Guest Post: Gods Need Social networking, Too

I love writing, because it gives me god-like powers. Since I write fantasy, even the climate is mine to choose. The only down side is that a lot of people enjoy writing, and I need to be both excellent and lucky to get anywhere. But I can use social media to create luck.

Even published books often don’t sell enough copies to make a profit. Publishers expect writers to have a web presence, because it helps readers to feel they know a writer, and therefore feel comfortable buying their books. I really enjoy blogging, so I blog every day. But twitter has such a media buzz about it that I knew I could take advantage creatively – by writing twitter fiction.

Twitter links you directly to readers, and it’s free. And twitter tales don’t take nearly as long to write (or read) as books do, so it’s less of a commitment for both the writer and the reader. My twitter tales are told in twitter-size pieces in real time, taking less than a month for each story. They’re located at @Louise_Curtis_. The blog was originally a daily companion to the tale, but that didn’t work so I changed to “Daily Awesomeness” – every day I do something awesome (from frolicking in a fountain to taking a hot air balloon ride) and blog about it at TwitterTales.

It’s hard to measure the success of my twitter stories, because my books aren’t published yet. In twitter terms, I have 2000 followers (between twitter and facebook), and a solid blog following, which is a good beginning. If 10% of the followers bought a book, that’s two hundred books that wouldn’t otherwise have been read – and if they like them and each recommend the book to two others, that’s 600 interested people. Books are like Macdonalds – people buy something that’s familiar and mediocre rather than take a risk and buy something that might be wonderful. I use twitter to let people have a taste of what my books will be like. In my opinion, it will make a huge difference in the first month of sales. That will give me a foot in the door, which is the hardest part.

When self-promoting, it’s important to have a consistent image – in my case, because I write for children, I make sure everything with “Louise Curtis” on it is as child-safe as possible (generally I’d rate it G or PG). I also use “Louise Curtis” wherever possible, to create familiarity. Other than that, I link with other people through facebook, twitter, and blogs, and I never say no to an interview. Or a guest post.

Top tips for writing twitter tales:

1. Readers need to clearly understand what’s happening – no matter how tiny the “chapters”.

2. Readers need to be emotionally involved (no matter how tiny the “chapters”).

3. Don’t annoy readers by having more than about three updates per day.

4. If you use an account for stories, you probably can’t use it for anything else (too much explaining, too little space).

5. Be extremely careful what you say – even in the context of the story. Tweets can easily be misinterpreted, and they can’t be erased.

6. Twitter doesn’t have paragraphs, so dialogue needs very clear labels.

7. Use short names. Every letter counts. (First person narrative also saves space.)

8. Humour and action work better than anything else. Twitter’s one advantage is that you can tell a story in real time.

9. Use your own name wherever possible (including urls).

10. Don’t have an underscore at the end of your twitter name – computers can’t handle it.

11. Link your twitter account to a website for readers who want to know more. On mine I post the story so far each Friday, and the full story (in chronological order, with paragraphs) when it’s complete.

Louise Curtis writes adventure fantasy that holds onto a G or PG rating. You can follow her on Twitter or keep up with her pursuit of Daily Awesomeness with TwitterTales.