Should You Use Twitter to Promote Your Book?

I joined the land of Twitter only recently; I was not sure about Twitter.  140 characters at a time seems small to me.

I didn’t want to have my valuable time taken up by Twitter when I could be writing, and frankly Twitter worried me.  I think that I did not understand the value of having some other type of promotion in another site where I could have more followers and more potential readers.

I was not sure that this was the best idea, but another writer proved me wrong.  Judy Croome, who has a Twitter account, showed me that I can use Twitter to let people know I have a book, and also to interact with writers in a different environment than on any other website I write on.  Tweeting is certainly not like writing a blog.

It is not as if there are not drawbacks to each type of networking you do.  The amount of time you spend on any method of promotion ought always to be considered, and once in a while you will need to open your mind to new media that might work for you.  That is why I needed to think about how I can promote my work on Twitter without sounding like I was being boring or, worse still, like an overly excited book marketer.

This leads to my question of should you use Twitter to promote your book?  After some thought, I believe the answer is yes, but only if you have the time and the willingness to market your book to the right people.  In the beginning, it is important to make yourself visible, and be interesting to the followers you have.

After all, this should be an avenue to make some money on books you have written.  This is a way to get followers to know and understand that you write and sell a book, and that you also have interests beyond your writing.  Yes, you can not only promote your book but you can promote yourself!

Twitter — and 140 characters — this is a network to think about, and after much thought, I would like to invite you to follow me @RebeccaAEmrich. See you on Twitter!