Yes, I understand that Twitter is a good way of spreading the message that you’ve got a new self published book on Amazon. But if every single tweet is just a variation of advertising said self published classic, then I ain’t following you.
In fact it makes me wonder why self published authors don’t engage more with the people who follow them. Is it a lack of imagination? Cluelessness around how Twitter actually works? Or is the self published crowd so self absorbed that they’re incapable of noticing anyone around them.
And, yes, generalisng. Not all self published authors spam Twitter. But I’m guessing they’re also in the minority.
I am pretty sure its in some Guide to Self Publishing Marketing somewhere along with how to gain 5000 followers. Twice a day for me is an acceptable level of promo, catching different time zones and yes engagement with people. Mind you once you get over 10,000 followers I think it might get difficult.
I use Twitter a lot because I just really like it.
I use it fairly sparingly for talking up myself and my work because no-one likes a spammer.
The technique that bewilders me is the tweet length single sentence extract from someone’s book. Virtually no single sentence ever stands up very well out of context. I’ve never been even remotely enticed to read a book as a result of this technique.
I agree with Sean’s comment above – I’ve always assumed that there is some version of “10 Sure Fire Ways to Make Your Self Published Masterpiece Sell” out there that has a Twitter section.
Having said that, I don’t mind hearing from people when they have something new out, doing a reading/appearance etc. I guess it is a matter of volume.
-m