The Reddy Cab Company

The Reddy Cab Company
Available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook from Amazon!

Monday, February 18, 2019

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

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