A Writer's Tweets

It was so funny. It just hit me today--you need to use your Twitter account. I'll admit I wasn't a huge fan of the new social media. I thought it was silly and a waste of time. However, after taking my electronic publishing class at the University of Baltimore, I found out that utilizing social media is a great way to market yourself as a writer. As mentioned in a previous post entitled, "It's all about Twitter, folks!," two classmates and I did a group presentation on Twitter. From the research, I learned that many celebrities and companies have Twitter accounts including Oprah, The New York Times--everyone! With Twitter, you can tweet about upcoming events. You can insert links into your tweets so people can view articles and/or blog posts. Also, create hash tags so people can find your tweets using keywords. So, here is my Twitter account: http://twitter.com/mbanks6. Also, for all you Tweeters, have you found Twitter useful? Let me know. Also, you can post a link to your Twitter account!

Get your Blog on!

Yesterday, in my Electronic Publishing course, there was a group panel: Rose Huber (blogger), Erika Shernoff (non-profit marketing director), and Adam Robinson (blogger and publisher). The panelists gave great insight about their experiences with blogs and electronic marketing. It was cool to see that blogging can actually mean something other than how many people visited your sight, that if you're lucky and persistent that maybe a career can spring from it. For example, both Rose and Adam mentioned receiving free stuff; I would love for publishers to send me books that they want reviewed (knock on wood). But knowing me, I would feel funny endorsing something that I didn't believe in. Anyway, I was very impressed with Adam Robinson's indie book publishing house, Publishing Genius (a few weeks ago, I wrote a post about his press, click here to read it). I hope to one day have my own publishing house, but it takes time, money, and energy. Distribution and marketing are essential to having a successful publishing house. If no one knows about your company or the books that you're selling, it's like you don't exist. Also, it was pretty cool to see how Rose's post, "The Ultimate Vegan Cuisine," was the top google search. So, as you can see, the Internet levels the playing field in a way. Just get the word out about your blog, and hopefully people will become interested, and then you can become a famous blogger, right?