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Ask Annie: 5 Twitter Mistakes Writers Make and How to Avoid Them

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Ask Annie Neugebauer Writer Unboxed logo

You’ve covered a lot of policy and etiquette in your blogs, but I was wondering if there are any pitfalls you commonly see writers making on Twitter? And if so, what should we do to avoid them?

—Anonymous

Hi Anonymous! I love this question, not just because you’re eager to avoid the pitfalls but also because you specified that you want to know how to do so. I appreciate that focus on positivity and taking action.

I have so many answers to this one that I’m going to break it into two parts. This post will cover my first 5 and my next one will cover 5 more. Thanks so much for your question!

1. Tweeting word counts.

You know what’s not interesting? How many words you wrote today. Ouch! I’m sorry, but if I don’t tell you, who will? It doesn’t matter if you had the best day in history or literally only typed one word; most people don’t care. They’re not trying to be mean, but unless we’re directly affected by the outcome of said word count, it really isn’t interesting.

“But Annie, tweeting my word count keeps me accountable. What am I supposed to do?” The answer: find a source of support – and take it off Twitter. Every writer needs fellow writers with whom they celebrate and commiserate. Lots of writers need an accountability buddy – no shame in that! The trick is taking that connection off Twitter, to a private place. Even if you find your buddy on Twitter, Twitter isn’t the place to tweet said numbers. Better options include email, texts, a group forum, a private Facebook group, etc. Keep your followers happy and yourself accountable; it’s the best of both worlds.

2. Over-promoting your work.

This is so tempting. The busier we get, the harder it becomes to even get on Twitter, much less to post idle chit-chat. Some days I find myself hitting only the “important” things in my tweets. Read: self-promotion. It’s a necessary evil. The problem comes in when promo takes over and you become spam. No one likes flyers on their car, remember? So how do we keep from becoming nothing but promotion machines when we have so little time to dedicate to Twitter?

Cut back. In most cases, your Twitter content should be no more than 30% self-promotion. Under no circumstances should it be over 50%. That means that if you can only get on Twitter long enough to tweet three times that day, only one of those tweets should be a link to your work. Need to share your work more often than that? Get on Twitter and tweet other content more often than that. I’m sorry, but there is no shortcut. And honestly, you’re shooting yourself in the foot if you do otherwise, because once an account becomes that promo-heavy people write it off as spam.

3. Pitching agents and editors.

It’s tempting, but don’t do it. Unless you’ve been directly invited or there’s a sanctioned Twitter pitching event going on, Twitter is for social interactions, not business.

If you want to query an agent or editor, do it the old-fashioned way; send an email.

4. Only interacting with writers.

[pullquote]Most readers aren’t that interested in the nuts and bolts of the writing process. They want books, not how-tos. [/pullquote]Writers are great (really great), but you’re on Twitter to find potential readers too, remember? Sure, other writers can be readers, but for the most part they’re too busy trying to get you to read their books to stop and read yours. So branch out a little; find and follow other people. They’re out there. I know; I saw one once at Target!

But seriously, this also means tweeting about things besides writing. Most readers aren’t that interested in the nuts and bolts of the writing process. They want books, not how-tos. So instead of talking about writing, try to include content that will appeal to the same crowd that you want to read your book.

5. Sharing submission statuses.

There’s no reason to go this alone, but there’s also no reason to broadcast every rejection you receive. We all get them. We all know. Keep a lid on that pot, yo. Likewise, although it might be tempting to tweet “I got a request!” joys, it’s wiser to keep those quiet as well. As sad as it may seem, many (most) requests still turn into rejections, and if you never update us about that request result, we eventually figure it out. So rather than tweeting stats, rejections, or even maybe-pile updates, wait until you have some final, positive good news to tweet about submission statuses.

Feeling lost in a sea of responses? Again, the solution is simple: use your off-Twitter support group (even if you meet the wonderful folks there to begin with). They should be happy to cheer you on, mourn your losses, and celebrate your victories – in private.

Do you have a question about Twitter that you’d like answered here on Writer Unboxed? You can leave your question in the comments below, fill out this quick, easy online form – there’s an anonymous option if you’re shy – or simply tweet your question with the hashtag #AskAnnieWU. (You can send them to me directly @AnnieNeugebauer as well.) I look forward to getting more of your questions!

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About Annie Neugebauer

Annie Neugebauer is a two-time Bram Stoker Award-nominated author with work appearing and forthcoming in more than a hundred publications, including magazines such as Cemetery Dance, Apex, and Black Static, as well as anthologies such as Year’s Best Hardcore Horror Volumes 3 & 4 and #1 Amazon bestsellers Killing It Softly & Fire. She’s a member of the Horror Writers Association and a columnist for Writer Unboxed and LitReactor. She's represented by Alec Shane of Writers House. She lives in Texas with two crazy cute cats and a husband who’s exceptionally well-prepared for the zombie apocalypse. You can visit her at www.AnnieNeugebauer.com for news, poems, organizational tools for writers, and more.

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Comments

  2. Love your Twitter column, Annie…I’m trying to use it more often (I’m on FB more than anywhere else).

    This made me chuckle: “If you want to query an agent or editor, do it the old-fashioned way; send an email.” The world is changing greatly when the “old-fashioned way” is email. Ha. Loved it.

    Because I live on FB, I have connected it to Twitter (trying to tweet more), so it pretty much tweets all my FB status updates. Is this a no-no? My updates are a mix of promotion (for others), links to articles I find interesting (both writerly and non-writerly), and a variety of personal observations. An even mix. What do you think?

    Thanks for your column!

    • Thank you, Mike! Yes, I smirked when I wrote the email bit too. :) That is a fantastic question. I’m going to give you my honest answer: yes, I do think that’s a no-no. Here’s why: When Facebook statuses get posted to Twitter, 9 times out of 10 they’re too long (remember tweets have to be 140 characters or less) and Twitter automatically cuts the ending off with a little … So for Twitter users to actually read your status, we have to click over to Facebook. As sad as it might be, these days people don’t think that’s worth it. Opening a new website to read another sentence or two? Most people will scroll past. And if they see that you do that a lot, they might unfollow. Best case scenario they go find you on Facebook; worst case they forget about you and you’ve lost that potential contact. See what I mean? Other people have also pointed out that you should vary your content at least a little between platforms, that way people have incentive to follow you everywhere. Personally, I don’t mind a little cross-content, but I do prefer it to be changed in form for each social media platform. So I think your best bet is to hop on Twitter with a custom, tweet-length version of what you posted on Facebook. It will take longer, but it will also build you a healthier and more active Twitter following. And hey, it’s great practice in cutting down word count. ;) I hope that helps!

      • Thanks! Yes, that was my fear. I had seen the FB posts as they appear on Twitter with the cut-off update, ellipsis, and subsequent link to FB (and THEN a link to whatever I was talking about), and I didn’t really care for it myself. I would get aggravated, too. I figured it probably wasn’t the best twitterquette, but I was trying the two birds/one stone approach. Thanks again for setting me straight.

        Now…to figure out how I connected the two. ;)

  5. Annie, you are an angel of wisdom. Social media is overwhelming for me. I chose Twitter because it seemed the easiest, but after three years I’m still trying to figure out the ins and outs. Fortunately, you always provide lightbulb moments for me. So, thanks again for helping me navigate the Social Seas.