How Authors Can Get the Most Out of Twitter

How Authors Can Get the Most Out of Twitter How Authors Can Get the Most Out of Twitter Nathan Bransford is the author of the Jacob Wonderbar series and How to Write a Novel, which NY Times bestselling author Ransom Riggs called â€Å"the best how-to-write-a-novel book I've read." He writes a popular blog on writing and publishing  and  is also available for book editing and consultations on Reedsy. In this guest post, Nathan explains his belated love affair with Twitter.Let me tell you a story about how I joined the human circus, otherwise known as Twitter.I didn’t join it at all.In 2008, while I was boasting to friends that I would never do that whole social media thing, someone created a fake Twitter profile of me, photo and all, and started tweeting out my blog posts! Real people were replying to me and everything.Once I got wind of what was happening, I wrested control of the rogue account and grumpily determined it was time to succumb to social media.So yes. I now have around 93,000 Twitter followers and social media has become a foundational aspect of my entire professional career, but I can also relate to the deep reluctance some of you might have to engage with social media.Take it from me: it pays to be active on social media. Even if you don’t want to be.Here’s how to get the most out of Twitter. Learn 5 ways authors can get the most out of Twitter 1. Learn the basicsLet’s face it. If you're looking for the pulse of the publishing industry, Twitter is the place to go.It’s where many important industry conversations are happening, it’s where agents and editors are tweeting their manuscript wish lists, and it’s where people get into spectacularly heated arguments about arcane publishing topics that may utterly bewilder you.For the uninitiated, Twitter is essentially a stream of short posts. Twitter posts (â€Å"tweets†) are limited to 280 characters so there’s an incentive to be concise, punchy, and witty.You can â€Å"retweet† someone’s tweet, which pushes that tweet out to your followers - some tweets end up going viral and are retweeted tens of thousands of times. You can also share links, post a series of tweets in a â€Å"thread,† and share photos and videos.Speak your heart but mind what you say - everything but Direct Messages is public!2. Start nowDo you hav e any social media questions for Nathan? Or top Twitter tips to share? Let us know in the comments below!