Twitter Doesn't Have to Be Overwhelming!

One of my least favorite things about myself—which I’m working to fix—is that I get overwhelmed easily. I look at all the tasks I’ve been assigned, take in the big picture, and freak out. My brain says, “You must do ALL of this NOW.” I know that isn’t true, but that doesn’t stop the visceral reaction.

I’m a proofreader. I specialize in details. One little bit at a time—that’s how I’d prefer life to work, too. But life has a way of throwing a million things at me at once. And, annoyingly, I can’t change reality. I can make lists and set priorities, but I can’t make those lists always be short ones.

You may feel the same. All you wanted (all I wanted!) to do was write books and sell them and make money so you can keep writing and creating your beautiful imaginary worlds, etc. But then you discovered all the other things writers have to do these days, aside from writing. . . . Cue the visceral reaction.

Yeah, I’m talking about the dreaded M word: marketing.

A large percentage of writers are introverts, like I am, and many of us grew up thinking, “Marketing requires perfect people skills; it’s shady or unethical; it’s incredibly time-consuming; it’s expensive.” Not only did I believe all those myths, but I also thought marketing would force me to pretend to be someone I wasn’t. As far as I’m concerned, inauthenticity or insincerity is a cardinal sin.

To my great relief, though, I discovered that modern marketing isn’t like that at all! In fact, it has turned out to be surprisingly enjoyable AND has given me more opportunities to express my true self than I’d had before.

Take the example of Twitter. I run the Thinklings Twitter account, and a major part of that is tweeting daily puns about books. Yes—I get to exercise my creativity and have fun making puns, which I’ve always loved doing. Not one bit scary or fake! (I use an app to schedule those tweets, so I don’t waste too much time and feel busy or overwhelmed.)

And it’s been working: Our platform, as well as my own author platform, has grown immensely thanks to this strategy that lets my personality shine through. Since becoming Thinklings’ social media marketer, I’ve also learned that doing a little at a time and keeping it up—being a tortoise, which I am, rather than a hare—is what it’s all about. Consistency, combined with authenticity and connectivity.

If you’d like to go deeper and read much more detailed advice on how to grow your own Twitter platform, Thinklings has great news:

We just released our first nonfiction book, The Authentic Twitter Platform. This short e-book, along with its workbook, will help authors develop their style and branding, discover who’s in their market and how to attract those people, learn when to tweet, which hashtags to use, what apps will save you precious time, and much more.

Jeannie and I wrote this book together, combining her knowledge from working in the industry for fifteen years with my personal experience as a newbie marketer, so it’s like a manual and a case study blended together. You can smile at my mistakes and relate to my story as I tell it. I was quite recently where you are now.

The Authentic Twitter Platform is only $2.99 regularly, but next Monday through Friday (February 3rd - 7th) we're offering the book for FREE on a special promotion! And then for two weeks after that, it'll be just 99 cents. Because we really want anyone who needs it to be able to get a copy! [Update: It's now 99 cents permanently!]

. . . A copy of my marketing book. That sounds really weird to me as I type it. If you’d told me a year ago that not only would I reach 5,000 Twitter followers by 2020, but that I would also work as a marketer and write a book about it, I would have laughed. Now I’m laughing for a different reason—happiness and pride at how much I’ve grown and accomplished during the past year. (I finally got my first novel published, too, on January 1st!)
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And there’s much more to come, from me and from Thinklings. In another month or two, we’ll be releasing our second short nonfiction e-book, written by Deborah, on how to format a book for publication using nothing but Microsoft Word. So stay tuned for news about that fantastic resource!

If you picked up a copy of The Authentic Twitter Platform and found it helpful, we’d love for you to leave a review on Amazon so the book will be more visible to others who would benefit from it.

Thanks, and happy tweeting!

Sarah Awa

Sarah writes books about werewolves and lives with two hairy guys. Her debut novel is Hunter's Moon, and her author website is www.sarahmawa.com.

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