Hi everyone. I've been writing 6 blogs a week for awhile, and just feel the need to cut back so I can visit YOUR blogs, and get other writing and marketing done. I'm moving to 3 a week for awhile.
Let me throw out a question for today, though. I've been hearing from several circles that TWITTER IS THE WAY TO GO. Do you use Twitter? Is it worth the time investment, especially if you don't have a blackberry? It's interesting -- I'm thinking that a year or two ago I wouldn't have understood what I just wrote right there. Anything wrong with an old-fashioned typewriter? Can you even buy those things anymore???
Phoenixes Featured
4 months ago
8 comments:
The word Twitter has come to make me cringe. But it won't go away and seems inevitable. I'm anxious to hear more about it from your readers, Amy.
I'm JaneLebak over at Twitter.
I don't think it's "worth it" as a marketing tool. In fact, I think it's mostly a waste of time in general, except for one thing.
One of the characters in my WIP has a specific condition, and I followed someone from a podcast over to Twitter where he has a support network of sorts for that condition. I followed him, and he followed me back, and suddenly I was part of a lot of long, indepth and very personal conversations about what it's like to live with this condition. I'm getting input about the research surrounding it in realtime (he's a researcher himself) and I've even got two people with that condition willing to pre-read the manuscript when it's ready.
There are other "communities" I've been utterly unable to break into on Twitter. It can be and usually is a colossal waste of time. It's like standing in a cocktail party making chit-chat and having the occasional deep conversation. But there are links to some good articles too, and commentary about news in realtime.
I haven't seen an uptick in weblog hits since joining Twitter but I do know I've picked up a few readers from there and sold two copies of my book. :-)
Amy, between a demanding office job (Happy Administrative Professional's Day to me, by the way!), writing my monthly column, trying to write a novel, writing book reviews for my editor-in-chief, and blogging, I'm already on my computer 12 hours a day.
The youth I work with talked me into getting on Myspace a couple of years ago. Last year, they talked me into Facebook. Now, a lot of people have told me that I simply MUST Twitter. But right now, I just can't see investing the time. Until it's inevitable (in Anne's words), I just don't think I can branch out that direction.
Hi, Amy.
Well, I'm on Twitter and FaceBook. I'm huge fans of them both.
There are many agents, publishers,and editors on both. It's nice to see their posts. I've learned a lot from them.
Also, I've connected with many writers and readers as well. On FaceBook, I have nearly 2300 friends, they often visit my blog, check out my writing, and I theirs...
I don't use it soley for marketing, though. (Heck, I'm not published yet or even have an agent.) I really enjoy meeting the people. Commenting on their status updates and interacting with them on chat.
I think it's well worth the time and effort.
Oh, how I miss typewriters...
I've heard from agents and publishers that Facebook and Twitter is a necessity nowadays in order to get your name out there. And I do have a Facebook account, though I'm not on there as much as I should be.
I've thought about Twitter, but I don't have a Blackberry that I can whip out to tell the world what I'm doing, either.
To be honest, with a blog and so many other writerly things to do, I'm a little crunched for time, too. Having yet another something I have to constantly update can easily be more of an aggravation than a way to connect with more people.
That said, I'll probably end up doing it anyway ;).
Amy,
Coincidentally, I just read an article in Poets & Writers about this very topic. You can find it here.
Rita
Like Lynn, I use Twitter mostly to follow agents and publishers. The great thing about Twitter is the updates are limited to 140 characters. It forces you to be concise.
Like Lynn, I use it mostly to follow agents and editors. You're also limited to 140 characters per update, so it forces you to be concise.
Just do me a favor, and don't share what you ate for lunch and other mundane activities. Ugh.
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