2009 February | Write for Your Life

How Twitter can help you improve, market and publish your creative writing

22 February 2009

There seems to be an awful lot of hoo-hah about Twitter at the moment.

I first set up my Twitter account a couple of years ago and quickly abandoned it, thinking it a twaddlesome alternative to text messages.

Well, I don’t mind admitting, I was wrong. For those of you who have done a similar thing, try reading Joanna Young’s recent post on why it’s worth sticking with Twitter, over at Confident Writing.

I went back to my Twitter account when I launched Write for Your Life. Since then, I’ve come to understand Twitter’s ability to provide access to all manner of people who are either writing, interested in writing or writing about writing.

Not all, but there are many creative writers who might consider a platform like Twitter to be counter-productive. They might also think it a place for journos, bloggers and beatniks, but not, in their fictional words, serious writers.

It’s nonsense. All writing is serious, now more than ever before. Creative writers need to start taking the bull by the horns and realise that in today’s world, there’s more to writing than simply the act itself.

At the moment, Twitter is ‘the thing’. How long that lasts is irrelevant. As a writer, you can harness its power right here, right now.

Meet other writers

This has to be the number one reason why you should use Twitter if you’re a creative writer.

Writing can be a lonely process at times. There are plenty of writing groups, courses and spoken word events out there, but they can be hit and miss and don’t suit everyone. However, all writers need support and advice at some point, and Twitter is an absolute goldmine.

Imagine a huge, and I mean truly massive, network of writers who share similar passions and interests, and are willing to share their wisdom and experience. Well, that’s Twitter.

If you want to meet and share ideas with fellow writers who are going through the same highs and lows as you are, sign up now.

Make contacts in the publishing industry

Maria Schneider recently posted a list of good publishing industry people to follow on Twitter, over at Editor Unleashed. High Spot Inc also posted a directory of book trade folks who are using Twitter.

Together, these lists cover the full range of publishing types, from literary agents and publishers to libraries and print suppliers. These people are right there, on Twitter. They are online and directly engaging with writers, every single day.

Let me say that again.

Online, people in the publishing industry, including literary agents and publishing houses, are interacting with writers. An industry that for so many years has seemed closed off, is finally opening up. It has to. The world’s gone digital and they’re rushing to catch up.

Make the most if it. Get a Twitter account and follow people and organisations relevant to your writing. I’m not saying send a quick message to Bloomsbury saying, ‘Wanna publish my novel?’ and you’ll end up with a six-figure book deal. Of course not.

What I’m saying is, through Twitter you finally have a chance to communicate and create a dialogue with the industry. Get involved. Chat to people. Watch trends. It’s all happening and it’s happening now. Like never before.

Promote and market your writing

Perhaps the main reason Twitter has taken off is because it provides a quick and dirty route to promoting your work, whatever that may be.

For example, as soon as I hit publish on this post, I’ll Tweet my near-300 followers (woohoo!) and tell them about it. That’s near-300 people who might decide to click on the link I give them and find themselves right here, on Write for Your Life. And if that’s you, right now, may I welcome you with a quick, ‘Cooeeee!’

But this is a blog I’m promoting, a format that relies on online marketing and social networking. How can a creative writer, whose work is (usually) in a very tangible and offline format, use Twitter to market their work?

Well, first, see my previous points on meeting writers and making contacts in the industry. These people and organisations are a good place to start if you want to tell relevant people that you’ve got a poetry collection coming out soon, or you’ve been signed by a literary agency.

But Twitter can also give you access to potential readers. You know, the general public. Particularly if your writing is in a specific genre or covers a certain subject.

For example, if you’ve written a novel that revolves around, I dunno, basketball, you can follow, chat with and mention your work to people who like to shoot the ol’ hoops. Or if you write erotic fiction, say, Twitter can give you access to, well, people who read erotic fiction. It’s that simple.

In an economic climate where writers are expected more and more to take on the responsibility of marketing their work, Twitter is an excellent tool for reaching out to your audience.

For more information on how to promote your writing on Twitter, I heartily recommend ‘Using Twitter for Book Marketing‘, a post on Self-publishing Review.

Publish extracts of your writing

There are plenty of writers out there who are using Twitter as a publishing platform in itself. Sometimes it’s for a bit of fun, such as Copyblogger’s recent haiku competition, which ludicrously, I didn’t win.

Competitions like this and other attempts at 140-character creativity tend to involve writing something from scratch. There are Twitter novels, Twitter poems and many other methods for using the Twitter format to create something new. Quite exciting, really.

But what if you want to publish an existing piece of writing that doesn’t necessarily sit easily with the 140-character format?

Well, poems are made up of lines and stories are made up of sentences. If you occasionally throw in the odd choice quote from your writing, it can help you a) market you work, and b) express your personality as a writer. It doesn’t matter if it’s completely out of context, so long as it’s, you know, thought-provoking.

Here’s a potential tweet of mine:

From the start of my novel: Benny paints pictures with his eyes closed.

Again, I’m not saying that publishing extracts on Twitter will bring you fame and fortune, just that it can add to you experience as a writer.

Jude Calvert-Toulmin is a regular in the comments section on this blog. She’s been tweeting extracts from her work and has even set up an entire Twitter account dedicated to her novel.

Create a virtual notepad

Finally, here’s a suggestion for those writers who consider Twitter a social networking time drain and nothing more than a chance to waffle our lives away.

Truth is, if you have a Twitter account, you don’t actually have to follow, be followed by, or communicate with anyone whatsoever. You have that option. It’s in the settings.

And what would that leave you with? Well, it would leave you with a single web page that you can post short messages to from your desktop, web browser or mobile phone at any time of the day or night.

That’s a virtual notepad, right there. A quick, easy-to-use space to store your thoughts and ideas.

Personally, I’m all for carrying an actual notepad, with pages and everything. But sometimes it simply isn’t to hand and I need to find somewhere else to track my thoughts.

And really, that fits Twitter’s remit perfectly.

Where do I start with Twitter?

Well, first of all, head over to the Twitter homepage and set up your account. Then, for more technical information about the ins and outs of using Twitter, Darren Rowse’s TwiTip is a great place to go.

After that, start following people with similar interests and if you have a problem, ask your new found cyber-friends!

Share, share and share some more

So there we go, a few ways in which creative writers can use and benefit from Twitter. Over to you.

Has Twitter had an effect on your creative writing? Have you seen any novel (pun very much intended) ways that people have used Twitter to market or talk about their writing? Or is Twitter just a great big waste of time?

Let us know by leaving your thoughts in the comments section below

Follow me and subscribe!

Of course, you’re more than welcome to follow me on Twitter and if you like what you’ve seen so far on Write for Your Life, why not subscribe for free updates? Go on, you’ll enjoy it.

What do you keep in your writer's tool belt?

15 February 2009

What's in your writer's tool belt?

Guest post by Manuela Boyle

I never thought I’d say this, but I envy plumbers.

They have a set of tools they need to do their job well, all shiny and useful, and they often wear them on their person, as if to say ‘I’m a plumber, I’m kitted out, and ready for work’.

If I could buy a writer’s tool belt, I would. It would probably be utilitarian in look and feel, made from thick red canvas, and have my initials embroidered on it in gold thread. In it, I’d keep the tools of my trade. Which, of course, will vary from writer to writer, but I’m sure you’ll see some tools on the list that I’m about to share with you that you recognise.

Whatever floats your boat

A word of warning before we go any further: sometimes our tool belt contains essential items which propel our writing forward, help us when we get a bit stuck, and are fundamental to the act of writing.

Lurking in there also are crutches… tools we don’t want to throw away because they make us feel comfy and safe, but can be bad for us and actually get in the way of writing.

My list contains both, ‘cos I’m only human. See if you can tell which is which…

Thesaurus
Sylvia Plath knew the power of the thesaurus. How else do you think she found out about all those bonkers words she routinely sprinkled into her poetry, like arsenic on a freshly-baked cake? A thesaurus is a writer’s friend, and don’t listen to anyone who tells you otherwise. Sometimes you’ll find a new word in there you never heard before, or exactly the word you needed to make a line of poetry scan. I’m never without mine and I don’t think it’s cheating either. I prefer the alphabetical listing variety, dictionary-stylee. Roget and me just don’t see eye to eye.
Idiom websites/reference book
Similar to thesaurus. I’ve got my copywriting hat on now, and I must say, I spend a lot of time on English language idiom sites, looking for inspiration for a job that requires a particular copy theme. The client wants food-inspired headlines for an employee engagement initiative… so off I trundle to a food sayings or food idioms website which, granted, normally look horrible, are full of adverts and smilies, but, they give me the material I need to do the job in hand. ‘Peas in a pod’? Perfect. I intend to buy an idiom reference book very soon so my design sensibilities are no longer offended by bad websites, and of course, so I can pop it in my tool belt.
Coffee
Opinions are split on this one. I am a serious caffeine fiend, and firmly believe that I need my coffee crutch next to me to do my best work. However, there are plenty of writers out there who subscribe to the Glengarry Glenross school of thinking that ‘Coffee’s for closers’. Hot drink making can be a distraction from your work, a way out of a difficult sentence or section, a procrastination, or a reward that comes too early. The next time you think ‘this is really hard, I’ll put the kettle on’, think again – are you putting off the inevitable? Alternatively, ask someone else to make that cuppa for you.
Cigarettes
I can hear the boos from the back of the hall. Less intrusive than coffee, but clearly, a whole bunch of wrongs in the long run, fags are my best and worst writing crutch. I smoke when nothing’s happening on the page, smoke when something is… even writing about it is making me want one now. Yes, sadly, I’m a paid-up follower of the Hunter S Thompson smoke-while-you-work philosophy. There’s no doubt, cigarettes can affect your focus, distract you from your writing, and yet, give you the space for that little by-yourself meeting you sometimes need to turn a corner. I realise I’ve not reached a conclusion on this one, *coughs*. Let’s move on.
Word count tool
Again, a writing tool that’s good for some and bad for others. I once had the good fortune to ask Will Self for his top writing tips, and he was very down on the word count tool. Likening it to the devil’s spawn for writers, he told me to never check word count of what I was writing until the end of my writing session. It’s a false reassurance, something else to check that gets in the way of the act itself. And yet there have been times checking word count has been my personal cheerleader, waved a pom-pom at me, and said ‘you’ve done far more than you thought you had, keep going!’ But Self knows his onions, doesn’t he? I still word count though – it gives me the encouragement I need as I sit there, my computer and me, writing, lonely as a cloud.

What’s in your writer’s toolbelt?

So, that’s my writer’s tool belt. What’s in yours? Is there something that you just can’t do without when you’re writing? Do you have certain handy helping devices, healthy or otherwise? Let us know by sharing your thoughts in the comment section below.

Subscribe for free

If you like what you’ve read so far on Write for Your Life, why not subscribe for free email updates and get new posts delivered straight to your inbox?