Publishing E-Books For Dummies

Spreading the Word to Readers on Twitter

As well as being a great place to network with fellow writers, Twitter is an easy way to stay in touch with your readers — and to gain new ones. It’s encouraging — and sometimes illuminating! — to engage with your readers on Twitter. They might tell you how much they enjoyed your first e-book and that they’re waiting eagerly for the next, or they may have questions about a topic that you hadn’t fully considered or ideas for a topic they want you to write about.

Encouraging your readers to follow you

As on Facebook, let your readers know about your Twitter account, and encourage them to follow you there. You can even add the Follow Me button to your website, using https://twitter.com/about/resources/buttons . Figure 16-8 shows the options you can choose among when creating this button.

You can also list your Twitter name in the back of your e-book, on the contact page of your website, and on your business cards. Unless your readers know where to find you, they can’t follow you.

Engaging with your readers on Twitter

After a bunch of readers are following you on Twitter, make sure that you stay visible. In the fast-moving environment of Twitter, not all your readers will see all your updates. In fact, there’s a good chance that many of them will log in only once or twice a day or even once or twice a week — so you should repeat any important messages.

Be aware of different time zones, too. A message posted at noon Eastern ...