My First Year as a Twittering Author - brilliant!

by Em Lynas

First, I need to say  I did not want to join Twitter because I didn't 'get it'.

What was the point of twitter?

Who was tweeting who and why.

What was the point of me tweeting?

Would it be time consuming?

Would there would be NASTY TROLLS!

Would it ALWAYS be confrontational so I wouldn't say what I really thought in case I was rounded upon by the aforementioned NASTY TROLLS!

And - the clincher - Donald Trump is on twitter.

But when I was lucky enough to get a three book deal with Nosy Crow!

I was advised to tweet if I was comfortable doing it.

So I had a go but I was thinking this:

WHY!?!?!

What the heck do I say?

Buy my book? No.

Who should I follow? (Not Donald Trump)

Should I just like lots of tweets? Is that stalking?

Should I retweet EVERTHING by EVERYONE to make friends?

Shouldn't I be writing? 

But then I thought:

Oooo look! I can quote a retweet with a comment EXCITING!

Oooo look! I can see who other people are following and follow them!

Oooo look! People are following me! (Not Donald Trump)

Oooo look! Someone has retweeted me! With a comment!

Oooo look I've been #FF'd  (Follow Fridays)

And then I thought:

This is fun.

This is time consuming.

But is it useful?

YES! It's all three because this is what I have DISCOVERED on Twitter in just one year of twittering:

ONE

Fantastic book bloggers like

Jo Clarke @bookloverJo

Catherine Friess @storysnug

LibraryGirlAndBookBoy @BookSuperhero2

TWO

Teachers who LOVE BOOKS

Simon Smith

Scott Evans

ScoobieSue

THREE
Authors who are SO SUPPORTIVE
@BB_Taylor_

FOUR

Initiatives to encourage reading for pleasure

Primary school Book Club run by Scott Evans

Reading Rocks

@BookPenPals run by author @KateScottWriter and @SaraMooHead

@FunnyBookChat run by @BookSuperhero2
@readingzone

North Somerset CBG and the NorthSomersetTeachersBookAwards #NSTBA

FOUR

Organisations like:

Book Trust

Literacy Trust

Peters Books

School Library Services  and CILIP 

FIVE:
And these twitter interactions led to invites:

One:
To join in with the Great North Author Tour organised by Richard and Mel of Drake's Bookshop

Two:
To pop in for book signings in

Waterstones in Harrogate, Yarm and Middlesbrough
Indie Bookshops such as - Seven Stories where I got to write and draw in the Visitor Book!

Three:

To teachers getting in touch to book school visits which is fantastic because I LOVE being with the kids especially the ones who know my books better than I do.

Picture by Richard Drake - Hats by me.

This is just a flavour of why I am now a twitter fan. I've only just touched on the fabulous community of author, illustrators, librarians, bloggers and teachers who all have one thing in common - they love books for children.

I have a feeling I'll be updating this post as I remember the people I've missed out! 

@emlynas