How Twitter changed my life, gave me hope and helped me understand my business - Guest Post by Miriam Zolin [01.09.2010]
I was lost …and alone
A reader and writer since I was very small, I’m also a little bit solitary, and a bit aloof. I’m not apologising. But [and you may pause here for a knowing smile] I had somehow become attached to an image of publishing that allowed for solitary hours in front of my layouts and contributions. Hah!
…and confused
Writers are allowed to spend their creative time alone. Publishers? Not since centuries ago, if ever. Publishers network and get to know people. They keep their ears to the ground and they keep their eyes peeled. And in between all this positioning and mutilation of sensory organs, they are out there, in the world, with their fingers on the pulse of ‘what readers want’ and ‘who to publish next’.
What a shock to realise that one of my main responsibilities when I started publishing a journal, was to tear myself away from words, sounds and images and go ‘out there’, mixing it up with the fresh young faces and weary old inhabitants of a community of writers and readers who might like to hear about extempore.
…and then I discovered Twitter
Twitter was a mystery, and one I had little interest in unravelling. I bought into the prevailing lack-of-wisdom that said it was just a forum for narcissistic, Gen-Y, empty-headers to tell us what they’re eating for breakfast. As you can tell, I had the arguments down pat.
But in desperation to reach and grow my readership, I discovered what Twitter is really all about. It’s about people and community. As a form of communication it can be transparent, friendly and engaging. And it also takes skill to craft short, interesting Tweets. I love a writing challenge! I use Twitter as @extemporeAus and I found a kind of magic there. I can be me [solitary, aloof and a text-based organism] and still conversing. I can combine my Twitter conversations with real-life encounters that enrich both spheres. And I can build the journal’s readership and reach by quietly, honestly, showing people what we offer and sharing what we like. Try it… people will start to find you… and you don’t have to exhaust yourself seeking them out.
Here are four things I learned about Twitter, and they changed my life:
• If you are doing something authentic and interesting, there are people in the Twitterverse who want to hear about it. Guaranteed.
• You can really boost visits to your website by combining interesting content and invitingly written Tweets.
• Twitter is a stream. And like a stream in real life, you can dip in and out, or follow it for its whole length. It will keep on flowing during the days you’re not swimming in it. You can be busy and splash around a lot or just chill out on the Li-Lo and let it carry you along. You choose, and it’s all okay.
• Find your authentic Twitter voice, your authentic Twitter pace and be your authentic self. It will show, and you’ll be irresistible, to the people who matter.
With Twitter’s help, extempore is now much better at building and participating in a community of musicians, writers and readers. I’m genuinely hopeful that we have a future. Perhaps in a different format, perhaps with a different frequency, but now I’m in touch with many of our readers and contributors and I can measure (using Twitter statistics and feedback) what information gets people excited.
And I understand a lot more about being a publisher. Now that Twitter lets me network and communicate authentically, on my own terms, I’ve started to have a lot more fun reaching out to readers and potential readers, contributors and reviewers.
Thanks Twitter!
Useful links:
Already Tweeting? I found Marian Schembari ’s Twitter Critique service very useful.
Want to read a bit more about how and why Twitter works? Try this famous blog by Kevin Marks.
And if you’d like to find out more about extempore, please visit us at our website.
Join extempore on Twitter for the announcement of the winners of the National Jazz Writing Competition. 6:30pm on Tuesday 7 September 2010, just follow @extemporeAus and take your chances. Free giveaways and the chance to chat to one or more of our winning poets (connectivity and twitter-literacy dependent).
Miriam Zolin is publisher and editor of extempore, a journal of writing and art inspired by jazz and improvised music.
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