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Twitter for Authors: How to Connect with your Writing Community

As an author, Twitter is an incredible social media platform to help you connect with and engage your audience 280 Characters at a time! Yes, it can help you market your book, but it also is about building a following and a community! Here are our top tips for authors on Twitter to help you get the most out of your social media experience!



Be Social—Engage!


We cannot stress enough how important it is to engage with your readers on Twitter! Ask them questions, follow them back, and interact with them on the platform. If all of your posts and responses are for self-promotion, your followers will disengage. Think about it, would you rather talk to a brand or a person? Taking the time and making these connections will help you in the long run when you release your book!


Quick Tip: When you do talk about your book, share something personal with it. Even when posting something promotional, make it more like a conversation and less like a billboard.


Easy ways to engage:

  • Respond To Your Followers: when someone reaches out to you, whether it is a private message or a comment, respond to them! Not only will it make them feel heard, but it will also boost your credibility as a Twitter Author.

  • Share Fan Art/Posts: Utilize your ability to retweet! Any time you get something touching or interesting from a follower, share it with your followers.

  • Create Polls and Ask Opinions: What better way to engage your followers then to ask them for their thoughts? Crowdsource answers about a new character idea or just ask your community interesting questions. You never know what will spark inspiration!


 


Expand Your Reach!


Like Instagram, Twitter is a great way to not only interact with your current followers, but also gain new ones! Grow your audience on Twitter by staying active and engaged on the platform. Many of the engagement tips above will help you not only reach but maintain new accounts.


Easy ways to reach new people:

  • Trending Topics: one of the simplest ways to expose your account to a new audience is by tweeting about trending topics. To do this, just use the corresponding hashtags. For example, in April it is National Poetry Month. During this time, share a poem you have written with hashtag #NationalPoetryMonth.


Important note: Don’t just post trending hashtags without a reason. It is far better and more rewarding (in engagement and followers) when you tie the trending hashtag back to your story, book, or experience. Again: make it personal!


  • Do a cover reveal: create more hype around your upcoming book by hosting a cover reveal on Twitter. Post a few times in advance to announce the day of your reveal and on the day of, share your cover with information about the book’s release date.

  • Host a giveaway: Twitter giveaways are a very popular way to reach new audiences and gain account exposure. Whether you are giving away a free book or some swag, this is a fun way to build and engage your audience.


Quick Tip: When hosting a giveaway, make sure they are giving you something in return! For example, a name can only be entered when they share your post, like your profile, or sign up for your newsletter. That way it is a win-win!


 

Be Active in the Writing Community!


Twitter has a strong writing community where you, as an author, will be able to share your work and connect with fellow writers. It is a great place to network, build a community, and support others on a similar path.


Easy ways to get involved:

  • Celebrate book birthdays: support and connect with your fellow authors by congratulating them about their #bookbirthday. Many times this will come back around to benefit you as people will return the congrats when your #bookbirthday rolls around.

  • Participate in Twitter chats: simply join these chats by answering the question(s) posted by fellow authors or readers. You could also start your own by asking a question out to the community.

  • Join tag games: tag games are a fun and easy way to engage with the writing community. One common example of this is to post “Five Things from my WIP” (WIP is Work In Progress). When posting this, tag another author to keep the thread going. This is a great way to build online connections with the community.


As an author, Twitter can be an incredible tool not only to sell your book but to also connect with your community! By engaging with followers, expanding your audience, and connecting with the writing community, your experience on Twitter is sure to improve. Simply using Twitter to self-promote feels like a chore after a while and can feel like you are shouting into the ether. But by following these simple steps, Twitter will start to feel more like a community and a place where you enjoy spending time.


Follow Light of the Moon, Inc on Twitter @LOTMPublishing


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