It seems like the number of writers considering self-publishing an e-book is rising. And the number of writers following me on Twitter with a self-published book is rising too.
That’s wonderful. I don’t mind at all. Nice to meet you. I absolutely love that this opportunity is available for writers.
But please don’t send me an automated DM that says, ‘welcome and check out my book.’
Don’t start spamming the Twitterverse with links to your book – not if that’s the only thing you tweet about. Seriously. That won’t encourage me to buy your book at all. And if you do it too much, I’ll unfollow you. Enough is enough.
Don’t keep linking reviews of your book every hour, announcing where you are on the ranking list because I don’t care. #itsnothingpersonal #really
But I do care about you. I want to get to know you. Your personality. What do you blog about? I might check it out if it seems interesting. Tweet about a funny thing that happened to you. Interact with people. Comment on their blogs. Encourage them. Promote others. Retweet people.
Then I might be interested in your book and your rankings.
Twitter is not all about YOU. Or your book. #sorry #truthhurts
That being said, Heather Kelly created a fun new Twitter game. Right now, it’s called The Twitter Game. #sooriginal We use different fun hashtags and anyone and everyone can join in. If you belong to Tweetdeck, you can click on the hashtag and create a column just for that hashtag. So you won’t miss any of the tweets. Here’s Heather’s original post introducing the game.
It’s a great icebreaker. People will see you and get to know you. And maybe follow you. But don’t do it just to sell your book or promote your blog. Do it to have fun and meet people. Because in this crazy journey to publishing filled with rejection we all need to laugh.
So join in the fun. Last week one hashtag was: #thingsiletmykidsdosoicanwrite
Today’s game and hashtag is #badquerytips
See you in the Twitterverse! And have fun!
How to survive Twitter – part one, How to survive Twitter – part two , Must-know Twitter hashtags