Last week I came up with the idea of authors collaborating (please read it before continuing - opens in a new window) to get as wide a reach as possible on Twitter by creating the @AuthorTeam account and inviting fellow writers to follow, which gave them automatic inclusion in the AHA list. People could then search for that list and find tweets to retweets.
However, it isn’t working out a planned. First of all, I open the list every day and I get the tweets for the latest follower going back a whole week, which means I have to keep the list open for some time while the timeline fills up with new tweets. As anyone who has been on Twitter for a while knows, leaving it open soon cripples the browser by sucking the system memory dry (or maybe that’s just my laptop). It has also been brought to my attention that the #AHA hashtag has been adopted by others not involved with the group (even though a search for #AHA brought back no results last week!)
Besides this, the list is being filled with tweets that are not book-related, and it can take some time to find anything worth retweeting to the author’s benefit. That’s the case now with just 100 followers, but imagine how it will be when there are 1000 followers, or even 10,000!
Therefore, I plan to implement something new, but I need your help. It has to be something that remains free but doesn’t take a lot of maintenance (otherwise I won’t get to finish Gray Redemption, the third in the Tom Gray trilogy). I will give you my idea, but it would be wonderful if others could chip in and suggest something that would make sharing relevant tweets an easy and rewarding experience. In the meantime I will continue to run the AHA list.
My suggestion is simply to have a new hashtag: #HYFA2, which stands for Help Your Fellow Author Too. If you have a book-related tweet which you want others to share, just add the #HYFA2 tag. I have done a search and found no matches, so it will be ours for the next few days at least! All you have to do is click one of these #HYFA2 tags in a tweet (and preferably click the wheel next to the search button and select Save Search - that way every time you click into the Search box this tag will appear) and then pop back every day to find similar authors willing to share.
I really want this to work for everyone’s benefit, so please, add your ideas below or send a DM to my @Jambalian account.
Great idea, Alan. Let's give it a go:)
ReplyDeleteI'm willing to give that a try.
ReplyDeleteI say, Let's do it. I would have no problem checking and RT'ing at least once a day. When I'm not in twitter jail that is. LOL I rt alot! I Repay a RT with a RT. @nicolehill17
ReplyDeleteGreat! Let's do it!
ReplyDeleteI read that hashtag stuff and thought I would try it. But I get way better traffic for my blog than my books.
ReplyDeleteI will be happy to participate. Let's do this!
ReplyDeleteI would not mind joining, it is good to change up how we do things....
ReplyDeleteAwesome idea!
ReplyDeleteyou could also create a tribe in Triberr. You'll get much higher reach that way.
ReplyDeleteI'd also making your amazon link the hot link for more sales (create a customized link at bit.ly -- see my twitter bio for an example) http://Twitter.com/RachelintheOC & you can also track clicks from Twitter to Amazon ).
I didn't realise there were so many responses to this post! I normally get an email when someone replies but haven't had a thing all week. Nice to see the enthusiasm and I really hope it begins to pay off for you all.
ReplyDeleteRachel, thanks for the tips. I will try and get over to Triberr some time this week, family and writing permitting.
I don't mind RTing people at all. I usually do it anyway. But didn't realize I needed to sign up on the site to use the hashtag stuff.
ReplyDeleteI think it is important to help each other out. This is a tough business to really sink your teeth into, unless you are Stephany Meyers or Nicholas Sparks. So the more we help each other, the more we all have a chance of getting out writings out for others to see.
ReplyDeleteI doubt I can remember a tag that long unless it sounds like an ancronym. I RT a lot anyway, especially if I recognize a RABMAD author name. Now there are so many I don't know them all. Have you joined World Literary Cafe? They've got some free author promo and a great blogger/author connect program. I also RT #WLC authors.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea. I'm telling all my friends and retweeting all the tweets with this tag.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember tags either, so I've put it in a word doc along with tweets I do regularly (like thanks for all the follows and RTs).
I'd be happy to do this.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea. I'd be willing to give it a try. How do you become a member on your AHA twitter team?
ReplyDeleteI love it! The is so awesome! I would love to be a member of any team you organize to help promote for authors, my being one of those. Thank you so much for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI don't think that Triberr is a good idea. I have been there and you get lots of virus and other problems, as that the posts tend to disappear and get blocked sometimes. Apart from that, Triberr doesn't allow commercial-sounding posts or tweets. I think the hashtag idea is very good, and I will add that hashtag to all my scheduled tweets to promote my author friends.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to help, I Rt writers& free books & books I review, but am new & don't understand what to do about a wheel? You just use this tag? Or what about a wheel afterwards.
ReplyDeleteHttp://MoonShineArtSpot.blogspot.com
Moonshineartspot@gmail.com
@moonshinearts
Moonshine, all you have to do is add the #HYFA2 hashtag to any posts about books and others will pick it up and RT. You can also search for this hashtag in Twitter and RT anything from the results. Why not subscribe to the @AuthorTeam/AHA list, too. Nice and simple :-)
ReplyDeleteLet's Help each other and tweet each other's books. Love this idea
ReplyDeleteIt's a great idea! I will join in with the RTs. :-)
ReplyDelete@TheDeadlySeries
I think it is a great idea. I hope it works. I will certainly re-tweet when I get one. Thanks for setting this up.
ReplyDelete