Part of it is you need to market yourself. Since I have no creds, zero, zilch, zip as an author, nothing published save for a few fitness related articles in an eZine a couple years ago. I need something, anything, to offer in my query letter and though a healthy Twitter following is not as good as published short stories or a series of articles it's better than nothing. When you are supporting a family and trying to write on the side, it's the best some of us are able to muster.
Surprisingly what I discovered is a huge wealth of knowledge from authors and publishers willing to share their knowledge and advice. It's amazing to read about their experiences, making me realize that some of the frustrations and obstacles are not uniquely mine but common among those in the field. Nothing teaches you faster than getting the inside scoop from the pros.
But what I have also found is the tendency for some authors to spam the hell out their followers. How exactly do people, especially those who claim to be writing novels, have time to post every 15 seconds 'round the clock? Coming from a technical background, my first inclination is think they are using some kind of application to find content and post it for them. Google reveals hundreds of such programs. I suppose it's also possible they hired researchers to post for them.
It isn't that the content isn't relevant, there is just so frigging much of it!
A lot of the posts are repeats, like they doing a Twitter version of "the best of" a long-running TV series, say Cheers or Family Ties--yes, I'm THAT old--will do to celebrate reaching a milestone, say their 100th episode. I get it. As a rule I don't go back more than a dozen tweets or so of someone I'm following and everyone wants you to see their insightful content. Perhaps when I have a 1000 posts I'll do the same thing, who knows. My focus is on writing my books, self-promotion seems like a secondary priority.
Perhaps this is an indication I am going to fail? Going down not in a blaze of glory but to simply fizzle in obscurity. A writer's fate worse than death.
In the mean time I am being blasted by a few who are watering down the content of my feed such that the voices of ones that are more focused on writing are being being drown in the flood. So, I have decided to set up a second Twitter account, LJayScottS--the S is for spammer--that I can still follow these super-mega-posters but keep my main feed to a manageable flow. I have a spam email account for the same reason.
Maybe just admitting to this is akin to Twitter suicide, don't know, I'm still pretty new to this universe and learning the ropes. If someone has insight into this, maybe found a different way of dealing with it, please ping me.
I choose the people I follow because I think their content is interesting, insightful, informative, or just amusing. I will also follow anyone who follows me, but I don't have time to read 250 tweets an hour. So, if you are a megaposter, please don't be offended if you find yourself with a new follower of LJayScottS. I love you, I just don't have time to always deal with the flood.
Carry on.
Join me on Facebook!
Have a page? Send me the link and I'll return the favor
Join me on Twitter!
I follow back
I love this! I feel like I could have written it myself.I am also adding to my twitosphere following to get connected with other writers and readers, but the constant stream of repetitive tweets and DMs is quite overwhelming. I don't see how anyone can possibly keep up! Best of luck to you with your writing and thanks for following me on Twitter without the "S". I feel honored. ;)
ReplyDeleteThank you, krank2004! It is pure insanity. I thought the idea behind Twitter was to connect with people as you said, but it is so easy to get lost in the white noise. Part of it is that people have to scream to be heard in that noise, but they are then contributing to it. The thing to do is find the rare gold nuggets who communicate both direction in the mix and add them to a list. Thank you for following, the honor is mine.
DeleteWow! Interesting to know how people really feel about all that waterfall of tweets. I've wonder that myself, but I thought, maybe I need to do better to keep up with the mega tweeters. I guess I need to worry no more! BTW you have answered some of my comments and I think I'm not in the "S" list, or at least I hope. :-) Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteThat is hilarious, Veronica. No, you are not on the "S" list. I was inundated by a few who posted, literally, every 2 or 3 minutes, 24/7. The content varied, obviously Twitter doesn't let you post the exact same thing over and over, but it still has to be something automated. I want to connect with people, not an app. Most of the megatweeters have interesting content, but just SO much of it they drown out everyone else. Lists help, but you still have to see someone else's posts to know to put them on a list.
DeleteCheers!