Urban Fantasist
Menu
Picture
Follow @urbanfantasist
We're living in dangerously weird times... smart people just shrug and admit they're dazed and confused

To Tweet or Not to Tweet ?

14/2/2013

0 Comments

 
A writer friend recently commented that she knew she ought to do more on Twitter and Facebook to promote her books but just couldn't summon up the enthusiasm. I can sympathise with how she feels as that was my first experience with Twitter when I first signed up with it in 2008 then gave up after six months because I just couldn't see the point. 
 
But… by 2009 I'd begun to see the light (helped by the fact there were by then some decent apps for using Twitter on smartphones) and since then I've gone on from strength to strength and (at the time of writing) I've now posted over 13,500 updates on the service.
 

Why do it? The simple answer is why not?


It is a free service – let me repeat that FREE – as are all the other social media/social networking platforms, including Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn to name the rest of the Big Four platforms. And, in a world where all writers need to be in contact with their readers and potential audiences more than ever before (because publishers and agents are never again going to promote authors and market books the way they used to a decade ago) you should take advantage of every promotional channel that is available.
 

But, and there is an important caveat here… note the word social as in social media and social networking. This is not meant to be a one-way broadcasting medium. Your audience does not want a monologue, they wanted to be offered the possibility of dialogue. To go back to the social analogy again, if you were in a wine bar with an acquaintance and they just talked at you all the time, telling you how great they are and what a wonderful author they are and how talented they are and why their new book is fantastic, you would politely and very quietly tip-toe away and make a mental note never to be caught with them again. (Yes, I know a lot of writers – and creative writing tutors – have yet to realise this.)
 

Another point to note is that when Twitter (and similar but now defunct services) first emerged in 2005/2006, they were called micro-blogging sites – and you can't blog much more micro than 140 characters. True, this does lead to some boring "I had a cheese sandwich for lunch today LoL" tweets. But, thanks to the fact you can also add documents, photos and website URLs to your tweets, you can encapsulate a lot of information in that very small 140 character package.


Twitter is perfect for communicating news. It is perfect for communicating comment – particularly if you are somewhere where it is not possible to fire up your laptop, open WordPress or Blogger and post a conventional blog entry. It has an element of immediacy – if you are an event or a reading you can tweet from there. It is ideal for communicating quips, jokes and funny pictures – particularly as all smartphones also include cameras. It can also be used to push content in the direction of your audience, such as links to your full length blog posts, whereas otherwise they have to make the effort to visit your blog or website. (As distinct from pull media where you rely on the strength of the content to regularly pull in visitors.)
 

In otherwords, it is an ideal way to communicate the less formal, human side of you to your readers and potential audiences. If you want examples of how this is done well, follow Neil Gaiman at @neilhimself – yes he talks about his books, writing and personal appearances but he also tweets about everything else that interests him. Ditto Joe Hill at @joe_hill – another genre author and incidentally the son of Stephen King.
 

It makes you think "they sound interesting, likeable guys… maybe I'll check out their books." And not "what an obnoxious prat, I'll never buy one of their books" which is how my encounters with a couple of other self-publicising bores on social media leave me feeling.
 
Yes, of course it can sometimes go horribly wrong, as Starbucks are finding to their cost with their current #SpreadtheCheer campaign on Twitter (and please employ a #hashtag if you use Twitter for several different purposes – my day-job tweets are always identified by a #legalit hashtag to distinguish them from other stuff) but that is no reason for not trying it.
 

There again, any form of publicity and marketing activity can flop for reasons outside your control or you never anticipated when you set them up. The good news is you have a reading at a nice venue in town, the bad news is the weather is terrible or there is an key football match/reality TV show final whatever on TV, so only your Mum and her poodle turn up on the night.


And, sometimes social media can deliver surprising results. I was chairing a conference in Stockholm in November and using the opportunity when I wasn't performing to tweet about the event, as were several other people in the audience. The tweets were picked up and then retweeted by some of our followers in the United States and then retweeted by their followers. For a few minutes the event went viral and the event becoming the top trending event on Twitter globally, beating both #Christmas and #Rihanna in the popularity stakes. Then, when I tweeted the fact our event was the more popular than Christmas or Rihanna, that became the top trending tweet globally.
 

OK, so in a few minutes it was all over and something else became the top trending tweet – and obviously you cannot build a career upon a few transient minutes of social media fame but it never-the-less raised the global profile of that regional European event to a far greater degree than would otherwise have been possible. And it was all done at no expense.
 

Final thoughts? A tweet is only 140 characters long. Just how busy are you that you can't produce a least one of these day! (Incidentally you can also simultaneously tweet directly from Twitter to Facebook and LinkedIn so getting three bangs for your bucks.) A tweet takes far less time to write and post than a traditional blog post. And, given that your audiences are also busy people, it takes them far less time to keep up with you than to read your blog posts.
 

So, to go out where I came in, the question is not why should I tweet, but why on Earth would I not want to tweet?
 
* A version of this post first appeared on the Authors Electric website on Sunday 23 December 2012.


Authors Electric
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Weird Tales in Weird Times:
    powered by green tea & pink wine

    Here to inform and entertain you with tales of geek, folklore and the weird. "Fun and high strangeness" is how one reader described it. Prone to sarcasm.

    Curated by Reuters correspondent and barrister turned writer, podcaster, editor, award-winning tech journalist and sometime werewolf hunter Charles Christian. The site also has links to Charles Christian's books and latest reviews plus his Weird Tales Radio Show.

    Charles was born a 'Chime Child' with a caul – according to folklore, being a caul-shrouded chime-child means he can't drown at sea but he can see and talk to ghosts and the Fae (faerie folk) without fear of coming to harm. Superpowers he's so far never needed to use.

    Vital Statistics

    Weird Tales Radio Show now goes out on syndication across 36 FM & internet radio stations, as well as all major podcast platforms plus Spotify, Mixcloud, SoundCloud, TuneIn Radio, YouTube, RSS & Amazon Music.
    Picture
    Click the <Play> button below to hear the latest show. Follow this link Weird Tales Radio Show to access archive.
    Picture
    Tweets by urbanfantasist

    Contact Details

    Email: urbanfantasist@icloud.com
    ​Tel: +44(0)1986 788666
    Tel/Txt: +44(0)7786 738172

    ​Skype: ChristianUncut
    Twitter: @urbanfantasist

    Quote, Unquote

    "Charles Christian... a man of paranormality" ...Howard Hughes, Talk Radio UK

    "A great witty intelligence in the world. We need more CC and less monkey-brained politicians" ...Julia Bohanna

    "Just found the show, absolutely love it. Will be tuning in regularly and catching up."

    "I host a daily morning show in Las Vegas and I like your shows very much. I love the way you pace your voice and thoughts is fantastic and you have a way of making your guest interviews sound more like conversations. Just wanted to let you know" ...Clay Baker

    ​"The ever wonderful Charles Christian and his Weird Tales Radio Show"...Into The Portal Podcast 

    ​"The Master of Mysteries & Folklore" ...Fantasy Radio UK

    "The witty and knowledgeable Charles Christian." 

    ​"We poled our fans on their favorite podcasts and that's how I heard of Weird Tales Radio. You are well loved by the geekiverse, and fans of folklore history and monsters!"

    "Charles Christian is really out there cool."
    ​
    ​"Check out Urban Fantasist for more fun and strangeness."

    ​"Charles Christian defiantly makes my world a brighter, funnier place."

    "
    Wonderful show tonight full of all the usual delights we've come to expect."
    ​
    "The legendary Charles Christian at his eclectic best... his insight and humour alone make this a must-read blog."

    "Charles Christian is my inner spirit animal, thank you for making me laugh."

    ​"You always make me laugh! Thank you for brightening my day with your dark humour."

    ​"the funny, wonderful and slightly cantankerous Charles Christian"

    "Carlsberg don't make clients, but if they did... they'd be Charles Christian"

    "His tech journalism is always witty. He has a talent for pricking the overblown claims of suppliers."

    "Charles Christian does awesome!"
    Picture

    Charles Christian's Books

    Picture
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087N3NB7M
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B087N3NB7M
    Picture
    ​https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MELTC84
    Picture
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07DKCKPT

    RSS Feed


    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
Picture
Copyright © Charles Christian 
& WordsandVision Limited 2021
​Powered by green tea and pink wine
Tel: +44 (0)1986 788666
Tel/Txt: +44 (0)7786 738172
urbanfantasist@icloud.com
Contact Address: Oak Lodge, Darrow Green Road, Denton, Harleston, Norfolk IP20 0AY, United Kingdom

Weird Tales in Weird Times

  • Home
  • Weird Tales Shows
  • Charles Christian Bio
  • Interviews & Speaking
  • Charles Christian Books & Reviews
  • * Fiction
  • * Non Fiction
  • * Poetry
  • All My Links
  • Americana Shows
  • Old Grievous Angel
  • Home
  • Weird Tales Shows
  • Charles Christian Bio
  • Interviews & Speaking
  • Charles Christian Books & Reviews
  • * Fiction
  • * Non Fiction
  • * Poetry
  • All My Links
  • Americana Shows
  • Old Grievous Angel