Want a Strong Twitter Presence for Your Book? Check out JoeyTweets.com!

CLG is about to do a first: feature a GUY!

Now that the shock has died down, let me introduce you to author, book reviewer and promoter, and overall funnyman, Joey Pinkney.

I have known Joey for several years now, and he is just one of the best kind of people... seriously. When I learned recently about his latest endeavor, the Twitter campaign opportunity for writers called JoeyTweets, I had to share it with the CLG audience because if you are wondering how you can get more exposure for your literary wares, this opportunity is definitely one you will want to check out!

Joey Pinkney does author interviews and book reviews for JoeyPinkney.com. The “JoeyPinkney.com 5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Author Interview Series” is over 5 years old and features over 800 authors of various genres and levels of fame in the publishing industry.

Find Joey at the following online outlets:

Joey Pinkney on Twitter | 5 Minutes, 5 Questions With... on Twitter | Facebook 

LinkedIn | Google+ | Joey Tweets

What inspired you to develop Joey Tweets?

I was inspired to develop Joey Tweets because there are many authors with very interesting books and little to no social media presence, especially on Twitter.

I’ve been growing my followers on my two Twitter accounts for years. @JoeyPinkney has been on Twitter for over 5 years currently with over 134,000 followers, and @5M5QW has been on Twitter for over two years with over 96,000 followers. That type of cultivation takes time and patience.

One day, I thought about this: Why should authors who don’t have the followers or the time to build the followers not be able to take advantage of the book promotion opportunities available on Twitter?

The answer to that question became the foundation of what Joey Tweets is built upon. I’ve been exposing readers to authors and vice versa on Twitter for a relatively long time. Those two Twitter accounts have a combined following of over 230,000 worldwide and growing. Joey Tweets is a way for authors to tap into the viability of exposure that Twitter has to offer.

Why do you think it's important for authors to be on Twitter?

It’s important for authors to be on Twitter for various reasons. I always speak of Twitter in terms of it being a “metropolis.” Just like any large area that is highly populated, Twitter has a lot of different groups and subcultures.

There are many authors and publishers on Twitter. More importantly, there are tons of readers on Twitter. While there are plenty of people on Twitter for the sole purpose to talk about books, many average, everyday people who are on Twitter for reasons other than books ARE readers.

Twitter is extremely fast in terms of speed of communication. That can be very advantageous to an author who likes to converse with his/her readers. In terms of book releases, social media events, physical book signings, news, etc., an author and send and receive info within seconds.

There are plenty of book- and author-related hashtags (the “#” symbol followed directly by a word or phrase) used on Twitter. Quite a few of these hashtags are extremely popular in terms of connecting like minded people. Whether you use them from an information-gathering standpoint or a conversational standpoint, the use of hashtags can enhance your experience on Twitter.

Tweets and Twitter accounts also come up high in search engines like Google. So if a person is searching online for something related to your book, it’s likely that they will see the tweets related to your book or your Twitter account as well as other Internet entries.

Aside from those reasons, there are tons of great articles, techniques and contests being posted and publicized on Twitter that can help you take the writing and publishing of your book to the next level.

What are three things you believe authors can do while on Twitter to benefit them and their literary wares?

One: When you tell people to check out what you’ve written, give them a link that leads DIRECTLY to you want them to read. If the book is on Amazon, for example, don’t tell them this: “Go check out my book on Amazon!” Instead, say something like: “Go check out The Soul of a Man Anthology on Amazon here: bit.ly/W7eMBr” Notice I gave the title and a short link. The title was given in case someone retweets your tweet. The short link was given so that the potential reader is more likely to click the link. Although Twitter will shorten your link, longer links are less likely to be clicked.

Two: Find out what social issues are related to your book and try to join or start a discussion around that issue. Not only will you build a rapport with other people on Twitter, you will also start to make strong connections, gain followers and gain new readers.

Three: Find authors who you think are using Twitter in a way that you can emulate and study their techniques. Fine tune them to fit you, and get to tweeting!

How does Joey Tweets work? What do you offer authors?

JoeyTweets.com is pretty simple. You pay me for the length of time you want the Twitter Campaign to run using PayPal, you send me the information I need to put the Twitter Campaign together, and I create and run your Twitter Campaign. I build tweets a certain way using years of study and tinkering. That way, you don’t need work pull your hair out trying to figure out if it’s right or not.

I currently offer 3, 7 and 28 Day Twitter Campaigns. I create the tweets using the title of your book, your Twitter handle and a link to your book on Amazon. I tweet about you and your book around the clock to my global digital footprint on Twitter.

Where can interested authors go to learn more about Joey Tweets?

Authors can learn more about JoeyTweets.com by going to the website. There is a lot of information there from the About Me page to the FAQ page. If there is something that is not covered on the website, there is a Contact Form that can be used to ask further questions.

Anything else you'd like to share with the CLG audience?

Twitter is a double-edged sword, just like anything dealing with social media. You have to approach it knowing that there are people who will praise you and there are people who will try to talk bad about you. You have to have a thick skin and an open mind to keep from falling into unwanted situations.

A bad practice that many authors engage in is tweeting a sales pitch to a bunch of different people as if it is welcomed. Although it may gain you some attention, over time that attention will be bad for your brand.

An even more useless tactic is to tweet your sales pitch to a bunch of celebrity Twitter accounts. You might have a better chance at winning the lottery than to have a bonafide celebrity look at your book because you tweeted it to him/her and a thousand other celebrities. The outcome of this form of “spamming” is getting block, reported as spam and eventually shut down by Twitter.

Tweet responsibly, my friends...

Writer Amanda Mahan on Twitter & Comedic Murder Mystery - UNCLAD

I first learned about you and UNCLAD on Twitter, and I was fascinated by how you used this Microblogging tool to disseminate your work. Tell us a bit about why you decided to offer your book to the public - 140 characters or less at a time.
I got the idea to release my book on Twitter from Charles Dickens, actually. He used to serialize his novels, releasing chapters at a time in the local newspapers. He even responded to his reader's feedback - if people didn't like what a character was doing he would change things along the way. Twitter is just a modern day version of that - although my book is complete so I probably won't make any major changes!


Let's step back for a moment. In 140 characters or less, pitch us your comedic murder mystery, UNCLAD.
Tricky! Here goes: When a former PI starts over as a masseuse in a fancy spa, she learns that sometimes the dirtiest things happen in the cleanest places.


What was the spark to which UNCLAD came to be.
There were two parts to the spark. First, when I lived in Los Angeles, I had a very close friend who was a masseuse and used to tell me the craziest stories about what went on in the VERY exclusive and expensive spa where she worked. I thought, someone should write about this. And then I thought, wait a minute, that someone is me.

Secondly, I have a close friend who is a private investigator. I am obsessed with hearing about his cases, and also fascinated by how he reconciles helping defend some pretty vile people - and the damage it must do to his psyche on a deep level.

And then maybe a third part to the spark is that I have often wondered what it would be like to ditch everything in your past and start over - can you ever really do that or does everything just come with you?


Have you submitted UNCLAD to publishers and/or agents? If so, what has been the response?
I have just started the process and have had a few bites. Hopefully I'll have something good to report back soon!


Have you received any attention from agents or houses directly related to your online initiatives?
The response I've gotten from agents has been through my queries and not from my online initiates - yet! I think it's less that someone would discover me through my website or Twitter and more that someone I approach might be pleased that I've already starting thinking of ways to promote myself on the web. Though lots of publishing people are on Twitter apparently, so you never know!


Is UNCLAD your first completed novel? If not, talk to us about some of your previous work and their current progress.
Unclad is my first novel. Because of my job (copywriter and creative director) I strive to be as succinct as possible in my work writing. This bled into my personal writing, which led to lots of short stories. But I always wondered if I would have enough to say to fill a book. I was shocked to find that when I let myself keep going, I did.


At the end of the day, what's the goal behind having UNCLAD on Twitter, behind sharing your novel with the public?
When I first started tweeting, I didn't think anyone would actually read it. I was just hoping to create some buzz and maybe find an agent or publisher. But I've been amazed at the number of people who've written me to say they're following along or went to my website to watch the book trailer and download chapter 1. So I guess my goal was to just put the work out there - which is always scary - and see what happens. So far, it's been great.


What are some of your most positive responses from the public?
Here's what people are saying about chapter 1:

"This is great! It's fast paced and intriguing. Fun. Is there more?"

"I just read the first chapter of your book and I'm in love! It's great! I can't wait for it to come out! I'm a forensic science and anthropology major in college so I read A LOT of crime novels and this one by far has gotten my attention! It's so entertaining! I wanted to keep reading! Excellent chapter! I can't wait for the rest!"

"It was awesome and I can't wait to read the rest."

"You have a talent for comedic writing. I want to go on to chapter 2."

""Ass" in the first sentence = love it!"

"My husband doesn't read but I gave him the last two pages – he was hooked and went back and read it from the beginning."

"I read the first chapter of your book and LOVED it! Very well written and funny. Thanks for the good read!"

"SOOOO good. When can I get more, dammit?"


How are you able to be so diligent in your postings on Twitter?
I manage to post once an hour. Even if I took a leave of absence from my job and became addicted to meth and Red Bull so I could stay up 24 hours a day frenetically Tweeting, I still couldn't take a leave from my 11-month old daughter, my husband, or the laundry. Believe me, I've tried.

Enter Dmitri. A highly sought-after Drupal expert and developer who gives lectures at places like Google. Oh, did I mention he's 12? And my boss's son? Yes, I hired the child prodigy to make me a posting mechanism. To create in his free time between Bar Mitzvah lessons, piano practice and homework. Of course, on my first day the thing went haywire, posting random sentences from the middle of the book. Nothing made sense; people started wondering whether I'd had a stroke. Meanwhile I couldn't talk to Dmitri until he got out of homeroom.

Eventually he fixed it – the kid is a crackerjack! – and I haven't had a problem since. Which is good because I think Dmitri got grounded and his computer was taken away.


Learn more about Amanda & UNCLAD @ Twitter and @ her website!