I haven’t fully engaged with the whole twitter business yet, but with an ebook imminent and hopefully more next year, I kinda think I should. To which end, I have been observing the goings on of other indie writers in the twittersphere and started to compile a list of things I should avoid (if only because they irritate me):
Only ever tweeting about your book.
Universally acknowledged as the ultimate crime among tweeters; even worse if the writer in question has only one book, but insists on telling the world about it every hour. I have to admit to eventually being worn down and checking out the previews of some books that come my way like this, but by that time I already want to hate it… make of that what you will.
Tweeting your one five star review repeatedly.
A more specific variation of the ultimate crime, with an added undertone of dishonesty. Clearly we are supposed to think ‘Wow, this book gets a 5 star review every week, I must check it out!’ but seeing just one review when you click the link is a bit disappointing.
Using txt spk.
Ok, you have a limited number of characters at your disposal, I get that; but you claim to be a writer – wordcraft! Edit! Either say what you need to say in 140 characters, or write a whole blog post and tweet us the link. Rptd use of txt spk doesnt inspire me 2 read yr bk.
Selling me sex.
This is a personal taste thing (and not something I am in danger of doing myself). For obvious reasons I follow the tweetings of various indie authors, and as indie publishing is well suited to publishing mucky fiction, occasionally it appears on my timeline. I’d just rather not see it.
Not tweeting enough.
That way when you do tweet something interesting it just disappears because I haven’t realised how interesting you are. Oh, wait, that’s me at the moment…
Any more things to avoid?