Major Publishers

For those who want to keep up with what the major legacy publishing houses are doing, here is a list of the top 5 twitter feeds from each house and how many followers each account has.

HarperCollins Imprint Followers
1 @HarperTeen 15,292
2 @zondervan 12,279
3 @HarperPerennial 11,656
4 @HarperCollins 10,252
5 @BookClubGirl 8,046
Simon & Schuster
1 @simonschuster 122,660
2 @ScribnerBooks 7,920
3 @freepressbooks 6,852
4 @AtriaBooks 6,020
5 @SimonTEEN 5,453
Penguin
1 @penguinusa 183,477
2 @PenguinPbks 18,006
3 @PenguinClassics 10,214
4 @PenguinTeen 9,784
Hachette
1 @littlebrown 141,507
2 @GrandCentralPub 12,406
3 @orbitbooks 8,554
4 @FaithWords 5,143
5 @HachetteBooks 5,429
Random House
1 @randomhouse 193,845
2 @AAKnopf 104,638
3 @fodorstravel 104,623
4 @randomhousekids 14,943
5 @VintageAnchor 11,652
Macmillan
1. @torbooks 83,892
2 @FSG_Books 14,522
3 @PicadorUSA 8,992
4 @HenryHolt: 4,722
5 @StMartinsPress 2,652
*As of June 20, 2011, Source: Publisher’s Weekly

Juicing Up Your Twitter Power

Let me start by saying that I am NOT a social media expert.  I am NOT an SEO specialist.  I do not have a PhD in twitterology.  I can’t even claim to play any of these roles on television.  I’m just a guy who has learned a few things; mostly by trial and error, who is willing to share these things with you.

I opened my Twitter account in 2010, but didn’t do much with it because I didn’t have a clue what I was doing.  Why didn’t I jump on board sooner?  That’s simple: I thought Twitter was just the silliest thing around and had no use for it at all.  Continue reading “Juicing Up Your Twitter Power”

Twitter Education

Are you an author looking for ways to market your book(s)?  Do you want to use Twitter but are not sure how to use it effectively?  If so here are some great information resources.  The first section came from Joanna Penn’s post on Social Networking for Authors and she offers some do’s and don’ts as well, so be sure to stop in there too.  These are great places to further your Twitucation.

Some Useful Posts on Twitter

Looking for info on how to use Twitter?  Here are my articles from nuts & bolts to Jedi mind twits.