Tweet as an Author

​Several months before I finished my first book, I sat down with a local author for several hours to pick her brain. I was anxious to find out as much as I could about her life and how she got her first novel published.
 
One topic that kept coming up was the importance of building my social media platform. Of course, I had been hearing this for months, but this was the first time another author was giving me one-on-one time and was able to be specific with her advice.
 
Yes, she made some many comments about having a website and Facebook Pages— both of which I was inspired to finish and launch within days of our meeting—but it was Twitter that resonated with me the most. Perhaps it was because it was the one area I had yet to explore.
 
She was able to give me some pointers on how to use Twitter as an author and I have added a few of my own.
 
Get a handle that is easy to find.
The handle is your identifier and begins with the @ sign. I already one as I had signed up, but was not actively tweeting. She encouraged me to change it so it would be easier to find. If you have a long name (like me) or a popular name, you are not going to get your exact name. I finally decided on @christinegrabo because it will pop up if you start typing my full name.
 
Follow Authors
Find authors to follow, especially those in your genre by typing in a few words such as Author and Young Adult in the search bar. In time, that will lead to most of you followers being authors too.
 
Support Fellow Authors
She explained that twitter should be used to help each other out. Right now, I don’t have my own book to promote, but I can help out other authors by retweeting their tweets or reading and reviewing their books.  When it’s my turn, they will be there to help me.
 
Educate Yourself
Of course, she didn’t teach me everything, but it was enough to jump in and get started. From there, I was able to look for tutorials to take the next step or learn by lurking and watching others tweet.
 
Link Twitter to Social Media Accounts
Once you get going, it is easy to tie your twitter into your website or blogs as well as other social media accounts such as Facebook, Goodreads, Linked In, and Instagram. This will help your followers find you in other arenas.
 
I have found twitter to be a source of valuable information. I follow people who may be anywhere on the continuum of aspiring author to bestselling author as well as editors, literary agents, and marketers, and they have lots of pertinent knowledge to share. Plus, it’s a way to feel camaraderie with fellow writers rather than feel I am stepping out into this new career alone. 
 
I encourage you to sign up, get over your fear, and start to tweet. Feel free to send me your first one.  I promise to follow you back.
 
Thank you for reading this post. I hope you found it helpful.