I am new to TWITTER (@cynthiajabar) and LOVE it! I took a class at NYU this past summer with Yen Cheong (Book Publicity Blog) called CREATING AUTHOR PLATFORMS. I thought that TWITTER was just about celebrities telling us what they had for breakfast. Who cares what Paris or Perez Hilton is wearing? Not me.
Well, I was totally wrong! It really blew me away. The connections and information you can accumulate in just a week is amazing. Here are a few reasons to join TWITTER if you are an illustrator:
1. INSPIRATION.
I have seen amazing posts from BLOGGERS who tweet their links to their BLOGS or websites. I would never find these artists if I was just stumbling around on the internet. This is how I discovered Hirokatsu Hijukata at aqua-velvet.com @aquavelvet. A fabulous inspirational website.
2. CONNECTION.
Most illustrators work alone in their studios. It's important to connect with other artists so one doesn't get "cabin fever." One must not go BONKERS no? I found out from writer Greg Pincus at The Happy Accident there are 2 TWITTER chats every week hosted by @BonnieAdamson and @GregPincus.
1. Tuesday at 9 PM, EST #KIDLITCHAT
2. Thursday 9 PM, EST #KIDLITART.
It's a great way to meet new friends and discuss illustration and KIDLIT topics in this case. You can find an archive of the KIDLIT CHATS here.
If you need basic information about #hashtags and followers, Deanna Zandt, author of SHARE THIS, has a great post on her website called A Non-Fanatical Beginner's Guide To Twitter.
3. INFORMATION.
You just can't beat TWITTER for up to date news. All the ePUB news appears here on TWITTER before you receive it in your email. Email seems so slow now!
If you are interested in digital publishing you might want to follow: @galleycat, @RWW, @WSJdigits, @TOC, @PublishersLunch.
4. CONFERENCE TWEETS.
Many of us don't get to travel to all the great conferences across the globe. You can always find the hashtag # for the conference and read the conference tweets that way. I recently read the tweets for Boston Book Fair #bbf10 and Frankfurt Book Fair #fbf10. You get to see who the "movers" and "shakers" are in you industry.
5. DRIVING TRAFFIC TO YOUR BLOG.
If you want to drive traffic to your website to see your work, Connect a url to your TWEET. It works even if you just want to increase your following.
This is all still new to me. There are many things I don't even know yet. Here are a few links to some interesting articles I found, guess how? On TWITTER of course.
*How To use Twitter To Grow Your Business
*5 Steps to Going Viral on Twitter
*4 Ways To Use Twitter to Support Your Blog
*Who Can See My Tweets?
*A Non-Fanatical Beginner's Guide To Twitter
What other ways do you use TWITTER? Share the love yo!
No comments:
Post a Comment