Using Twitter

Today is Twitter Thursday. Yes this blog post has Twitter as the main theme. 

I was sceptical about Twitter but I am beginning to change my mind. If you regard Twitter as a tool and use it as such then it can be a very useful tool in the marketing tool box.

I use Twitter to find information to share with you...tricky huh. I follow leaders in the fields that I am interested in. They tweet their blog post titles and if I see anything of interest I go and have a look.

My own blog posts get posted to Twitter for my followers. Anything that goes up on my Amplify page also gets posted to Twitter.

I don’t use Twitter to talk about myself or what I’m doing...I find Twitter streams on professional sites can be full of silly minutiae of some people’s lives and that detracts from the professional image that these sites want to portray. If you have a personal blog then it is appropriate to put a twitter stream in there.

So from the Twitter feed today....

Tony Eldridge of Blogmarketing tips for authors has an interview with Melissa Giovagnoli where she shares 3 internet marketing tips. and it is no surprise that Melissa mentions Twitter and what you can do with it.

 Now Tony is the Twitter King and he has previously posted a great article from Penny Sansevieri which had a huge list of twitter tips for author marketing.

Margaret Atwood is a fan of Twitter and she recently wrote a very funny article for the Guardian newspaper about how she came to be involved...of course there are a few digs at her publishers on why she chose to do her own website. Margaret is all about communication.

So what's it all about, this Twitter? Is it signalling, like telegraphs? Is it Zen poetry? Is it jokes scribbled on the washroom wall? Is it John Hearts Mary carved on a tree? Let's just say it's communication, and communication is something human beings like to do.

Gail Carson Levine author of numerous best selling children’s books has a great  blog which I pop in to from time to time...this week she is looking at ideas and where they come from if you are stuck.

I found this a great read and very pertinent to me as I am writing a chapter for a fun project that several writers are involved with...It is just early stages but the possibilities of sending characters on a wild goose chase and also authors as they have to follow on in their own chapters is irresistible and Gail’s blog post fits right into this spirit.

People have built on stories forever. Shakespeare did it. The playwright George Bernard Shaw did it. I do it (to put myself in exalted company) when I adapt fairy tales for my own use.

Over on my Amplify page there is a link to an article about using book trailers to grab agents attention.

A link to a report on a Publishers Weekly panel where they looked at what teens are reading now...fat vampires?

And a link to a comprehensive article on the recent Bologna book fair - what publishers want and what is selling.

Spinning Gold News...Adele Broadbent is launching her book (which was picked up at the Spinning Gold conference) next month.

Tonight Mandy Hager, who launched her first book in her trilogy, The Crossing, at Spinning Gold, launches the second book at The Children’s Book Shop Kilbirnie Wellington.

And in pure gossip Spinning Gold number 2 may be held in Auckland...

Just finally Justine Larbalesteir is having a moment about why reviewers are saying a book obviously set in NZ is Australian and rightly so...the comments are interesting and thought provoking...my favourite was the comment that had one poor US citizen confused -isn’t New Zealand Middle Earth ?

maureen
pic is alien twitter bird...yes i know geek strikes again

Amplifying into the future...

Blogging demands commitment and so I trawl the web searching for interesting information for my weekly post. (well that's my excuse)

Often I find lots of interesting stuff which is not directly related to the topic of Author Marketing. So what to do...? I could make my blog articles longer....No (they are way to long already.)

 I could post more than once a week. No (because I have a computer addicted personality and I would never get any writing done if I gave myself any more permission ‘to research.’ )

Amplify to the rescue. In my sidebar you will see the amplify button. This will take you to a cunning page that I have set up called CRAICERPLUS. 

On this page are comments and links to sites and articles of interest to writers and publishers. There are links to futurists Mike Shatzkin and Guy Gonzales who have both posted interesting blog posts on future change in publishing. 

On CRAICERPLUS you can comment on what you’re reading back to me if you like.

So what made it to the Blog today.

Bologna, ah Bologna...Oh don’t I wish I was there....however Agent Kristin of the very popular Pub Rants blog is and she is letting her readers know about the latest trends there. Midgrade is making a comeback...yippee coz I love midgrade and that’s what I write. And werewolves and vampires are mostly over.

David Meerman Scott is writing about Brand Journalism...Companies need Journalists or Writers to mange the content of their online business. This cannot be left to IT departments. He has written an open letter to Journalists to tell them about the new opportunities he sees.

You don't need to compromise your integrity. You still tell stories. You still practice your craft. You still have followers who care about what you do. You still change people's lives.

The Huffington Post has a very popular post on the eleven most surprising banned books...Judy Blumes, Are You There God? is on it.  I can’t for the life of me think what is so bad about that book....

Justine Labalesteir has a great post on teenagers and reading...Yes they are and No don’t get worried...

But even if we could reach a consensus on good writing—so what if a teen is only reading books you consider appalling? Plenty of adults are doing ditto. The pleasures of bad books are many. The pleasures of reading a book your parents don’t want you to read are even greater.

Have a great Easter...
Maureen