The 140-Character Twitter Novel

January 18, 2013 by 6 Comments
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              This past fall, the Guardian posted a great little article in which they featured 21 well-known authors using a Twitter post to write a novel. The challenge proved to be very provocative, funny, and interesting! A few of our favorites:   Ian Rankin: I opened the door to our flat and you were standing there, cleaver raised. Somehow you’d found out about the photos. My jaw hit the floor. Jeffrey Archer: “It’s a miracle he survived,” said the doctor. “It was God’s will,” said Mrs Schicklgruber. “What will you call him?” “Adolf,” she replied. Helen Fielding: OK. Should not have logged on to your email but suggest if going on marriedaffair.com don’t use… [read more]

Filed Under: #hashtags, Content, Social Media, Twitter, Writing, Writing Prompts, Writing Tips Tagged With: , , , , ,

3 Online Tools that Make Publishing Your Book Easier

September 5, 2012 by 5 Comments
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As we are still tirelessly striving to get The Indie Author Revolution to the printer, it’s been easy to sulk about the challenges: it took longer than we thought, we hated compiling those endnotes, and there was not enough time to hire five more editors…the usual. However, there’s a lot to be thankful for, including the fact that there would have been more hiccups and time wasted had we not used a few tools. These tools surprised us and really came in handy. So here goes: 1. Evernote There’s not enough we could say about how wonderful this tool is. Evernote is the ultimate clipboard. Consider it your very own personal assistant. It captures articles, videos, notes, and details for your book… [read more]

Filed Under: #hashtags, Technology, Twitter, Writing Tagged With: , , ,

3 Reasons Your Tweets Are Not Working!

July 20, 2012 by 1 Comment
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You think you’re doing everything right–multiple tweets per week, retweeting the right people, using #hashtags, sharing interesting articles–but it doesn’t seem to be gaining you any new followers. Or maybe you’re just not tweeting the right way because you’re not into it…yet. Below are 5 reasons your tweets alone might not be working! Reason #1: You aren’t promoting others The culture of Twitter is very much tit-for-tat. The more you support others, the more they will support you. It’s easy to fall into the mindset that you have to be promoting yourself all the time. In reality, Twitter is a tool you should be using to find allies! To find allies who will support you, you need to reach out and show… [read more]

Filed Under: #hashtags, Pitching, Social Media, Twitter Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Revamp Your Twitter Page in 7 Days!

June 22, 2012 by 3 Comments
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Twitter is a wonderful yet overwhelming beast. When used properly, it will be one of the greatest tools in your arsenal for making new connections, building relationships with readers, and becoming an established voice in your topic/genre. When used improperly (i.e. not really used all that much), your Twitter page with 67 followers and 93 Tweets over the course of 6 months is going to do more harm than good! A Twitter page like that sends potential followers the message that you don’t take it seriously; if you don’t take it seriously, they figure you must not be that professional or that much of an expert, and definitely not worth their follow. A moment for sympathizing: I get it. I… [read more]

Filed Under: #hashtags, Blogging, Book Marketing, Branding, Social Media, Technology, Twitter Tagged With: , , ,

31 Twitter Hashtags for the Indie Author

May 21, 2012 by 5 Comments
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Soooo, you’ve got that Twitter account, huh? You’ve got a good follower-to-following ratio? You’ve got quite a few Tweets under your belt? Good for you! As we always preach, it’s extremely important for indie authors (or all authors, really) to be as directly connected to your audience as possible. On a large scale, there’s no better platform than Twitter. As far as Twitter goes, it can look like a jumbled mess of information if you don’t know how to navigate. With the use of #hashtags, however, Twitter is actually designed to group your information (and the information you seek) in a highly organized way. If you’re not already following #hashtags or using them in your own Tweets, you should be!… [read more]

Filed Under: #hashtags, Book Marketing, Indie Publishing, Social Media, Technology, Twitter, Writing, Writing Prompts, Writing Tips Tagged With: , , ,