Using Twitter

[other2other1]

Last week another author I have been talking to mentioned Twitter, following that chat, I set up an account @JohnOtherWrites and posted a link tagging @literotica (Thank you for the like Lit Admins) and a couple of hash tags to the story.

I have a couple of questions:
1. What are some of the common tags that you use to get your stories noticed?
2. Do you use a creative writing to advertise your stories?
3. Do you think including a picture helps? (I noticed a few people use pictures others not)
4. Are you advertising to get more traction on your story, or is it more just supporting out Lit Author community?

I used to use Twitter years ago as a consultant, was great at events, however it's been a few years and while the same its also different, so these questions are to help me reorient myself on Twitter and hopefully help a few other of us Authors thinking of using the platform.

Cheers

 

[MelissaBaby]

Last week another author I have been talking to mentioned Twitter, following that chat, I set up an account @JohnOtherWrites and posted a link tagging @literotica (Thank you for the like Lit Admins) and a couple of hash tags to the story.

I have a couple of questions:
1. What are some of the common tags that you use to get your stories noticed?
2. Do you use a creative writing to advertise your stories?
3. Do you think including a picture helps? (I noticed a few people use pictures others not)
4. Are you advertising to get more traction on your story, or is it more just supporting out Lit Author community?

I used to use Twitter years ago as a consultant, was great at events, however it's been a few years and while the same its also different, so these questions are to help me reorient myself on Twitter and hopefully help a few other of us Authors thinking of using the platform.

Cheers

1. Usually I just tag #literotica and @Literotica.
2. I will often tweet a quote from the story and the link. After I get a few comments, I will do a blurb type post, with excerpts from positive comments.
3. I do like to make "book covers" to use in promo tweets. I think any tweet with a picture will draw more attention than one without.
4. Both. I follow other Lit authors and retweet them, and frequently do a search on the Lit hash tags and like or retweet a lot of what I find. I also retweet all site tweets about contests and events.

 

[PennameWombat]

I don’t have a dedicated ‘author’ Twitter, just use my regular Twitter account. I do as Melissa does and tag #literotica and @Literotica when I post a link to a new story. They’re usually quite kind to retweet if you’re linking to a Lit story. I follow the site’s account, so see whatever they send or pass on. As to using other hashtags, not heavily, depends on the story and whether it ties to a contest or event here.

I don’t retweet every posting I see, unless it grabs me somehow. I’ve noticed their are a few very prolific authors who post stories way faster than I do, based on their Twitter traffic.

All of the above, I’ve never detected any significant jump in views or other stats after I tweet. No one’s ever given me feedback (there or here) mentioning they found or used the link from Twitter to get here.

I also see plenty of ’mainstream’ (indie and trad) authors using Twitter.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Twitter and Facebook have been of questionable value to me. My Facebook account is run by a friend, as I don't have Facebook anymore.

 

[Bazzle]

Unless you have thousands of followers.. putting anything on twitter tags/hashtags etc don't really matter?
You are only going get traction if you have followers?
Like in the competitions on here? Authors with followers get more votes, because the authors create their own bow wave?
Twitter is the same, authors with larger followers create the own noise?

 

[gordo12]

Unless you have thousands of followers.. putting anything on twitter tags/hashtags etc don't really matter?
You are only going get traction if you have followers?
Like in the competitions on here? Authors with followers get more votes, because the authors create their own bow wave?
Twitter is the same, authors with larger followers create the own noise?

Gonna disagree with you here. Followers aren't always there for the reason (or genre) you're writing. Most just want a followback to up their own stats.

Although this wasn't a query about selling books I'm including this:

I've found hashtags to be the most effective and long-lasting. A tweet lasts less than a second. A hashtag goes on a page and can stay there for hours/days/weeks/months. I tweet something pithy, the book cover and links to purchase.

Amazon gives you no stats on traffic and will steal your traffic at the first opportunity. Smashwords gives you traffic stats and it's useful. But when you go into Twitter analytics you'll see very little response to your tweet, like 2 link follows. Amazingly, you can go into Smash and find 35-40 hits within minutes of a tweet. People copy links on Twitter, they don't follow them.

Lastly, regarding Amazon's theft of traffic, make sure you put an individual link to each country you want to sell in. DO NOT just put Amazon.com. Although Amazon.com will show shoppers that the book is available in another country when they click on that link they treat it as a search instead of sending them to the individual country's book page. They steal the keywords you used and then throw anything and everything they think will sell better at the client you paid for. If your book isn't selling well yet they only show 200 or so results and your book will disappear.

I prefer Smash because they only charge 1/2 the amount that Amazon does and they sell clients from any country on the spot. There's no screwing around and stealing a client/traffic you worked to get or paid for.

All-in-all though, I consider Twitter a poor advertising source for selling books. Free stories on Lit may do better using the above.