As a writer and stuck in the limbo of writer’s block, it is good to continue doing what you do and that’s write. Or perhaps its better to stop completely and reboot the mind until ready to tap a keyboard in earnest. Maybe its just me but I chose the former, probably because I have taken an extended break for so long that it stops becomming beneficial and is just an excuse for laziness or lethargy.
So my blog motivates me. It sits there waiting for me to return with more gems of wisdom, or a progress report. But I wouldn’t mind some real motivation to write; an audience. I want to hear from others in the same position as me, I want to hear from anybody, and for that to happen they must read my work. So, how do I go about sharing my blog. Network, network and network; also known as Facebook, Twitter and Following. I need to follow and be followed.
In order to understand Twitter a little better I carried out a little research and uncovered the following articles.
How Twitter Helps Freelance Writers – Tips for Successful Writing
Also know as “13 ways Twitter helps writers become more successful” the article quotes a number of published writers and their thoughts on how Twitter has helped them become more successful at ding what they love. Without going through all 13, which, in fact I started to do, I will summarise the sentiments of the article instead.
Although Twitter publishes 140 word at a time, those brief statements can be quite powerful in driving visitors to the writer’s blog site. With that comes confidence and self belief as the number of subscribers increases. The more people the tweeter tweets with, the greater the opportunity for sharing information, sourcing material to write about, figuring out who the writer’s audience is and perhaps, even finding paid work.
Underlining all of the above is Twitter’s willingness to be used as a marketing tool. The writer’s reasoning behind using Twitter is to increase exposure to the writer’s ability to write. In other words, an advertising campaign. The fact that this point is the last point made in the list of thirteen is, I’m sure, no coincidence. In fact, I will publish an excerpt from this article on Twitter, link it to my blog and all in the name of exposure. My own marketing campaign. And that is why I will use Twitter.
According to this Wiki, Twitter has about 6 million unique visitors a month. Exposure potential is immense, but where to start? The second Twitter article I found was written by Maria Schneider and in her article she advises writers as to who to follow.
Maria advises “twitterati” to be selective about who they follow. She lists 25 twitters for writers, a list which includes literary agents, book publishers and publicists, authors and other publishing industry bloggers. Maria is a twitterer, posting a “moderate” five tweets a day and asks that the readers of the article follow her. I suppose that any writer with aspirations of being published would jump at the chance of following a publisher or literary agent throughTwitter, but to what benefit. A chance that the agent or publisher read the writer’s tweets and discovers his blog. I suppose its possible and perhaps worth a shot.
The Benefits of Twitter for Writers
Knowing how Twitter benefits the writer and being introduced to influential twitterati, I ventured onto my next site. Lee Warren is the author of Little Nuances, a writer’s blog. In his article, The benefits of Twitter for Writers, Lee discusses Twitter from a similar perspective to my own; using the online social network site to further his career as a writer. He also introduces a list of ten ways Twitter can benefit a freelance writer; lists, a common phenomenon amongst bloggers it seems. Aside from the similarities with the list of 13 previously discussed, Lee stresses the benefits of planning Twitter activities. To me that means picking and choosing who to follow and, I would suppose, it also means trimming subscriptions when it transpires that certain tweets are not supporting the plan.
At this point it dawns on me that to be a successful tweeter I should follow a select few and have many followers and so I pass that advice on. I’ve only just registered with Twitter and I will more than likely follow a couple to the bloggers I have encountered so far, but there is one blogger I will definitely follow and her’s is the last article I introduce.
Why Writers Should Use Twitter
Alexis Grant is an aspiring author with her own blog and is an advocate of Twitter as a writer’s tool. As I read her article, I quickly discounted it as something I had already read in previous lists. But that allowed me to focus on other elements of the web page, especially her tag line, “Alexis Grant’s quest to write a travel memoir”, I had found an aspiring author. Alexis is the type of blogger I am looking for. She has done exactly what I am doing, created a web site dedicated to her efforts in achieving publication. Alexis now has another follower. Looking at her site leads me to believe that I am doing the right thing.
I am now on Twitter and I am following two bloggers. I am posting links to my articles there and, by the way, also on Facebook as well. Now all I need to do is get back to writing my book. Until the next time, thanks for reading.
