What are ways writers like to use twitter?

[rajillustration]

Hey all, so on art twitter it's pretty simple to advertise, since we make...art...so comic update posts tend to stand out with pretty pictures (there's also a lot of visual hashtags people enjoy finding new artists in, and fanart you can draw to catch people in your fold etc, etc). But, for all you novel writers out there--how do you get eyes on your twitter feed for updates without the magic of art? (or maybe you are using art to advertise, I don't know how writer twitter works)

I figure I'd make a thread where we can deposit our knowledge of ways writers are getting their twitter followers and what their followers like to look at. Any good hashtags? Any fancy ways of promoting each update? Any challenges like art twitter does like #6fanartschallenge?

[Berserker]

I never thought about it till just now, but I might start posting either a couple lines of text every day or a couple quotes from a conversation. It might not hit huge numbers, but nether do my promotional posts.

[MorganaMevil]

I’ve seen authors do Twitter pages for their MCs. They reply as the MC and post updates as the book comes out. If it’s done well, it can turn out to be really funny and cool.

[KJWhitten]

I like to retweet other writer's content or promote them and say something like "X story is about y and z, check them out!" and that can get some follows. I found that liking pinned tweets can give you new followers. I haven't tried this yet but someone said tweeting memes that relate to your story can help.

I think the key is being yourself and interacting with others on twitter. Sharing what you like can make people interested in you, and interacting with others can make people curious about your content and who you are.

You could try the hashtag shamelessselfpromo. Or maybe you can follow twitter accounts that help promote your content like this one: https://twitter.com/PWebserials

[vblairehawthorne]

Oh, hey! Thanks for promoting the PWebserials Twitter project! I am so bad at social media that our followers are doing our work for us hahahaha! But everything KJ said is true! Hashtags, links, pinned tweets, bios, and tags are defo the BEST way of getting the most out of Twitter!

Retweeting other author's work, befriending them, supporting them! That gives your work SO MUCH more traction that passively waiting for reads. Being an overall polite and decent human being can get you so far in the Twitter endgame.

Here's my format:

• A snippet from the chapter like a memorable narration, favorite dialogues, or powerful lines.
• Adding a bit of your thoughts about the chapter like "OOH! THIS ONE IS VERY SEXY!" or "OH GOD I CAN'T BELIEVE YOUR FAVE FCKING DIIIIIES! check out how that happens here!"
• And then add hashtags like #WritingCommunity or tag accounts like @PWebserials,
• Lastly, add your link at the very end of the Tweet (IMPORTANT!) If you don't add your link at the very end of the Tweet, it will not show a preview of your link on the Tweet!

Hope that helps! AND KEEP TWEETING! Follow my Twitter account using this link: https://twitter.com/AsIfIHaveTwiter

[rajillustration]

oh interesting--yeah I heard that the guy who wrote Annihilation (or someone who wrote a book like that, I don't recall the author, I just heard this from my brother) was doing very small short stories on his twitter of different people in his universe that were never in the books. That seemed kinda neat.

[rajillustration]

I found that liking pinned tweets can give you new followers.

As well as this I think it's VERY important to have a pinned tweet that has your website (or your novel site) so when people click on your twitter they know exactly who you are and what you make. Like I have a bio, as well, but no one retweets my bio haha. Just my pinned tweet.

[rajillustration]

nd then add hashtags like #WritingCommunity or tag accounts like @PWebserials,

O cool, I haven't heard of @webserials since I am so new to doing anything webnovel like. Thanks for the very valuable input!

[vblairehawthorne]

I'm not surprised you haven't heard of it tbh hahahaha! The Promote Webserials project started this year, so we don't have a lot of followers yet hahahaha! Be sure to use the account to your hearts content! We can't really do much other than liking and retweeting, but I hope the account will help your tweets reach new audiences and fellow creators!