The problem with Twitter

Filed under Improve your book.

Twitter is a great way to build a network. The fact that it’s free, well populated and easy to use makes it a great platform for writers, businesses and individuals. Add to this the fact that the retweet and open follow mechanisms make it easy to quickly build a large following, and you have a winning formula for building an active network.

The problem with twitter is simple – you can’t sell to your audience. By this I mean that twitter has developed as a network that does not want to see adverts and links to products. This means that any network you build can’t be used to sell your product.

It is therefore important that you, as a writer, understand the nature of the network you are developing on twitter. At no point will you be able to ‘mass twitter’ a link to your book and expect sales to magically appear. It simply will not happen.

So how can you leverage your twitter network?

By using them as a sounding board and advice panel for ideas, thoughts and writing problems,

By using them to raise awareness of you as a writer,

By using them to guide ‘eyeballs’ to you blog and other online (and off line) projects.

I am not saying that twitter is a waste of time. I am just saying that writers need to have very clear expectations before spending the time and effort required to build a twitter network.

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  • http://www.alanbaxteronline.com Alan

    I have sold books as a direct result of Twitter. By chatting about stuff, chucking out interesting links, etc., people get to know you. When they do they want to know more and they check your biom, your bio leads to your site and your site advertises your books. If they like you they’ll probably check out your stuff. People have come back to me on Twitter to tell me that they bought the books, enjoyed the books, etc. all as a result of “meeting” me on Twitter. I’m a big fan!

    • Gary Smailes

      Alan, this is the point I am trying to make. Only by building trust are you able to use twitter as a platform to promote yourself, and therefore indirectly your book.

      • http://www.alanbaxteronline.com Alan

        Absolutely – I guess I’m agreeing with you! And what’s even better is that I really enjoy the interactions too. Selling books is a bonus!

        • Gary Smailes

          I guess that it all came to me in a flash. I see writers (my self amongst them) using twitter with the belief that it is the key to some bigger secret. The reality is that we need to be much more realistic in what we are doing, and more importantly, why!

          • http://www.alanbaxteronline.com Alan

            Absolutely. Sales and self-promotion are no different now than they’ve ever been. It’s all about building a profile and putting the time into relationships with people. Only the vehicles have changed.

  • http://alissagrosso.com Alissa

    I’m an author and a reader, and I have discovered other authors thanks to Twitter. Although, I may not have clicked on a link to buy their books, I have bought books as a result of Twitter. I’ve even gone out to movies thanks to positive Twitter buzz. So, there is something to be said for Twitter’s ability to get the word out, but if you are just trying to direct sell on Twitter, you will come out looking like some sort of spammer.

  • http://nikperring.blogspot.com NIk Perring

    I think we’re probably saying the same thing here, but I wonder whether Twitter is actually more effective as a selling tool because it encourages people not to advertise (I’d never follow anyone who was only there to sell) and to interact with people who do things one’s interested in; it’s a non-pressure way of getting information and people are free to do what they like with it. I think…

    • Gary Smailes

      Yeah, totally. I just that some people view twitter as a list of people they will someday get to buy their novel. This will never happen, some will, of course, but what twitter may do is help start a conversation about their novel, which maybe far more powerful.

  • http://jonathandanz.wordpress.com Jonathan

    You’ve hit on the whole premise of web 2.0. AND the reason so many companies have tried and failed to leverage these media into more revenue. As you and Alan discussed here in the comments, it’s all about building relationships, a skill inherent in the best salespeople. Most companies don’t want to take the time to develop a “long tail” marketing strategy. As writers, it’s a great tool if used as you suggest and it doesn’t supplant time you would spend writing. If you want advertising, go for Google Adwords or Yahoo Search Marketing, or TV, or radio, etc.

    • Gary Smailes

      well said…as you suggest I suspect twitter may the PERFECT tool for writers!

  • http://www.alanbaxteronline.com Alan

    Exactly!