Promoting Your Book on Twitter: 10 Tips for Shy Writers

The author of Twitter For Authors: Social Media Book Marketing Strategies for Shy Writers gives us 10 tips to help you get attention for your book on Twitter.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

I know Twitter can be a confusing medium for many authors – what can you say in 280 characters to promote your book? In my opinion, Twitter is actually a writer’s dream for those who enjoy short-form writing, don’t want to rely on images, and are willing to experiment.

A news service that the users create, Twitter is a great resource to meet other writers, agents, editors, and book bloggers, i.e., people who love to read and review books. So don’t just ask how you can promote your book on Twitter, try to determine a strategy to connect with people in the publishing industry.

10 ways to promote your book on Twitter

1. Open an account on Twitter

Choose a name that is easily recognizable, ideally your author name. In the long run, as an author, you are your brand. If you choose a name like “jamie123,” it won’t help you build name recognition.

2. Bring in your email contacts

Twitter makes this easy. In this way, you can see who you already know on Twitter.

3. Craft a profile

Create a profile that tells us

1. you’re an author
2. what genre you write in (romance, how-to, memoir, etc.)
3. interests that reflect your personality
4. something to entice us to want to get to know you better

There is a separate field for your website or blog site, so don’t put that in your Twitter profile.

4. Draft tweets ahead of time

You’d rather be writing, right? So use a service like Hootsuite.com, BufferApp.com, SocialOomph.com, or Tweetdeck — all with free versions — to schedule tweets ahead of time. You can also use these tools to reply to people, and follow conversations.

5. Spend most of your time interacting

Interact directly and publicly with people who follow you, retweet you, and “favorite” your tweets. You do this by using the @ Connect tab on the Twitter menu. I spend 90 percent of my time here.

6. Interact in conversations that relate to your book

You do this by clicking on the “# Discover” tab. This is where you can type in a keyword with or without the hashtag.

Authors often ask me how to use the hashtag. By typing in your keyword with a hashtag, like “#amwriting” — a hashtag used to connect with others writers who are writing — you can stay in touch and be a part of a larger conversation happening around the virtual water cooler.

7. Use the 5-5-5 rule

To keep your time focused and limited, use the 5-5-5 rule. Spend five minutes responding to tweets, follows, and replies. Spend another five minutes following new people. Twitter offers suggestions all the time on the left-hand side. You can also use the “# Discover” tab. Use the final five minutes crafting tweets, thanking, sharing, and inviting.

8. Take risks

Sometimes we don’t know what will work until we try it. There’s lots of room for experiment and play. As long as you are in line with what you stand for (your platform, really), then you can feel good about what you do on Twitter (and by extension the other social media channels).

9. Learn from the masters

Turn to more experienced authors. When I see a book marketing campaign done by another author that I think is really cool, I try it — with my own spin, of course.

10. Participate in conversations

There is a plethora of hashtags that writers are using to connect, promote, and learn. As I mentioned above, there’s #amwriting. There’s also #amediting. If you’d like to participate in a live conversation, the tool to use is Tweetchat.

Read More
How To Promote A Book On YouTube
How To Use 100 Printed Books To Promote Your Self-published Title
How To Define Your Book’s Target Audience In 6 Steps
Social Media For Authors
#BookTok Book Marketing Tips