How To Use Twitter to Reach God's People - Janis Cox

For the past two months I have purposefully worked to learn more about Twitter.

I questioned:

Why do we need it?
How can I glorify God through this?

As I started to experiment, I realized 4 important facts:

• People do read 140 characters.
• People will ReTweet (RT) your messages.
• People can be brought together.
• Twitter can be a powerful method for evangelism and conversation.

However, because Twitter is so huge, messages can get lost in all the chatter. It is necessary to find one another to spread the Good News.

For this reason Inscribe has chosen #ICwriters as their own Hashtag. Hashtags are made with the # symbol in front of words so they are easily searchable (even in Facebook).

If you are not on Twitter, I urge you to sign up. It is easy. Follow this Twitter link.

I believe if we all pull together on this we can make a strong vibrant community for Christ.

Here is an example of a Tweet with a Hashtag: (This link is Tweetable if you click on it)

http://ow.lysc950 How to Use Twitter to Reach God's People #ICwriters Can we use Twitter to glorify God? @InscribeCWF

Whenever we use #ICwriters, others can search and then ReTweet. Also I have been asked to try look after @InscribeCWF Twitter. I will be RTing all the #ICwriters through Inscribe.

So anytime you have made a post or want to connect with other Inscribers use the #ICwriters and it will be sent out.

This feature can look like a web.

Do you see the possibilities?

Whenever you write a Tweet, use #ICwriters and let's see how we can build a Twitter #ICwriters community and spread God's Word.

If you have questions please email Janis. icwriterscanada [at] gmail [dot] com.

For other posts on basic Twitter instructions see the following:

Michael Hyatt's Basic Twitter Guide

10 Beginner Guides for Twitter Users

Mom this is How Twitter Works

Personally I use the following Hashtags if you are interested:
#UTCOP - Under the Cover of Prayer
#john316books - John 3:16 Network to which I belong
#SundayStillness - a blog page with linky so others who write about God's Word can join in

Janis Cox, a former school teacher and small business owner, found a new passion in writing in her retirement. A writer since 2003, Janis co-ordinates a group blog called Under the Cover of Prayer. She is also a contributor to a group blog called Family and Faith Matters.

Janis is the author of the award winning children’s book, Tadeo Turtle, published by Word Alive Press. She is the author and watercolour illustrator. For more information visit Janis on her website He Cares for You. She is a member of The Word Guild and Inscribe Writers Fellowship.

Scratch my back and I'll scratch yours! - Lynn Dove

Do you know the old adage, "If you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours"?

Book marketing is all about helping one another. Interesting that Jesus was all about that concept too. (John 15:12) If you've ever tried to create a "buzz" about your books, you will know that this is so true. You can't do it alone!

You will discover that the number one thing a new writer/author needs to do right away is connect with other writers and authors who share your common passion for the written word (and if you're a Christian author it's important to connect with other Christian writers who also share your passion for God.) There are numerous great groups to network with: John 3:16 Marketing Network, The Book Club Network, Edgy Christian Fiction, Crossreads and of course here in Canada The Word Guild and Inscribe!  There are numerous groups and websites like Goodreads, Shelfari, Twitter and Pinterest as well as a host of other Christian Author Facebook groups and pages, where you can join and connect with other writers.

Anyone who is a Christ-follower knows that "community" is essential for encouragement and support. We share our joys and we share our burdens. We're a tight-knit family and it is so wonderful to know that we're not alone on this journey but we have each other to help along the way. Unfortunately, I have also noticed that in every family (and in this case I'm going to talk exclusively to the writing community) there are those that seem to have no trouble accepting help from others to promote and market their books, but are not as willing to reciprocate when asked. Some even get downright rude and offensive about it.

Here are my thoughts on the matter.

1. If you are a writer/author and you want others to blog, tweet or promote your books on Twitter (or anywhere else), you should be willing to do the same for someone else.

2. If you want lots of followers on Twitter, follow lots of people on Twitter. My rule of thumb is I won't follow someone on Twitter even if they have 100,000,000 followers or more if they don't follow back. (Sorry @justinbieber) Sure there are those that are just spammy advertisers (be cautious about that), but if you want followers to "retweet" about your book promotion someday, it's not asking a lot to follow them back in return. Let me give a wonderful example here: Tricia Goyer! Tricia, Christian author of 30 books, award winning writer and prominent speaker, has 55,500 + followers on Twitter. She follows well over 56,000 people back. She takes time to connect with her followers too; she thanks followers who follow her back and she actually reads the tweets people send to her! If you want a great example of a "tweeter" follow Tricia! @triciagoyer

3. If you expect people to "like" your postings, pages etc. on Facebook, return the "likes" right back! Make an author's day and go on Amazon and see their book listing-"like" their book as well as their Amazon author page :)

4. If you expect people to read and review your books, read and review their books. Take it one step further: if you want authors to buy and/or read your books...BUY and/or read their books! I know it gets pricey to buy print books all the time but you could do a book exchange for instance, send a PDF of your manuscript to them and they do the same for you. I love doing author interviews on Word Salt. Most of the authors I've interviewed on my blog have reciprocated and hosted me on their blogs. We've done book exchanges and/or we've purchased one another's books. You can come up with unique (and inexpensive) ways to help with their promotional marketing efforts and they'll be happy to return the favour.

5. Taking it yet another step further - when you do a review of a book, a little "honey" goes a long, long way. There's a right way and a wrong way to review a book. Honesty is one thing, cutting a manuscript to pieces with your critical review on Goodreads or Amazon will just break an author's spirit. (Proverbs 15:1 "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.") Give an honest review but ensure that you have listed more positives than negatives if possible. If that's not possible, perhaps the best thing to do is this: "If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all."

6. Last thing..."Don't get too big for your britches!" So you've published a bunch of books (all best sellers)...wonderful! Just remember that you were a "newbie" once. You didn't have a clue what you were doing when you started out in the business and you made lots of mistakes before you published your first book (traditionally or otherwise). Take time to share your expertise, as well as your failures with new writers who need encouragement. I wouldn't have published a word without the mentoring of a couple of friends and authors, Connie Cavanaugh and Kathy Howard. Both of them, prominent speakers and writers in their own right, when I ask them to help promote my books (even though I know they are extremely busy ladies with book and speaking tours themselves) they do not hesitate to say, "Count me in!" If you are an author and writer, determine to be the kind of friend you would want to have in this business. You'll be glad you did.


Lynn Dove calls herself a Christ-follower, a wife, a mom, a grandmother, a teacher and a writer (in that order). She is the author of award winning books: The Wounded Trilogy. Her blog, Journey Thoughts won a Canadian Christian Writing Award - 2011. She has also had essays published in "Mother of Pearl: Luminous Lessons and Iridescent Faith" and "Chicken Soup for the Soul - Parenthood" (March 2013). Readers may connect with Lynn on Facebook, Twitter and on her blog: Journey Thoughts

What is My New Role as a Published Author? - Janis Cox

Life has changed since I published Tadeo Turtle last fall.

 My learning curve has exponentially increased.

It is a good thing that I am taking tap dance lessons at the same time. I have found that learning new dances through my feet helps my brain develop faster. Also I am memorizing Scripture (or trying to).

Because what happens when you become a published author? People expect more of you. The first question they ask is, "When is your next book?". Right - I just want to get this one born and crawling first.

I have been blogging since 2008 - lightly - no real following, a few friends. Fun.

All of a sudden what I say has to have "value". More prayer goes into each post. More thought. Lots of pictures.

Here are a few of the things I have done since publishing Tadeo Turtle:

1. Made a self-hosted blog www.janiscox.com
2. Made 2 Facebook pages - one for me and one for Tadeo
3. Made a Pinterest page
4. Joined Twitter and Hootsuite.

Then I started to learn about Platform, Podcasting, Social Networking.

My head is full.

Then came TAX TIME. My hubby says, "Okay give me all the information for your expenses and all your income." HUH? You want what?

I had a little book with the number of books sold (and to whom). I add receipts stuffed into an envelope. Now I had to make an Excel Spreadsheet and put all of this into some sort of organization.

Finally I had it figured out.

But this year  - 2013 I started out better. I now have a book with a page for sales; a page for books sent out for review or gifts. I know I should do that on computer - but I am on this computer so much I like to do something in pen. That's why I do watercolour too!!!

I now have a folder that holds the receipts and each section is labelled (postage, supplies, business fees, purchase of goods, advertising, travelling expenses) so I stick each receipt in the correct section. That will make it easier come tax time when I make the Excel Spreadsheet.

But yes it is fun. It is exciting and I am learning so much. Do I have it all organized? Absolutely not.

But I have learned something very important. None of this matters as much as watching what God is doing and following Him there. I am not so tied to my "work" that I can't make excursions when God tells me to.

Breathe. Yes that is what I do best. I find that no matter what I do I must breathe in the breath of the Holy Spirit. When I think I have no strength left - He does. I start my day always with God. He is the steadying factor for each day.

One thing I want to tell all bloggers - please put your Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google, RSS feeds - all of that at the top of your page. More people will link on those icons if you don't hide them.

Janis, a former school teacher and small business owner, found a new passion in writing in her retirement. She has published a couple of devotionals and a number of articles.
As owner of a group blog Under the Cover of Prayer and a blogger at He Cares for Us she writes often.
Her children's book, Tadeo Turtle, is now available. A free curriculum can be obtained as well.

Email her at Janis or visit her at www. janiscox.com.

How do I Develop Necessary Skills in a Writers' World? - Janis Cox

Bell clipart
from Clker.com

"School is never out for the pro!" Those were the words that Brenda used to motivate us this month for our posting.

She is right. I think I have learned more in the past 10 years than I did in my first 50. Yes it has been an uphill climb but very exhilarating at each of the peaks. Of course, the slides down are not too much fun. But God knows that we have our ups and downs.

Brenda asked:

"How are you developing and growing your skills as a writer?"

Well right now I am trying to grow my skills as a marketer – or promoter. Or somehow find an audience.

My Learning:

• Write! Canada – Thomas Umstaddt’s course. Opened my eyes to social networking. So I have been busy learning more about blogging, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. That’s enough for me at the moment. But there is Pinterest, Digg, Google, and on and on.

• Using Google as Search Engine - Every time I have hit a wall and think I can’t go any further – I Google for the answer. I always seem to find something that works. Thomas said to Google 50 times a day. Well I don’t think I have hit that number but some days I am close.

• Set up a self-hosted Word Press Blog. This was a big learning curve. Setting up the blog wasn’t too hard. But finding the right pluggins – that is harder.  

• Publishing and Marketing a book - And the other learning curve is working on edits and preparation for final publishing of my book. When I self-published a few copies it took lots of time. But now when I am working with a real publisher I have to work with others – it seems to be taking longer. I say, “patience, Jan, patience.”

Some Interesting Resources:

Twitter Ideas by Ruth Snyder

What is a Platform? by Chip MacGregor

How to Create a Twitter List in 4 Easy Steps - by Author Media

How to Launch a Self-Hosted Wordpress Blog in 20 Minutes or Less - by Michael Hyatt

Janis Cox

Janis, a former school teacher and small business owner, found a new passion in writing in her retirement.

She has published a couple of devotionals and a number of articles. Her Bible study is available in PDF.

As owner of Under the Cover of Prayer and A Better Way, she writes often.

Her children's book, Tadeo Turtle, is scheduled for release in September. Email her at Janis or visit her at www. janiscox.com.

5 Reasons Writers Should Use Twitter - Ruth L. Snyder

Several years ago I was encouraged to open a Twitter account. I knew I didn't have time to blog regularly and I decided to use Twitter as my "mini" blog. With a bit of trial and error, I learned how to use Twitter. Today I consider Twitter to be part of my professional development. Here are five reasons I think writers should use Twitter.

1. Use Twitter to expand your network - Twitter is an easy way to "meet" people with like interests. Find people who are writers by typing #writer into the search bar at the top. You can then read tweets of people who use the hashtag (#) "writer" and decide who you would like to follow. Usually if you follow someone, they will follow you back. People also tend to follow those who share helpful content, so share links to information that you as a writer find interesting. Twitter is all about building "relationships". This takes time. I've been on Twitter for over three years and have about 2,000 people who follow me.

2. Use Twitter to find information and resources - I find that searching on Twitter often yields more useful results than searching on Google or another search engine. Most people with Twitter accounts use hashtags like #amwriting to provide an easy way to "index" or file their tweets and to find tweets on the same subject. Here's a list of helpful hashtags for writers. You may also wish to research specific topics you are writing about. You can type anything into the search feature. If you type something with a hashtag, all the tweets which contain that particular hashtag will come up. All tweets that have a specific word or phrase will come up if you enter it without a hashtag.

3. Use Twitter to share information - If you find a link that is useful to you as a writer, share it with other writers. Perhaps you were inspired by a famous #quote. Others will probably enjoy it too. If someone else tweets something you find helpful, use the "retweet" function to share the information.

4. Use Twitter to build excitement about your next book - The ideas are as limited as your imagination. You can share short snippets from the plot. (Remember that you are only allowed to share 144 characters at a time.) Perhaps you want to introduce readers to your main character and give them some backstory. Tweet when you've finished the next chapter.

5. Use Twitter to build your platform - Michael Hyatt shares why you can't succeed without a platform. If you don't care about having people read what you write, building a platform is not important. However, most of us want to share what we write. You will note that Twitter is only ONE way to build your platform, along with blogging, Facebook, newsletters, and podcasts.

What have your experiences with Twitter been? Have you found it helpful as a writer? I look forward to hearing from you.

Ruth L. Snyder

www.trusteesnyder.blogspot.com (Education information)
www.ruthlsnyder.com (Ruth's writing and family life) 
www.earlyyearssuccess.com (Information for caregivers of children ages 0-5)

Follow Ruth on Twitter:www.twitter.com/@wwjdr