Getting more followers/sales on Twitter for writers.
Twitter.
It’s great, it’s addictive and it will get the word out there. You’ll
meet lots of new friends, you get lots of help and advice, but it’s
time-consuming and compulsive.
At
the time of writing this I have 1459 followers, which took less than
three months to acquire. Impressive to some, but just a drop in the ocean
for others.
The
first 100 was very hard, the next easier and so on, so here are some
tips that I picked up along the way from various blogs and tweets from
friends.
Re-Tweeting. RT
The most important thing you can do on Twitter. You’ll see ‘Please RT’ or ‘RT’ on some of the tweets and this means that they want you to spread the word - so do it. The idea is that in return you’ll get lots of people who RT your tweets and on it goes.
It
doesn’t matter if they are in competition with you (my opinion); so if
for example they want you to RT a link to their novel, which is similar
to yours, just do it. Not everyone is going to buy their or your novel and you stand a very good chance that they’ll get the idea and RT you back. PS: You’ll become addicted and won’t be able to help yourself RT some of your favourite followers.
Quick RTs
Follow your time line and just click on anything you think relevant.
Time Consuming RTs (recommended and also used for new followers)
My
method is to not only thank everybody who re-tweeted/followed me in a
tweet but to visit their Twitter page and tweet something relevant for
them. I do it with notepad and copy all the mentions, RTs and new follower notifications. You'll need a standard format for this and mine is:
Check out my great new followers. INSERT @NAMES HERE AND LEAVE A SPACE
Thanks for the RTs guys. Much appreciated. INSERT @NAMES HERE AND LEAVE A SPACE
------------------------------
I use the dotted lines above and below as they indicate 140 characters and then I just copy and tweet them.
Next
I delete the standard text, remove the lines and separate the @names
(just the ones that have re-tweeted me), then copy and paste them - one
at a time - into the search box to visit their page, then pick
something relevant that they would want re-tweeted and do that. ie: a
link to their Amazon sales page.
It
takes time but it’s worth it as some of them will RT your thanks and
you’ll get more exposure and then someone will click on your link and
bingo - you’ve just got a new follower.
The Downside
When
you are using your list of people who have tweeted you and logging on
to their feed, sometimes (frequently) they will have nothing for you to
tweet about that seems relevant to either them or you and that’s after
scrolling down 5, 10, 20 pages; so in this case what I do is copy their
header and simply write something for them. ie: Follow @NAME and check
out their blog/website at ADDRESS. Again time consuming but you will get some wonderful thank you messages for taking the time and hopefully more re-tweets.
Sales
Logic
dictates that if you’re always following and being followed by other
writers, then why would they want to really buy your new masterpiece? Maybe
they won’t, but by re-tweeting for you, they will spread the word to
people who will/might buy your book, who might follow you, who might RT
you, and on it goes.
The Rewards
More
followers, more recognition, more sales, reviews of your books, books
to review for others, and, if you’re really lucky, someone will ask you
to write a blog, which is a little validatory gift in itself - like this
one :-)
Lawrence Wray has written two short stories and a novel.
A Five Star Experience of a Lifetime (Short Story)
Free at http://lawrencewray.wordpress.
The Briefcase (Short Story)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-
Money Man (Novel)
Will be released in winter 2013Check out Lawrence's blog HERE.
And - of course! - follow him on Twitter @lawrence_wray
I love twitter for links, it's a great resource.
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