Category: Twitter

Helpful Hashtags for Writers on Twitter

12/9/2014

Hashtags are important when using a social media networking site like Twitter. The hashtag is a hyperlink keyword that is searchable throughout Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. It allows you to find new connections with other writers who will share the same interests as you. It makes it easier to find tweets on #Horror for instance. Or if you are a reader and you want to know what everyone else is reading, then you can search #FridayReads. This is a hashtag that appears every Friday by readers telling you what they are reading that day.

When connecting with other writers, you can keep up to date on topics such as #WritingCompetitions or #amwriting, which is someone who is writing at that moment and wants to have a virtual #writingbuddy to touch base with for the day, or do writing sprints with.

Using hashtags will also help you raise awareness to your writing profile, attracting people of interest, such as #LiteraryAgents, #Publishers and #Editors.

Writers should use specific hashtags to enhance their search results and to highlight keywords that are important to their books, posts or topics. Some research indicates that using more than two hashtags will greatly reduce the number of retweets you’ll receive with each post, so use them wisely. One piece of advice, before I give you a list of hashtags, DON'T OVERUSE THEM. Try to keep a limit of no more than three hashtags per tweet. Stay natural. Stay cool. Never spam people with 140 characters of continuous hashtags. That is soooo UNCOOL.

My list of Writing-Related Hashtags

These hashtags are important and useful to any writer. I'm sure there are many more than what I have listed, but these are the ones I frequently use:

#amediting ~ You are currently editing some of your writing.

#amwriting ~ You are currently writing something... a novel, manuscript, screenplay, short story.
#AuthorChat ~ Ongoing conversations between authors.
#Askagent ~ You can ask an agent a question, even if you don't actually have one.
#AskAuthor ~ You can ask another author a question about their writing process, their book launch, etc.
#AwesomeRead ~ Tell the World about the book you just finished... it was AWESOME!
#BestSeller ~ A book that is on the Best Seller List.
#CAA ~ Canadian Authors Association.
#EBook ~ To tell your readers that your book is available electronically on iPad, Kindle, Nook or Kobo.
#EPub ~ Electronically published and available in PDF, etc.
#FF or #FollowFriday ~ On Friday mornings shout to the World your favourite Tweeters of the week using the usernames of your most loyal retweeters or followers or your writing group/book club members.
#Free ~ Author is giving away their book or a chapter of their manuscript for FREE that day.
#FridayReads ~ Every Friday, readers post what they are reading that day. Name of book and Author with it.

#Giveaway ~ Author is giving one of their books away in a giveaway.
#Genre ~ This is a popular hashtag telling readers what genre you are talking about or reading in: #Horror #YA #MG #Romance #Fantasy #SciFi #Mystery #Thriller #Suspense #Erotica #Poetry #Memoir, etc.
#Goodreads ~ An App to keep track of what you are reading, what you want to read and what everyone else is reading. Plus you can join groups, take part in giveaways and talk to the authors. It's a great App.
#Holidays are popular: #Christmas #Thanksgiving #Easter #ValentinesDay #MothersDay
#KidLit ~ Authors of children’s books will want to use these hashtags.
#Kindle ~ For Kindle users.
#LifeOfAWriter ~ Typical tweets outlining your life as a writer.
#LiteraryAgents ~ Agents that work for a Literary Agency.
#LiteraryFestivals ~ Literary Festivals on Twitter.
#LiteraryMagazines ~ Literary Magazines that are on Twitter.
#MNM2015 ~ Muskoka Novel Marathon 2015.
#NaNoWriMo ~ National Novel Writing Month.
#OWC2015 ~ Ontario Writers' Conference 2015.
#PitchWars ~ Contest on Twitter, where published & agented authors, editors, or industry interns choose the best tweet pitches of their books to win a critique for mentorship or agent review, etc. depending on contest.
#Publishers ~ Book Publishers on Twitter.

#SCBWI ~ Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

#ShortStory ~ All about the short story.
#ToNoMa ~ Toronto Novel Marathon.
#ThankfulThursday ~ Used on Thursdays to show other members how thankful you are for their friendship.
#WCDR ~ Writers' Community of Durham Region.
#WCSC ~ Writers' Community of Simcoe County.
#WCYR ~ Writers' Community of York Region.
#WIWC ~ Windsor International Writers' Conference.
#WordCount ~ Share progress or your writing word count goal for the day.
#WordGoal ~ You announce how many words you are intending on writing that day.
#WritersBlock ~ Stuck on something and you need help/ideas from others to get you motivated again.
#WritingCompetitions ~ Competitions or Contests for writing submissions.
#WritingContest ~ Local writing contests with deadlines.
#WritingTips ~ Tips to learn more about your craft.

#Writing ~ Any topic about writing.
#WritingBlitz ~ You are writing as fast as you can and locking your internal editor into a closet.
#WritingBuddies ~ Twitter buddies that you are virtually writing with each day.
#WritingFiction ~ Writing about Fiction. Network or share your books, goals, or ideas on writing fiction.
#WritingPrompt ~ Search this hashtag to find a great prompt to get those creative juices flowing.
#WW or #WriterWednesday ~ On Wednesdays, use this hashtag and introduce people to your Twitter tribe.

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10 Basic Tips For Writers Using Twitter

12/9/2014

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Being a writer, I find Twitter extremely useful. Truthfully, I enjoy being on Twitter more than any other social media networking site out there. Twitter is a powerful tool that writers should be taking advantage of. So, if you are struggling with why you ever signed up for Twitter, here are a 10 tips, to get you going in the right direction again.

If you are a writer, you need to tell everyone that little tidbit within your Bio. Spend some quality time on creating your Bio. People like to connect with writers, so tell them you are a writer. If you are a circus clown, and you feel that is important, because you would like to connect with other circus clowns, then by all means, add that too.
Add a complimentary photo of you, NOT your dog or a beach chair, unless you want other dog lovers and beach lovers to follow you. You should look professional, and keep the drunken stupor or party pictures buried within your closet. Also, try to pick one where you are smiling and enjoying life. People love connecting with happy people.
Add your web page link, so people can find out more about you. If you don't have a web page yet, why don't you? They are free. Take the time to develop something for people to look at when they are googling you (and yes, people actually google you, especially future agents). If you don't have a web site, and don't feel like going through the hassle of making one right now, link to your LinkedIn profile or Facebook Page... or something. Anything.
Use a unique background, preferably a picture that you took yourself. Therefore, everyone who stops by to see your profile will be looking at something they have never seen before. It keeps them interested. Also, make sure your bio can be read through the image.
Search for influential people within your niche. If you are a writer, you may want to follow other writers. These people can keep you up to date with writing conference registrations, writing workshops, author appearances, writing tips, etc. Keep your focus narrowed to only a few different topics.
Don't follow EVERYBODY that follows you. Not everyone is worth following. Some may just want to push their one and only book on you, twenty-seven times per day. That gets annoying and you WILL become angry. Don't be one of those people. Tweet about random things, not the title of your book every half hour. If you keep an eye on your Follower-Following ratio, try to have more followers than people you are following, as it tells people you might be more interesting than you really are.
Make friends by promoting people. You can do it many different ways. The most popular, is to retweet someone else's tweet. Or comment on their question and make it a discussion. Basically, I'm saying you should interact with people, so they will remember who you are. I've met many great writing friends through Twitter and we have met in person at various writing conferences throughout Ontario.
Use hashtags of importance to writers. Hashtags are hyperlink keywords that can be searched throughout Twitter. Example: #FF (Follow Friday), #writing, #amwriting, #writer, #writingtips and #writingbuddies. If you are a writer and a reader, add #FridayReads, #amreading, #ReadingIsTheNewCool, #Reading and #TodaysRead. Readers are best friends to writers, because someday, you will write a book, have it published and NEED readers to read it. Make friends now and it will be easier for you later. Also, you can filter your writing more by using specific hashtags, such as #YA (for Young Adult), #YALit (Young Adult Literature), #MG (Middle Grade), or #SciFi (Science Fiction), or #Fantasy, #Erotica, #Fiction or #NonFiction. You get the idea.
My personal favourite tip: Use Lists. You can add people to lists without having to follow them. Example: I have a NEWS List that I use for current local news that includes radio stations, newspapers and TV Stations. It has Police Road Closures and weather reports. I look at the list daily at least three times... morning, noon and night. Example of other Lists that would be helpful for writers: Writing groups, writing friends in the USA, writing friends from your Summer Marathon. You can help your friends easier by seeing all their posts for the day and electing the appropriate tweet to retweet, promoting their book launch or their blog tour.
Automatic posting of the same 140 character tweet to Facebook, Instagram and other social media networking apps... DON'T DO IT! Each networking site is for a different group of people. If you want to tell everyone the same information, it is more professional to copy and paste it, than to automatic tweet it. People will start blocking you or hiding your information, because they have already read it on their other website feed. It's duplicate information. Facebook is more for family and friends, where Twitter is more for your network of people who you NEED to talk to every day... they like what you like... they want to talk about what you want to talk about... and if it's writing, and you are PASSIONATE about writing, then, TWITTER is the place to be. WELCOME.

BONUS: Tweet every day, something of interest to the World. We don't need to know you are having a shower, or eating tofu, but if you just submitted an awesome short story or you landed your first agent, then definitely tweet that info. Be more interesting than a dead spider and they will love you! :)

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Can Twitter Help Writers?

5/19/2014

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Twitter... unless you live in a remote area of the World, you probably know what Twitter is, right?

Basically, it's a small post or status update told in 140 characters or less, called a #Tweet. You can add pictures and videos to the message, if you like.

Twitter uses #Hashtags to make it easier for people to follow the the topics that they are most interested in, such as #writing...people who like to write, will check on this hashtag to see what other people are writing.

In 2009, an intelligent woman by the name of Johanna Harness started the hashtag #amwriting. I love this particular hashtag, because, a writer can always find someone else online, no matter what time of the day, no matter where you are in the World, and you can communicate with them. If you're having writer's block, jump on board and talk with someone else who either just experienced the same thing, or is struggling with it right beside you (virtually, of course).

At first when I joined Twitter, I must admit it was extremely overwhelming for me. Sure, I knew how to communicate with other social media sites, like Facebook, Pinterest, Blogging, etc., but Twitter was different. So many people collecting followers like they were playing a video game. I did sit back and watch for a while. I became friends with a few people that I actually knew already (my kids and a few friends) and watched what they had to say. Truthfully, most of them were using it as a chat line to talk to friends in the same room as them, at the same party, or in the same town. I wasn't interested in that. I wanted to meet other writers and authors. Why? Because, I like to call myself a writer, even though, I have a real paying job that I go to Monday to Friday 8-5 and sometimes, even longer than that. I have three busy kids who play sports everywhere and often. Enough said about that.

So, obviously, I didn't feel I had enough time to dabble in social media I knew nothing about, right?

Wrong. As a writer, this is the place to be. I strongly urge you to join Twitter and become a Tweeter.

Here are 10 Reasons Why Writers Should Be on Twitter:

Editing Skills: Twitter forces a writer to condense their comment or ideas into 140 characters. Believe me, this is hard, if you are a novelist. 140 characters takes an extreme amount of editing skills. You must choose your words carefully. It helps you weed out all the unnecessary words in your work.
Supporting Other Writers: Not only do you receive support from other writers, but you are able to give other writers support as well. You want them to succeed too. You can help each other by using writing tags like #amwriting, #WritingBuddies or #MustKeepWriting. Offer encouragement to each other and help celebrate their achievements. You are writing together, only many miles apart, or sometimes many continents apart.
Network & Meet Other Writers: Networking with other writers is perfect when you are attending Writer Conferences around the World. After having several conversations with these writers online, you can meet up at conferences and you already have a friend. You seek each other out and you have someone to sit with...and be nervous with, while you wait to make your pitch to an agent. You are instant friends.
Find Useful information: This is critical to a writers' life...finding more information on topics such as conference locations, writing contests, submission to writing anthologies, finding out about agents seeking certain manuscripts, writers' groups meeting in your area, online courses, furthering your education, etc. A wealth of information is at your finger tips. I like to call it an opportunity that you should not miss out on. Example: I just received news that I am being included in a writing anthology being published in the Fall, that I originally noticed on Twitter and Facebook. I figured, "What the heck, I'm going to submit something. No one will know that I'll get rejected but me and my hubby." So, I did it. I submitted and BAM! They accepted two pieces. Now, I'm doing the Snoopy Happy Dance around the house.
Promote Your Own Writing: This bit of advice should be taken as a percentage of promoting yourself and others with a 20%-80% split. If you continuously promote your book 100% of the time, people will stop following you immediately. They already have your book, if they want it. If you tweet personal statuses, they are able to see you as a real person and they will eventually like you for you, and then they will check out your website link and find out you have books for sale. So, 20% should be about you and 80% regarding other people's work, by retweeting about them or what they have to say. Make friends.
Inspiration & Motivation: You can find writing prompts from various established writers, like Sarah Selecky who offers up a daily writing prompt. You can get inspired by listening in on other writers conversation about their love for hockey, baseball, music, birds or flowers, etc. You can get pumped up and motivated by some of your virtual friends encouraging you to attend a conference with them (my favourite is the Ontario Writers' Conference in Ajax), or enter a short story contest or a 3-Day Novel Writing Contest like the Muskoka Novel Marathon (one of my favourite writing events of the year).
Build your Writer Platform: A Writer Platform is something that takes time, and I don't mean hours or days, I mean years. The visibility you have as a writer is what will sell your writing. If you have your own website and you are blogging once a week or once a month, people will read your posts when you tweet them, post them to Facebook, etc. You will increase the traffic on your site, making a bigger readership. Don't think that once you finally get that huge publishing contract in your hand, that you will start promoting yourself then, because it takes years! Do it now, spend an hour or two a week tweeting, blogging, posting, whatever you need to do, to just get your name out there. People need to know your name. Believe me, when you show up at a writers' conference and someone looks at your name tag (yes, we all have to wear one)... and that person you have never met before, holds out their hand to you and says, "Oh, you are Lori Twining (insert your own name for a grandeur effect), I know that name. It's great to finally meet you!" Those three sentences will make your heart fill with happiness and you will be floating on clouds for the rest of the conference, not to mention blushing. This actually happened to me at conferences, and as I say, it made me feel so spectacular, that I turned around, tucking my shyness into my pocket and boldly confronted other writers that I recognized their names from social media, making them smile too. More instant friends.
Keep up with the Publishing World: This is important to know where the publishing world is headed. Are e-books taking over? Should you forget about your dream of being published in a book format? You know, a book, you can hold in your hands and smell as many times as you want in a day? Literary Agents are posting to Twitter every day about the kinds of stories they are interested in reading & promotion. They are even posting courses they are running regarding how to get that agent, or how to approach an agent properly. They help you with your query letters. They make suggestions as to what you should be concentrating on to get published. All very important topics for a writer. I just signed up for a course in the States, being run by a Literary Agent living here in Canada. I met her three years ago at the Ontario Writers' Conference. She will personally edit 15 pages of my work and give me suggestions on how to make it better. If she thinks your writing is awesome, she will ask to see more. These little steps to networking with Agents and figuring out your craft are crucial to your Writers' Life.
Learning Your Craft: I know you have been writing for years, but there is always something that you don't know about your own craft. I love following certain authors who give tips and suggestions about their writing life. It's not only informative but it gives you hope, and encourages you to carry-on with your writing. Sometimes, writers, and yes, I'm speaking from experience here, want to quit writing because you think your work sucks. Well, finding out someone like Stephen King or Chuck Wendig have moments of uncertainty, makes me feel better. I thought I was the only one out there in Writerland that has these "myworkisshitmoments".
Job Opportunities: People laugh at me for tweeting and they say I'm wasting my time...BUT, if they only knew how many freelance writing jobs you can obtain while on Social Media. Seriously, businesses all over the planet are looking for help with writing their silly song jingles, their promotional material for selling their products. Twitter will help you find these jobs. Bottom line, you will finally come to the point where you will say, "Who needs that 8-5 paying job anymore, when I can stay home and make money from my office, doing something I love to do...and that's WRITE.

My Twitter Buddies & I, meeting up at the Ontario Writers' Conference in Ajax this year.

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Helpful Hashtags for Writers on Twitter

10 Basic Tips For Writers Using Twitter

Can Twitter Help Writers?

Here are 10 Reasons Why Writers Should Be on Twitter:

Lori Twining

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