Thursday, November 4, 2010

REPOST (with fixed links): Book Dorky Content in 140 Characters

(Eds note: Apparently, because I'm a giant idiot, I coded all the Twitter links wrong. Sorry about that. They're fixed now.) 

I am an unashamed-to-admit Twitter convert — from hater to addict in record time. How did this happen? Several months ago, I signed up on whim to try to snare a few readers for this blog. I quickly learned what a fantastic resource the site is for book dorks. Let's be clear: I still don't care what color socks you're wearing today or how cute your baby is when he's pooping. But because of the numerous book-related feeds — from authors themselves to publications to amateur and professional book blogs — I've never felt more in-the-loop on all things book-related.

Yesterday, I came across this great article listing the best Twitter hastags for readers and writers, so I thought I'd spend a post and point out a few of my favorite book-related tweeters. (And, of course, I'm very interested to hear yours as well!)

@Jtropper — This is the feed for one of my favorite novelists, Jonathan Tropper. He tweets frequently about his writing process, literary events, and other (usually pretty funny) miscellanea. Side note: I wish there were more literary novelists who tweet. Is it too much to ask for Philip Roth to toss out a dirty joke from time to time? Okay, yeah probably.

@arthurphillips — The author of one of my favorite novels of last year, The Song Is You, Phillips tweets rather wittily about just about everything. Example: "Ugh. I spent 163 million on the campaign and forgot to get my name on the ballot."

@amygreenebr — Amy Greene is the author of one of my favorite novels of the year, Bloodroot. I actually just found her as I was working on this post. I tweeted to her that I loved her novel and included a link to my review. She tweeted back that she loved my blog. Talk about a day-maker!

@PublishersWkly — Easily the best source of publishing news on Twitter. Every morning, the feed tweets a link to the fantastic PW Morning report. 

@GalleyCat — This is the feed for the self-proclaimed "First Word on the Book Publishing Industry." Galley Cat's an off-shoot of the fantastic publishing industry site Media Bistro. The feed is especially good for learning about new book deals and new releases.


@The_MillionsOne of my favorite book-related sites also produces one of my favorite Twitter feeds. The feed provides links to its own articles as well as other timely book-related content.

@bookpage — This is the feed for Bookpage Magazine — "America's Book Review." Like The Millions, this feed links both to its own content and book news at large. I especially like this feed  because it occasionally retweets book blogger content. (Mine included, from time to time).

@deadwhiteguys — This tweeter's tagline says it all: "An irreverent blog/feed about classic literature." I've actually quoted her tweets (which are certainly NOT relegated only to books) a few times in my blog, 'cause they usually make me laugh.

@LitMusings — Brenna's fresh, eager take on books comes through both in her great Twitter feed, as well as her blog. Like Dead White Guys above, she's one of my favorite amateur bloggers.

So which tweeters do you follow to keep up on book-related content? Have you found any of your favorite authors on Twitter?

(By the way, here's me — @GregZimmerman33 — if you want to toss up a follow.) 

8 comments:

  1. I like Twitter for the same reasons you do. I find it a useful tool to learn about new releases, book review giveways and silly stuff by authors. I follow a few publishers, but my list is not half as good as yours. I follow Neil Gaiman who sometimes does tell his followers what color his socks are, but most of the time he mentions some interesting articles and twitters by other authors. My dream Twitter author? Stephen King. I think it would be great to hear what goes on in his mind from day to day.

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  2. Hmmm you might be convincing me to get a twitter account (if that's what it's called). Just the other day my blog got over 200 hits in a few hours, I looked up my stats and turns out an author (Aussie actor/writer and all round genius Brendan Cowell) tweeted about my review of his book (How it Feels, which as a reader of dude lit you might like, incidentally). I got a bit of a star struck high going on for a few days after that :-) It made me wonder if I should also get onto this twitter bandwagon.... I'll sit with it for a few days and see what I decide!

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  3. Yeah, same here. Twitter is something I've been resisting for, well, ever since it's been around. But maybe it's time for me to take a closer look.

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  4. Funny you mentioned Dead White Guys, I was at her blog before yours. I love her sense of humor-even if I haven't read the particular dead white guy she is talking about I always find something to laugh at.

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  5. This is a really helpful post. I've heard that Twitter can help boost blog traffic, but haven't really known how or why. Thanks for the post!

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  6. Hey! You're awesome! Thanks for the twitter love! I had a super busy weekend and wasn't online at all, but I kept getting emails that new people were following me. Thanks again, you're great :)

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  7. Thanks for pointing me in the direction of what looks like some really cool bookish Tweeple. I'll have to check them out!

    Some of my Twitter author faves (Twauthors? Twriters?) include Benjamin Percy (Benjamin_Percy), Hannah Tinti (hannahtinti), Caroline Leavitt (Leavittnovelist), Joe Hill (joe_hill), Laura Mill (magiciansbook), Dan Chaon (danchaon) and Gina Frangello (Ginafrangello)--among many, many others.

    David
    My Twitter: davidabrams1963

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