Saturday, August 28, 2010

Tweetering on the edge of success

Social networking media is hyped as one of the best ways to promote yourself and your work today. But think before you tweet, blog and post. This is a VERY public arena you’re playing in.

I’m not saying don’t do it. I’m saying think about your content before you post. On Twitter I follow some very influential people in the publishing industry international and I have already seen a couple of instances where people have been offended – rightly or wrongly.  People get unfollowed or blocked for spoilers, causing offence or stalker behaviour.

As outlined in my interview with Angela Slatter, http://downunderwonderings.blogspot.com/2010/08/angela-slatter-australian-short-story.html, the publishing world is quite small and the last thing you want to do is put your wrong foot forward.

Controversy can help people get traffic their way, but make sure it’s not controversy that will kill your publishing dream.

Part of the problem is it is so easy to misunderstand intent online. There is no body language, tone or emotions that help us decode messages.

In the same way, be careful about how you interact with industry professionals on these sites. The last thing you want is to be branded a stalker or gain a poor reputation amongst agents and publishers.

Here are some helpful sites to guide you through social networking for writers:

http://helpineedapublisher.blogspot.com/2010/08/twitter-for-authors-part-3-tweeting-in.html
http://www.articlesbase.com/networking-articles/4-rules-to-successful-social-networking-2086318.html
http://bookmarketingmaven.typepad.com/savvy_book_marketer/successful-social-marketing.html
http://chillibreeze.in/career-tips-for-writers/on-the-extraordinary-bandwagon-of-social-networking-authors/
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2009/08/mind-meld-how-does-blogging-and-social-networking-affect-the-publishing-industry/
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/426195/social_network_for_writers.html

4 comments:

  1. Such good advice! I love the writing community on these social networking sites. I am very careful of what I put out there, though. I try to remember that everything, including this comment, can be viewed on line!

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  2. Thanks Julie. Online has the ability to be immediate and to travel around the world quickly. Sometimes it is easy to forget that when you are alone with your laptop or phone.

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  3. Great post! Thank you for the links.

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  4. Thanks Jamie, glad they are useful.

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