FIVE Reasons Authors Should Be On Twitter

Two years ago this summer was when I joined facebook.  I was a sworn enemy of the site that I considered only slightly better than MySpace, which I also never joined.  Then I finished my debut novel and received my first contract.  The marketing director at the time expressed complete shock and awe that I wasn't on it.  So, I joined, kicking and screaming.  Now, two years later, I love it. And so do my books, my followers and my fans.

I learned early on that it was a premier site for marketing my books, and later when I had more than one, the best place to promote my brand, samanthacombswrites.  But, there is a new game in town, and like all things technological, I came to it dragged by the hair.  yes, I am talking about Twitter.

At first, I shied from it.  It was too elite, too aloof, too only-for-celebrities with their million plus followers.  Besides, how could I find value in 140 characters?  I was a writer, for God's sake! Words were my currency.  I wanted as many as I could get.  But, the mystery site grew in popularity.  When my mum began tweeting, thank you very much, I knew it was time.
As I dove in, I realized this could be as valuable, if not more, than facebook.  Many of my author friends are not ready for the tweeting world, but I hope this post changes all that.  Check out the Five Reasons Why Authors Should Be Tweeting.

1. Self Promotion - the main value of the site cannot be dismissed.  You can tweet about your upcoming release, your chart-climbing current novel, or comment on the outstanding books of our time.  I caution you to use restraint, however. The constant tweeter becomes annoying, and his or her message a bore.  Don't tweet your message to death.  Use Twitter judiciously.
2. Teaching Brevity and the Art of the Edit - at only 140 characters, Twitter is your short story while Facebook can be your novel.  And any agent or publisher will tell you that the author who can exercise brevity is one who can write tight scenes and fully-fleshed characters.
3. Literary Brilliance - not yours, other Twitter users.  Never in one place have I found such a brain trust of intelligent people making completely apropos comments about current and timely events.  Social injustices, nationwide philosophies, it's all there.  When a public figure is convicted or acquitted in court, it's there.  When a natural disaster levels a city, it's there. And when something on the internet is too funny/cute/infuriating/alarming/life-affirming not to share, the viral video can be spread in literally seconds across the globe.  Don't you wish that was your book?
4. Knowledge - and speaking of information, when power was shut down in cities and no phone calls could be made, guess where the public got it's information?  Yep, Twitter. Complaints regarding some of the biggest companies in the world have been addressed because of being spread on Twitter.  And deception is a thing of the past on the tweeting site. On Twitter, everyone is a whistle-blower.
5. Insider Information - as an author, getting in the heads of the dream agents we all covet is
   
   invaluable. On Twitter, they seem to let their guard down and feel more human to me. And they drop hints.  Like, ALL THE TIME.  I follow as many agents as I can whose opinion I value like a stalker. They are always telling you what kind of novel is on their current wishlist.  Right this second, here are some wish list items at #agentwishlist:  a YA a la Friday Night Lights, Spartacus for Teens, anything non-fantasy Middle Grade. See what I mean?

I'm sure there are more, and I'd love your take.  And if you ever feel like following me, I can be found on Twitter here:  https://twitter.com/samanthacombs1

Tweet ya later!

100 Hashtags All Writers Should Know

I may have a good idea how Facebook operates (until they change the rules) and I am fairly comfortable on most of the other social networking sites, but I have to admit, Twitter still has me by the shorty hairs.

First of all, asking a novelist to condense down to 140 characters can come as quite a shock to the newbie.  It may seem almost criminal.  After all, aren't we paid by the word, in a sense?  And hashtags?  What the hell are those?  But, now, having worked within the site for awhile now, I can see where there is tremendous value for the author, aspiring writer, anyone with a creative bent.

A brilliant author friend of mine posted this and I thought it was fab-u-lous.  Try some of the hashtags.  It was riveting reading.  And a brief postscript if you still doubt the necessity of this abbreviated social networking site:  the American Dialect Society just named "hashtag" as The Word for 2012.  So, check these out.  Courtesy of the Aerogramme Writer's Studio  http://aerogrammestudio.com/

100 Twitter Hashtags Every Writer Should Know

Hashtags are one of the most important elements to successfully using Twitter to enhance your writing practice and profile. In fact, the importance of hashtags generally was recently demonstrated when the American Dialect Society recently named hashtag as the word of the year for 2012.

Hashtags allow you to find new readers, connect with other writers who share your interests and to find out about new opportunities such as writing competitions. They can also help to raise your writing profile to attract interest from publishers and editors.

You need to be smart when using hashtags – don’t over use them (never use more than 3 hashtags per tweet), be natural and never spam people. But when used selectively and cleverly, hashtags can be of great benefit to your writing career.

Below are 100 #hashtags that every writer should know:

Books and Reading Hashtags#Books
#BookWorm
#GreatReads
#IndieThursday
#MustRead
#Novel
#Paperbacks
#Storytelling
#WhatToRead

Book Industry News and Publishing Tips Hashtags#AskAgent
#AskAuthor
#AskEditor
#BookMarket
#BookMarketing
#GetPublished
#IAN1 (Independent Author Network)
#IndiePub
#PromoTip
#Publishing
#SelfPublishing
#WriteTip
#WritingTip

Hashtags to Connect With Other Writers#1K1H (write one thousand words in one hour)
#AmWriting
#AmEditing
#AmRevising
#CopyWriting
#EditGoal
#Editing
#IndieAuthor
#MyWANA (writer’s community created by Kirsten Lamb)
#NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month is held every November)
#RomanceWriter
#ScriptChat
#WIP
#WordCount
#WriteChat
#WriteGoal
#WriteMotivation
#WritersLIfe
#WriterWednesday
#Writing
#WritingBlitz
#WritingPrompt
#WritersBlock
#WroteToday
#WW

ePublishing and eBooks#Amazon
#eBook
#BookBuzzr
#eReaders
#ePubChat
#iPad
#Kindle
#KindleBargain
#Kobo
#KPD (Kindle Publishing Direct)
#Nook
#Pubit
#SmashWords
#Sony
#Webfic

Genre and Specialty HashtagsFind readers and other writers who share your interests
#140Poem
#Crime
#Comedy
#DarkFantasy
#Dystopian
#Erotica
#HistFic
#Historical
#FaithLitChat
#KidLitChat
#Literature
#LitFic
#MemoirChat
#MGLit (middle grades literature)
#Mystery
#NonFiction
#Paranormal
#Poetry
#PoetryMonth (Each April in the USA)
#Romantic
#RomanticSuspence
#TrueStories
#ScienceFiction
#SciFiChat
#ShortStory
#SteamPunk
#Suspense
#UrbanFantasy
#WomensFiction
#YA
#YALit

Promotion, Networking and Marketing Hashtags#99c (to offer or pick up an eBook bargain)
#AuthorRT
#BookGiveaway
#BookMarketing
#FollowFriday
#FreebieFriday
#FreeReads
#Novelines (to quote your own work)

New Year's Resolves and Thanks

As 2011 draws to a close (and I have to be honest, for many reasons, I am not unhappy to see the back-ass of it!), I feel compelled to talk about the things that DID work in 2011.  Without a doubt, most of the great things that happened all had to do with some kind of social networking.

Now, I am not saying that my life without Facebook and Twitter and Linked In would have been empty and devoid of anything.  Indeed not.  I am a wife, mother of two amazing children and I feel incredibly certain that 2011 was my break-in year.  But, I would be remiss if I didn't give some credit to the aforementioned sites.  Let me elaborate.

I wrote and published two books in 2011.  I joined Facebook in June after my publishing company's marketing director advised it was an effective tool for getting the word out about my books.  I had much trepidation and was unsure of what I was doing.  I needn't have been.  Facebook embraced me like a long lost daughter.  I now have well over 650 people I am happy to call friends and even fans.  In 2011, I wrote three more manuscripts and am thrilled they will be the foundation for the successful 2012 I am predicting.  In the words of another author, I am going to work hard to make 2012 my BREAK-OUT year.

I then tackled Twitter.  Slow going at first, I have found that not only is it a great place to showcase my sharp and dry wit, but also a killer place to network for my books.  I have followers, which boggles my mind, and I follow the people and companies that are directly related to my writing.  And it is beginning to pay off in small ways.  I'm not afraid of it anymore and I can now count myself among the legions of people who understand the word "hashtag".

I had been blogging all along, but now I became more focused on the benefits of that as well.  And again, social networking rewarded me handsomely.  I saw my blog followers grow from 11 to over 90, and the "lurkers", those who don't officially follow but check you out every day, have grown the hits on my blog to well over 5000.  I consider that wildly successful.

And lastly, due to my hastily at first and then later more detailed profile on LinkedIn, I have landed what just may be the job of my dreams.  I wasn't looking, but was contacted by a recruiter who read some key things on my profile that matched the job he was trying to fill.  In short order, I sent in a resume, received an interview, conquered that, and landed the position.  It will increase my family's financial position considerably and give me a daily feeling of productivity while being rewarded for my expertise.  Simply put, I am over the moon.

So, I owe all social networking a big thanks and a huge hug.  I love my friends on facebook, I enjoy my contacts on Twitter and I am grateful for the ability to profile myself professionally on LinkedIn.  And I'm not done.  I have recently learned about Tumblr and intend to attack that as well.

So, for all of you who have questioned the value of internet networking, STOP IT!  Get on here, and get on here now!  I'll save you a place next to me!

Happy New Year!

Tweeting Benefits

I now have seen the light.  Today, one day after I started using Twitter, I have gone up 20% in my ranking on Amazon.  Now, I am no math whiz, so I called my father-in-law to do this math for me.  Here's the skinny:  yesterday, I ranked #240,580 paid in kindle store on SPELLBOUND.  This is before I went to dinner with the family for my husband's birthday which was on June 30th.  I wanted to tell my F in law.  Then I looked it up today to see if I dropped, which I had the day before yesterday, from #239 something.  It said that today, paid in kindle store ranking is....wait for it.......#78,860!    WHAT!  WHAT?  WHAT!

So I called my father in law 4 seconds later and demanded he do the math.  Apparently, this means I am in the top 11%.  WHAT!!!!!   In a day?  Only thing I am doing different, besides asking for reviews from my fave bloggers (none in yet, exercising patience, not my best trait), is I joined Twitter.  And am tweeting.  So, now count me as a breathless, drooling, faithful true believer.  I don't know if ANYONE ever reads this blog, but there has to now be irrefutable proof that SOMEONE is reading my tweets.  (Welcome to my world, GeeCarl...loved your talk on humor at the LA Writers Convention last September.  Read every one of your columns!)  So, hope all bear with me while I get the hang of the tweeting thing.  COUNT ME AS A TRUE CONVERT!  And thank you, every one of you who did buy Spellbound.  I wrote it for you, I wrote it for your daughters, I wrote it for everyone who has ever read a whole book on a delicious uninterrupted weekend day when they could read a whole book beginning to end because at the end of the day, the written word is like oxygen......it gets you high!