Twitter and the Indie Author

For those of you who are not aware, there is a large and vibrant population of indie authors to be found on Twitter. Over the last year, I have made a concentrated effort to reach out to other struggling authors like myself and have thoroughly enjoyed the connections I have made. Currently, I am approaching 4K following/followers, most of whom are writers like myself. Here are a few things I have learned in the process.

Like all social media, there are some strange folks out there! Someone recently tweeted out a reminder that Twitter is not a dating website. Good to know, because I have received many follows and several interesting DMs (direct messages) from lonely ladies looking for love. (Nice bit of alliteration, right?) I have been fooled into following back on a couple of occasions by clever descriptions, but I usually figure it out pretty quickly and sever the connection. Sorry, ladies, I’m happily married and as I replied to someone a while back, I’m just trying to sell some books.

Another thing I have learned is that rejection is common. I generally follow back anyone who follows me, assuming they are a writer, author, blogger, etc. Occasionally some of these people will unfollow me and I am left to wonder why. Usually, I attribute it to my blog which sometimes expresses a political view that may offend. I certainly don’t intend to offend people, and I state very clearly that my opinions are based on my Conservative Christian viewpoint. If that offends you, then don’t read my blog. I myself follow tons of people who proudly proclaim themselves to be LGBTQ, or Muslim, or Liberal, or Democrat, or any number of associations that could easily offend me if I let them, but I don’t have a problem with writers who have different views. I think I’m fairly open-minded. Apparently, not everyone is.

I love that the members of the #writingcommunity, or #WritingCommunity, or even #writingcommmunity ask lots of questions and freely offer advice about a variety of topics related to self-publishing. I love that writers are so encouraging to one another. I love that writers have a sense of humor and love to post memes and gifs. I love that they will post inspirational quotes of a more serious nature. I also love that Twitter has a mute button.

Unlike FB, where you Block or Unfriend (just sounds ugly, doesn’t it?), Twitter allows you to mute someone and keep their tweets from showing up in your newsfeed. I don’t use it a lot, but there was one person (according to an app I was using at the time) who seriously posted over 500 tweets per day! I’m sorry, but I actually would like to see others’ comments and not just yours. Another person I muted after several semi-pornographic images were posted. I can support you as a writer, but spare me the graphic photos.

Mostly, I love that Twitter makes it easy to promote our books (and blogs). Every day I get to read descriptions of wonderful books by my newfound friends. I’ve even picked up a few copies. And I hope that my tweets steer a few people toward my writings as well. So, if you’ve not already done so, let me encourage you to check out the writing community on Twitter. See you there! #rdperry57