According to who you ask Twitter is dead. In a surprising move, South African-born American entrepreneur Elon Musk proposed to buy out Twitter after previously acquiring 9.1% of the company’s stock for $2 billion on April 14th, 2022. With all the controversy surrounding the Twitter buyout Bethany Jett and Cyle Young answer, the question of whether is Twitter dead for the writing world?
Twitter is a versatile platform that can be used for many things, from finding new clients and growing your audience to becoming an even better writer. In previous articles, we’ve discussed How to Find Content to Share on Social Media and Tips for TikTok. Now without getting into things or stepping on toes, Twitter has seemed to suffer recently from people thinking that if they don’t agree with what is being said that they are wrong. This has sent shockwaves throughout the Twitter community and as a result, we’ve seen some users completely stop using the platform.
Is Twitter Dead?
That being said, we would like to explain some of the changes that may be coming to Twitter and why you should still be on the platform as a writer. First, Twitter has been a very viable platform for the writing world and is going to come back into relevance. With it being huge in the Writing and Entertainment world, you have to go where your audience is.
This is basic marketing.
You’re not gonna try to promote your book at an NHRA event and expect to get results (unless the book is geared for high-powered cars, but we digress on that for now).
Next up are the changes that Elon Musk spoke about implementing on the platform. The biggest takeaway that you should know about this is the open-source algorithm information. Without getting nerdy, the algorithm is what drives your content. Miss the algorithm and your content hits a small group of people. Nail the algorithm and your content can go viral in hours.
But what does this mean?
Platforms do not really share what can trigger the algorithm. Savy people will often figure these algorithms out over time. Now if you know exactly what you need to do to trigger the algorithm it’s huge. Your strategies can be tailored specifically to your needs as a writer. Now for the best part, hitting that algorithm will rapidly grow your platform. Putting that into numbers for a visualization would you rather have 10% of your current audience buy your books or 5% of a million followers buy your books.
Hear us Out:
Part of this podcast episode is all about Twitter, and the second half is about diversifying your writing income. Enjoy!
Bethany and Cyle go into this in greater detail on the Serious Writer Podcast and we urge you to tune in to hear what they have to say. As the famous quote goes “Knowing is Half the Battle”, if you are not competitive on Twitter you are only hurting yourself. Spend the time learning and following what is going on with Twitter to stay ahead of the game, because it’s not just about having a great book you have to get it into the hands of the right people.
Everything you learned in school and know about writing is wrong. Adverbs are bad verbs. The writing world is different than the educational writing world.
Learning to write well is like learning a new language. There are many rules and guidelines that schools teach you, but in reality there’s no right or wrong way of doing things when it comes down just writing creatively for your own personal satisfaction – at least not until we get into the nitty-gritties: adverbs versus verbs; passive voice over active suddenly becomes important (hint hint); how long should sentences be? What kind?? Umm.. anyways
In Episode 7 of the Serious Writer Podcast Bethany Jett and Cyle Young discuss why everything you know about writing is wrong and what you can do to change it:
Go to a writers conference. Now.
Read in your genre and subgenre. Learn the style of that genre.
Get the resources you need from the beginning. (Emotions thesaurus & Story Trumps Structure)
TIP: The 1st book might not be published.
You can practice into publish later.
Fear: I won’t have another story after this one.
Tip: Learn the rules first before you break them.
Modern story is based on 3-act structure. Act 1 is short. Act 2 is rising action over the middle and it’s longer; character development. Climax. Act 3 is descending action.
Fantasy: Hero’s Journey of the 3-Act Structure.
04. Know how to structure a story.
05. Set a regular writing time period or a daily word count. Earnest Hemingway – writes 500 words a day. Stephen King writes 2000 words a day. Jack London – 1500. Mark Twain – 1400. Michael Crighton – 10,000 words – Jurassic Park. Suggestion – start lower until you’re consistent.
06. Just write and don’t edit.
07. Write in scene, not sequence. The Tik Tok guide to writing a book.
“The ones that work the hardest and hustle the most get the book deals.” – Cyle Young
“If someone tells you that you need platform, they’re just eliminating their competition.” — Bethany Jett
“…net of minutia…” – Cyle Young
“You don’t get a pass for being new.” — Bethany Jett
“An erratic writing life produces erratic results. A consistent writing life produces consistent results.” — Cyle Young
LINK: Bethany quoted Seth Godin as building the platform “three years” ago. Here’s the actual quote we need to share: “The best time to start that was seven years ago. The second best time is right now. So start!” – Seth Godin Reference link: https://writetodone.com/seth-godin-part-2/
The 2022 Marketing & Genre Intensive is filling fast, so don’t delay! You’ll experience personalized attention from our experts to get your questions answered and a wealth of knowledge on how you can grow your platform quickly into targeted readers. We’ll also help maximize time spent marketing with proven strategies for an upcoming book launch or relaunch–Sign up today before space runs out – there’s limited availability in these workshops and they fill fast.
Registration
Your Registration Includes… A FULL day of marketing and platform training with literary agent Cyle Young, who has grown his platform to almost half-a-million in less than two years. Two bonus calls allow you to participate in a pre-conference video call with the other attendees and instructors to answer questions and help you prep. Lunches is on the house, as we deliver amazing meals and some of thebest homemade desserts you’ve ever tasted. An all the recordings are included in the price of registration…no hidden fees and no surprise up-sells!
Literary Agent Cyle Young has sold over 300 books for his clients in his career, is the author of Michigan Motivations, and has built his own platform to over half-a-million followers in less than two years, and
Bestselling author of Chasing Sunsets and Word Weavers Int’l Founder and President Eva Marie Everson is a renowned editor and coach, as well as the director of the Florida Christian Writers Conference.
“Cornerstone Strategist” Bethany Jetthas won awards for 100% of her nonfiction books (from YA trade to adult inspirational) including The Cinderella Rule, her ghostwriting, articles, and marketing.
Michelle Medlock Adams, bestselling children’s book author with almost 5 MILLION books sold is also a NYT bestselling ghostwriter and the editor of children’s publishing house Wren & Bear Books.
For more information and Registration please click the link below:
