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There is a Book Blogger Convention going on today at Book Expo America and I am at least as jealous of the attendees of this event as I am of those grabbing ARCs and meeting authors. Look at these topics they’ll be learning about:
- Marketing – How to increase your blog stats, Branding, Getting your name out there
- Writing and Building Content – Tips and tricks on writing good book reviews, Tone-humor sarcasm, I’m out of ideas what do I do now?/How do I keep it fresh?, Planning a good feature/series, What content is most popular? How do I innovate/differentiate?, How do I balance reviews with other content?
- Impact of the Relationship Between Author and Blogger – Creating/Fostering a relationship, Pitfalls of relationships between blogger/author
- Blogging With Social Responsibility
I need help with all of these!
Just because we can’t be there in person doesn’t mean that we can’t learn from each other. So head on over to Armchair BEA and join in our virtual Book Blogger Convention Roundtable.
I’ve struggled with this post. I felt like I didn’t have anything to say about any of these topics and everything to learn. Then I participated in the #armchairBEA Twitter party last night and it hit me: I could blog about why you as a blogger should consider signing up for Twitter.
I’m a recent Twitter convert myself. I only signed up a couple of months ago. Before I signed up, I just thought it was a place where people said stuff like, “I’m going to brush my teeth,” or maybe the slightly more exciting, “Having a glass of wine.” I was so wrong!
Do those tweets come through? Sure. We all tweet them occasionally. But really it’s a place to interact in real time with your fellow bloggers and readers, and even authors, publishers and publicists. I felt like I had a decent idea of who the people behind the blogs were before joining Twitter, but now that I’ve been on Twitter for a while, I feel like I’m really getting to know them. With the hours I keep, it’s hard for me to join in while everyone else is on, but when my schedule allows it, I stumble in on some great conversations. Take Armchair BEA for instance. Someone tweeted about how they felt left out because of the all the excited BEA chatter from those who were going, next thing you know, this great idea was born. Today I tweeted about a local BookFest, another blogger saw it and contacted me, now she knows about it and I might get to meet a blogger I like. It’s a win for both of us and it wouldn’t have happened without Twitter.
So what does this have to do with Book Blogger Con? Think of it as another marketing tool. I think that’s one of the smallest aspects of Twitter, but it is definitely there. Think about it–as you’re getting to know other bloggers, they’re also getting to know and like you. They’re re-tweeting your content to their followers who might not know you. Those followers check out your links and you’ve got new followers. In the meantime you’re following links you see in tweets and finding bloggers and readers you might never have found otherwise. You see? It’s a big give and take and I think everyone wins.
So if you’re not on Twitter, give it some serious thought. It is one more thing to take up your time, so realistically, you might not be able to squeeze it into your busy schedule. If you can make time for it at all, though, I highly recommend you join. It’s a vibrant community and I have truly enjoyed getting to know all the book lovers in all their various capacities better.
19 Comments
I'm a newbie to twitter myself (having joined a couple months ago) and although I'm not on it as much (time!) as some people seem to be I like it more than I realized I would!
I'm still a semi newbie at Twitter, having only joined it this year, but I love using it in relation to my blog, goodreads, and the books I am reading. It's a great networking tool when you use it correctly, and update it regularly.
Great post Jen!!!
question-how does one get in touch with other bloggers, etc on Twitter-how do you know what and who to follow-?
Great post! I actually started on Twitter first, and that's how I found out about the book blogging community. I'm a bit erractic with my tweets as I tend to lose track of time, but agree that it's a great tool!
I really enjoyed this post because I've been seriously thinking of joining twitter lately for my blog. I am just so concerned about it sucking even more time away. I guess I'll never know unless I try though 🙂
I think I started loving Twitter from this week only. Thanks to ArmchairBEA! I finally got the hang of how to use it. Now I need to try to work with one more distraction.
Great post. I'm so glad I'm on twitter. As for time, it only takes as much time as you put into it. You can spend all day long on it or an hour a day or 10 minutes a day or every other day or once a week. Yes you miss a bunch of stuff if you aren't on all day long but realistically, no one can do that.
I've been on Twitter for two years, and almost no one I follow tweets about – or ONLY about – what they had for breakfast :-). I really hope that cliched misconception dies off one of these days!
I'm erratic about my Twitter usage, but it's been invaluable in both promoting my blog and getting to know other bloggers better. And Armchair BEA wouldn't have been born without it!
Twitter is a great tool. I've gotten a lot of hits from Twitter, won a lot of books and made a lot of contacts. I'm so Pro-Twitter.
I am still trying to find a way to have Twitter work for me from a blogging perspective. I've been at it a month and only have time to check in once or twice a week. But since the Twitter Party last night, I've met more people to connect with on Twitter – including you – so I'll be trying to make more of an effort.
I have built the greatest friendships with twitter and I can't say enough about the things that I have learned. Yes, it can be a time suck, but with the proper tools and time management, the rewards make up for it.
Twitter is fantastic! I joined in '08 because I was working on a political campaign. I have since changed my focus and twitter handle to something more related to my blog. But, it's a great networking tool!
I use twitter as both a personal tool to connect to my friend across the world and to sometimes market what is going on in my blogging world. Where it has become essential to me (professionally and personally) is following topics that appeal to me.
You are absolutely right about having twitter account it's not all about teeny tiny stuff but i also gain a lot of infos and i can ask whatever i have in mind about books to the twit peeps!and i love the community!
I can't keep up with Twitter. I stop in once every two weeks and I always find something good there, but there's lots of nothing, too. How can I use Twitter so I just get the good stuff?
Debnance at Twitter, too
Great post! I was like you at first, thought that Twitter was for all the oversharing TMI people. At first I had a hard time because I didn't feel like shouting out in the unknown world that I'm bored, the sun is shining or I want to leave work. But now first of all I know my posts will go to some people I ahve interacted with, it is completely different to send snippets out in the known world. Then I also saw that Twitter was 1) great for marketing and spreading the word about anything; 2) a great forum to chat with fellow minded bloggers and cool authors. So now I feel more at ease on Twitter and I agree, bloggers and authors should have a Twitter account, it's all about interaction, and you really should do that and not isolate yourself.
you so totally rule the twitter world in my book! i now know how to twitter (a little bit better!) thanks to you!!!! AND TWEETCHAT!!!! and I so cannot believe I am up at 4 am sending comments and writing posts! i promise to send you that link today…i don't know that i could remember the name of it right now or not…oh yeah Decatur Book Festival – i'll get it to ya!
I resisted joining Twitter for the longest time, thinking that the last thing I needed was another time suck, but I am so glad that I caved. I am on a different times to most people due to my location, but I still get to have really cool conversations about all sorts of topics, and yes, there are definitely some great ideas born on Twitter!
I am glad that I joined in the end!
great post! i could not agree with you more. like you, i just started tweeting, and i'm loving it so far 🙂