The Jigsaw Puzzle of a Writing Life

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

For each of us, the writing life is like a giant jigsaw puzzle. You try different pieces to see which ones will fit. You have to experiment to find the right combination for you and your writing. One of the online groups where I participate was talking about critique groups this week. Just like your writing, you have to experiment with critique groups to find the right fit for you—the right people with similar worldviews, the right mixture of people and whether it is in person or online or a little of both. Nothing is clear cut and nothing works for every writer. Instead like putting together a puzzle, you have to experiment and try different things to see which ones will work for you.

 

I suspect your schedule for the day is similar to my schedule—mostly blank unless I'm at a conference or event where my schedule is generally filled with meetings and activity. As an editor, I email people and schedule phone meetings. I also make phone calls to follow-up with authors and others but the bulk of my schedule is blank. My day is filled with a variety of activities.

 

This past week I had returned from a writer's conference where I met with many writers about their books. I spent a great deal of time, putting their information into my computer (to make it easy to access) then writing them emails and asking to submit their manuscript. While I encouraged them to send it when we were face to face and I gave them my business card, the email reinforces that I actually want them to send me their material. From doing this work for several years, I understand not every submission will be a good fit for Morgan James. There are many reasons this fit isn't the right one—but I know for certain they can't get into the consideration process if they don't submit their material.  I have had some good exchanges from these emails and expect more material will arrive in the days ahead from my follow-up work.

 

Also I had a zoom call with a journalist in the United Kingdom asking questions about my writing life. This interview was recorded then posted this week on a private group. Sometimes I will pitch a particular podcast or radio station to get this interview. Other times they will approach me and we will schedule the session. The majorty of the time I pitch myself to get these types of opportunities. When they happen, I ask for the recording then save this recording on my own website. Then I can promote the interview over and over on my social media and know the interview is not going to disappear.

 

I have several regular guest blogging assignments. I schedule reminders on my phone to help me to meet the deadlines for each one, which has a slightly different audience and focus. In this process, I will often recycle or slightly rewrite an older article so it can be done in a shorter amount of time than creating it from scratch. 

While each of my days are filled with different activities, there is a balance between immediate deadlines and long-term deadlines. I continue to write books for other people as well as promote my own work. As I've mentioned in these entries, there is always more work to be done. A particualr project will be completed but there are other tasks that need to be done.

 

I use tools like Hootsuite to schedule my social media posts and respond to those posts. Your consistent effort is an important part of the process. Throughout today I will be emailing and calling people as well as writing on different projects. These actions are all part of the jigsaw puzzle of my writing life. What steps are you taking? Let me know in the comments below.

 

Tweetable:

As writers, we piece together the jigsaw puzzle of a writing life. This prolific editor and author gives some specifics about the mixture of short-term and long-term projects in his writing journey. Get the details here. (ClickToTweet)

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The Value of A Routine

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Consistency is one of the most important characteristics of a productive writer—at least from my decades of working in publishing. For example, I've been writing an original blog post every week for years. I write it and post it at the same time so people expect it—and read it. Not that I get a lot of feedback about them and often I hear nothing (crickets) yet I continue writing them. It is one of my consistent routines.

 

Another one of my consistent routines involves my posting on social media. I post 12–15 times every day and have been following this pattern for years. As I've mentioned in these posts I use Hootsuite. Because I use this scheduling tool, my posts appear whether I am in my office or traveling and away from my computer.  Some days I don't get a lot of engagement with these posts but I know people are reading them.

 

I encourage you to create your routines carefully and if you do, it will have tremendous value to your writing life. In this article, I want to use the details of my social media posts to give you ideas about when you create your writing habit or routine.

 

Each day, I've created a pattern for my posts. The bulk of my posts are from other people yet they are focused on helping you improve your skills as a writer (in the broadest sense of the word). At the beginning and end of each day I post something personal. The bulk of my posts from others go into specific spots in my grid for the day. It may appear random but I've pre-determined the spot for the majority of these posts. Because I've developed a routine or habit and considered these details, I don't use any decision time about where the posts go and instead simply put them into place. As an example, each day I begin with an inspirational quotation. Every one of my social media posts also includes an image becasue they have proven an image will draw the eye to the words. Admittedly it takes a bit of effort to find an image for each post but this effort pays off in increased readership.

 

My social media routine brings consistency. If you read my social media stream on a regular basis you cfan get educated about the world of publishing and grow in your writing career. From my decades in publishing I've learned there is always more to learn. I wrote this post to encourage you to create your own routines.

 

What routines have you created for your writing life and are you aware of the value? Let me know in the comments below.

 

Tweetable:

A routine brings consistency to your writing life. This prolific editor and author uses his social media routine as an example of the value of a routine. Get the details here. (ClickToTweet)

Next month Terry will be teaching and meeting with authors at Write to Publish. Hope to see you at this wonderful event.

Does your fiction or nonfiction book have a business plan? Every type of book needs a proposal—even if you self-publish. Get this resource. 

Put Your Spin On Your Writing

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Within the writing world, there are countless stories to be told in many different formats such as blog posts, magazine articles and books. As a writer, I enjoy helping other people shape and write these stories. It gives me a chance to put my own spin on these stories and get them out into the world. Each of us have an endless supply of such stories and personal experiences. One of the keys is to get your fingers on the keyboard and create them in the first place, then do the work to get them out into the world so other people can read them. Without pitching and making that right connection to an editor or agent, it remains something in your mind but not into the world.

 

Like the picture of the the spinning top in this article, the toy does not spin without someone taking action. Action is what we do as writers—day in and day out—especially if we want our words to get into the world. In this article I want to give you a couple of examples of how I put my own spin on my writing.

 

Social Media Posts

 

Through the years I've posted thousands of times on social media. In these articles, I've told about using tools like Hootsuite and ClickToTweet in this process. These tools help me be consistent and ClickToTweet gives others an easy way to pass on the article. In my social media plans, I will highlight articles and other writings from others. Each time I post, I make sure to include an image (since this image often draws people to read the words with the post). If the article I am highlighting has an image, I will use that image or if not, I will quickly find one to use with it.

 

For my social media posts, behind the scenes I've created my own “standard” and it's something I encouorage you to do as well. In addition to a photo with each post, I attempt to include the name of who wrote the article along with their Twitter handle (not everyone has a Twitter name but I search for it and try to add it each time). If the person has a tool to pass on the article, I use that as a starting point, then I add the name, shorten the link and if not there (add a couple of relevant hashtags). It does not take a lot of time to meet this standard but it brings consistency to my various social media posts—and yes I put some effort into these posts—something I encourage you to do as well.

 

Most of the time, I hear little from my social media posts (12–15 times a day) but then someone will comment or share or indicate some way they have read the post. Sometimes these posts are new and other times they have been out there for a long time. The interaction shows me that people read this material—whether they say anything or not. Don't be surprised if you don't get a lot of response. The key is go keep on going and be consistent.

 

Book Reviews

 

I've been writing book reviews for a long time with over 1,100 on Amazon and over 700 on Goodreads (follow this link if you want to see some of them). My reviews are my own spin or perspective on a particular book. Often I will quote part of the book (especially on print and not so much on audiobooks) which shows the reader that I've actually read the book and found a relevant quote to include in my review.  Throughout any week, I receive many more books that I can possibly read—much less write about—but I continue doing some of them on a regular basis (even though no one pays me for these reviews). If you read a book or listen to it, I encourage you to take a few minutes and write a review. It will be a way to support the author and also good for your writing life.

 

How are you putting your spin on your writing? Let me know in the comments below.

 

Tweetable:

As a writer, you put your own spin on your writing. Get some examples and ideas from this prolific writer and editor. Read the details here. (ClickToTweet)

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Productive Social Media

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

How in the world do I post on social 12–15 times a day? To some people it appears that I spend hours each day on social media—when in fact I don't. The truth is I have created my own system. In this article I want to give you some details about what I do in hopes you can adapt it to your own social media plans.

 

I use a scheduling tool. There are several types of these tools but I use the professional version of Hootsuite because I quickly maxed out the free one. Throughout my week, I'm reading and learning from other writers, then adding their content into my social media scheduled posts. The bulk of my posts every day are from others and not my own writing. I envision this section like I am back in my magazine editor days. On my social media feed, here's my mindset for what I'm doing: I'm essentially running a magazine about publishng for anyone who wants to learn about it.  I'm several weeks ahead in my scheduling of these posts. It's something that most people do not do and I'm fairly certain my author friends appreciate that I use their material (at least from the limited feedback I receive from them).  I read each of these articles as I schedule them and it adds to my own knowledge and information about the publishing world.

 

Once a week and often on a Tuesday, I return to my scheduled posts and fill in the rest of them. As with the other posts, I've created my own pattern or system in this process. For example, I have a series of lead magnets or resources I've created to help others. Each of these resources, ask the reader to give me their first name and email address so they are added to my email list when they get the free resource. Many authors use this method but I make sure I don't use it too much so use one of these resources in the morning and one in the afternoon.

 

Each of my posts include an image, a short link to the resource or article (because otherwise sometimes they are broken when posted) and a hashtag. Notice I have created a standard or pattern for each of these posts. If the posts are related to my work like a blog post, a free offer, a book I'm promoting through stressing the benefits or something else related to my own work, I have saved a series of these posts. They are stored in a text file which I use each week.

 

Also I have a series of royalty-free images that I've pulled over the years and stored in a file on my computer. I use this method to repurpose and promote these articles from The Writing Life, which has over 1500 searchable entries (a great deal of content). As a reminder, I've created a search tool for my various blog entries (scroll down to find it) but I use this tool often to find my own articles. These are some of the details that I open and use in this once-a-week process. If I'm traveling or going to be away from my office, then I schedule even more than a week's worth. Because I do this process on a consistent basis, it runs even if I'm away from my computer.

 

As I mentioned, I look at my social media feeds like running a magazine. If I see a potential article and it speaks about a holiday or a deadline earlier than where I'm scheduling, then I use it earlier (often that day) in my social media feed. 

 

I've given you a number of the details which I have not written about before but use each week in my social media feed. I've created my own system—and know you will have to create a system that works for you and your plans. 

 

Do you have a plan or system for your social media? Let me know in the comments below. 

 

Tweetable:

This prolific editor and author uses a system he calls “productive social media.” It's part of the reason for his large social media following and consistent use. Get the details here. (ClickToTweet)

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The Importance of Systems and Habits

 

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

As a writer and editor, I'm involved in a number of different projects each week. Many of these tasks are routine and something I do over and over. For example using Hootsuite, I post on social media 12–15 times each day. I write and each week I post an article for The Writing Life. I read books and write book reviews. I speak with authors about their submissions to Morgan James and many other tasks.

 

One of the ways these various projects get done is tied to my habits and various systems that I've created. Do you have such patterns in your own writing life? I encourage you to create habits and systems using tools to be consistent. I've written in these articles about the importance of being consistent. How does consistency happen? From my experience, one of the key ingredients is to develop a habit or system. 

 

Here's a few of the habits and systems I've created in my writing life:

 

--I consistently read books and after reading the book, I write a short review and post it on Amazon and Goodreads. 

--Also I am consistently listening to audiobooks, writing a review and posting it. Each of these actions are intentional.

--Regularly calling people or emailing and looking for new opportunities.

--Consistently emailing or calling and inviting authors to submit their book manuscripts or proposal to Morgan James.

--Also I follow-up consistently with potential Consistent follow-up with my potential Morgan James authors.

 

The Difference Maker

 

There are many functions that I do over and over. Consistent completion is important for many of these tasks. For example, I have a number of monthly writing deadlines. I enter the task in my reminders which helps me complete the task on the deadline. Meeting deadlines is a critical element for every professional writer. You do not want to be asking your editor for more time to meet your deadline. It is not a good impression you are making on them.

 

For almost any task that I do on a regular basis, I often create a system or method which as I do it over and over and eventually it becomes a habit. I’m always looking for ways to streamline and improve the  system with a new tool. The result is these tasks get completed. Are you using systems to create these habits for your writing life? Or are you reinventing it each time?

 

Completing these tasks is important for several reasons:

1. Professionalism
2. Dependability
3. Your Reputation as a Writer
4. To Add to your body of work as a writer
5. To get additional work or assignments

 

From my experience in this business, nothing happens without taking consistent action which involves regular communication (phone or email or in the mail or text). How important are creating systems or habits in your writing life? Let me know in the comments below.

----

Last week, Glyndon Greer at the Adazing Podcast published our interview about publishing and how authors can succeed with their books. Listen on Spotify or Apple. 

 

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This prolific editor and author details about the importance of systems and habits in this article. (ClickToTweet)

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Six Keys to Consistent Social Media

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

If you follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn or Facebook, you may wonder how I manage to post such focused content 12–18 times a day. Since 2008, I have posted over 55,000 times (yes a lot of posts). In this article, I want to give you some basic principles I use week after week.

1. My Mindset is to act like I'm running a writing magazine. Your attitude is critical in this process. In my mind, my Twitter feed is like I am running a writing magazine about various types of publishing. My posts are targeted to my readers. If you read these posts, it's like getting an education in publishing. I've told you what my attitude and mindset is about my social media posts. What is yours? Your mindset is important to get the right mindset for this process.

2. Collect and read blogs from others—but not randomly—with a plan. I subscribe to a number of blogs about writing and publishing that come into my email box. I don't have to search for them and use these article in my social media plans. I have a plan and in general, I know where I'm going to put a particular type of article on my plan. I've made these choices to make it almost automatic and take little time.

3. Work ahead using Hootsuite (or some other schedule program). Throughout the week in focused times, I am working on my social media plans. Hootsuite allows me to schedule my posts. It has been a valuable tool in this process for me. Other people use buffer but use a scheduling program in this process. In general, I am filling out the bulk of my scheduled posts ahead of time.

4. Once a week, I fill out the remainder of my schedule plan. I keep a text file with various posts that I've used in the past. Some of them are in categories while others are random. It often takes me about 30 minutes once a week to fill in the remainder of my social media plans. Every day I take a few minutes to double-check my Hootsuite and make sure everything is going to work properly.

5. Always add the unexpected or current content. I read through my various posts and make sure they are relevant for where I am scheduling them. Often my current spot for posting them is weeks in the future. Sometimes an article will not be timeless and have information which needs to get out to my readers now—instead of weeks in the future. I add those posts to my scheduled plans. It is flexible—but I have a plan.

6. Consistency counts and people are reading these posts.  I intentionally do not spend a lot of time reading social media posts. Through my Hootsuite, I engage with people who do respond to my various posts. Without focus and a plan, social media can be a huge time waster. Your consistency will pay off and I can tell from the reactions that people are reading my posts and I know it has value for these readers.

Admittedly this process takes work, time, focus and planning to successfully execute. In my view it has been well worth it. In the comments below, let us know what I'm missing or other ways you achieve consistency with your social media. I look forward to reading your comments.

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Don't Forget Some Marketing Basics

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Last week I told you about launching my special offer on my newest book, 10 Publishing Myths. Today I want to talk about several simple marketing basics every author can use to tell new readers about your book. As authors, we want to try new marketing efforts yet also we don't want to forget (or neglect) some basics.

If you blog (and I hope you do), your blog has a profile. Does this profile include clickable links to your latest books? A while back I wrote an explanation of clickable links. Just follow this link to get this information. I have not updated my blog profile in ages but last weekend I dug into my settings, found the location and made some changes. It's something I suggest you do as well for your latest offering to cover the marketing basics.

I've mentioned in these articles about tweeting 12–15 times a day using Hootsuite. Twitter has a feature that I've known about for several years but never used—called pinning a tweet and image. You can pin this tweet to the top of your various tweets. Until you change the pinned tweet, it remain at the top. While I've tweeted  thousands of times, I had never pinned anything—until last weekend.  As I pinned, it was a process to get it to look right. Here's this tweet.  At first, it did not so I deleted it and reworked it until I got it like I wanted it. Are you pinning a tweet?

Throughout every day, each of us send email. Do you have a signature in your email? Does this signature promote your latest book? I changed my personal email address and my work email address to add this promotion. Until I revise it, this promotion will be in my emails. Why are these signatures important? Throughout the week I write emails and adding these words point people to my 10 Publishing Myths special offer. The receiver may not notice it the first or third time we email—but they may eventually look at it. The marketing is something simple and consistent.

Finally I updated the website with my name www.terrywhalin.com  I do not drive a lot of traffic to this site but it is a common way that people will search for me and go to it. I added my special offer right at the top of this site. Admittedly I have not updated this site in a while—and it probably needs a whole new make over but that will have to wait until a later date.

I've been making sure I cover the marketing basics for my 10 Publishing Myths special offer. Have I left out something or you have a different marketing basic? Let me know in the comments below.

Tweetable:

Are you covering the marketing basics? Get some ideas from this prolific editor and author. (ClickToTweet)

Some Keys for Being Active on Social Media

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

For years, I have worked at developing a large social media following—over 200,000 Twitter followers, over 18,000 LinkedIn Connections and over 4,900 Facebook friends. These types of numbers do not happen overnight but are something every author can do—with consistent work. I continue to expand and develop these areas.

In this article, I want to give you several keys for doing your own social media. Yes you can hire others to do social media. 

From my experience no matter how much you train them, they will not do it like you do it. Your passion needs to show through. I have always done my own social media posts.

1. Control Your Social Media Time. It's easy to waste hours on your Facebook feed or Twitter feed or LinkedIn feed. I do go over to these places but my time is controlled and not very long at any time.

2. Have the Mindset Your Social Stream Is Like a Magazine. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn, you notice I have a great deal of variety on my social media streams. Yet everything is focused for people interested in publishing. My mindset when I put together my posts are like I am putting together a print magazine targeted to a particular audience. I will keep you on track with what you are putting out.

3. Work Ahead. I use the paid version of Hootsuite to post consistently throughout each day. The majority of my posts come from other people and each one has an image and a link to more resources, The only exception is the quotation and photo I use to begin each day. In general, once a week I fill out my plans for the entire week and it often takes me about 20 to 30 minutes for this task.

4. Create A Grid for Your Scheduled Posts. No one but me probably knows the pattern of my social media posts. I begin each day with a quotation and a photo of that person. I follow that with a couple of posts to my own material such as a free ebook or a product that I'm selling. These posts are followed by six hours of posts from others—yet to my target audience. I close the day with a couple of personal posts to a blog article or a free resource. You could create a formal grid (I haven't) but I recommend you make a pattern for yourself and then it is automatic and something you do rather than work to create.

A recent Pew Poll has proven that 80% of the tweets on Twitter come from 20% of the people. Because I tweet 12 to 15 times a day, I believe I'm in the 20%.  Here's an extra truth about social media: Not everyone reads every post but people are reading your posts. I can see from the comments and reactions.

These are some of my keys for being active on social media. What are your keys in this area? Let me know in the comments below.

Tweetable:

Learn some of the keys for being active on social media from this prolific author and editor. Get the details here. (ClickToTweet)

  

The Hidden Costs of Publishing

Like an iceberg, there are hidden costs in publishing.

There are many things in the world of publishing which simply add to the cost and effort to happen but are never documented or talked about. In many ways, these elements become some of the hidden cost of publishing. In some ways publishing is like an iceberg. We can see the top on the water but don't realize all that is below the surface. In this article I wanted to tell you about a couple of these hidden costs then give you some tools and basic principles for your own writing life.

People look at my large twitter following and would like to have that ability to influence and touch others. Yet are you willing to do the work to build that following? I've detailed the five every day steps I take with twitter. I use a program called Refollow to help automate this effort. Sometimes the program does not work. Every day I can use it to quickly follow 800 people in my target market. Then I can also use this program to unfollow people who have not followed me back. Some of these people I followed years ago and I use Refollow to automatically unfollow them. This unfollow process involves clicking and unfollowing each person—up to 1,000 a day.

Recently several times the program gets stuck. The only way I've found to get it working is to leave the site (stopping the process) and to begin it again (and reclicking all those times). Other times error messages are thrown up on my screen. Maybe Twitter has blocked the unfollow process or something else. These stops and starts amount to some substantial time with zero or little results. Yet I persist because I understand it is all part of the process of continuing to build my audience and presence in the market.  I use these tools consistently day after day.

Over the years, I've created a number of online information products like Blogging for Bucks or my Write a Book Proposal course. I've automated many of these products through autoresponders and other tools. Each of these products include my 100% Love it Or Leave It Guarantee. If the buyer isn't satisfied in a period of time, they can send an email and ask for a refund. This guarantee is a key part of selling products online and it is rare that someone will ask for a refund. This email arrived at a time when I was challenged with other things—yet I took the time to make the refund. Carrying through with your promises is a key part of having an online business and successfully selling products online. It doesn't make it simple or easy.

Here's some basic principles for every writer to get beyond the hidden costs of publishing:

* Understand they are there and keep going in spite of them

*Automate when you can. Investing in tools like Hootsuite, Manage Flitter and Refollow allow me to continually grow my presence and saves time

*Keep growing in your craft of writing, attending conferences, taking online courses and reading books. I've got shelves of how-to books I've read over the years and continue to read them.

*Timing is critical and yet often out of your control. I've had authors who have looked for an agent for years (not found it) then return to Morgan James and ask if they can sign our book contract. I've had it happen numerous times. An author signed recently who I have been speaking with off and on for three years about her book.

*Take the long view of success yet keep doing the little things and working to promote you and your writing. Over and over I speak with authors who continue promoting yet have stopped telling their publisher about their promotion (big mistake in my view). The publisher is going to assume they are not promoting and has stopped talking about the author with their sales team and the sales team to the bookstores since it is tied together. Yet if the author continues to promote and tells the publisher, then the communication and promotion to the bookstores can continue. Consistent communication matters.

No little elves come out and write this material for us. We have to be the ones to tell the stories and complete the work. 

Do you recognize the hidden costs of publishing? What tips can you give us about how you persist and get it done? I look forward to reading your comments.

Tweetable:

Are there hidden costs to publishing? Read about some of them here with ideas to get beyond them. (Click to Tweet) 

Why I Tweet (Almost) Every Hour and You Should Too

I’ve been on twitter since July 2008. People who follow me are often surprised that I’ve tweeted over 26,000 times. It’s because I post something almost every hour throughout the normal business hours—even on the weekends. Why do I tweet so much? Because people want to follow others who have great content—and post frequently. It is growing my followers at the rate of about 100 new people a day.

I hope you are following me on twitter. If you are, you know that I don't write about my daily activities such as going out to eat or talking with authors on the phone (which is boring and no one cares to read about on twitter). The first step in knowing what to tweet about is to focus on your audience and your message. For me, I tweet about publishing and writing. When you focus your tweets, the audience will know what to expect when they read your information.

The second step is to focus on giving your followers great content and insights. Throughout my day, I read various blogs and articles about publishing and writing (my focus). If I see an interesting or valuable article, then I will quickly add it to my forthcoming posts on twitter. Also I mix my own blog posts and free teleseminars and other content that I've generated into my regular posts. The process takes only a few seconds. Here are the details:

1. I cut and paste the headline or something short about the content into Hootsuite. I use this free tool, Hootsuite all the time to schedule and post my tweets to twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.  If you aren't using it, I suggest you sign up, then open it into a window in your browser so you can quickly use it throughout the day. I schedule my tweets for almost every hour during the regular business hours. If your tweets are too frequent it can be annoying to people but if you are sending good content, then that is OK. Some people tweet a few times a day yet because of the content, I tweet more frequently.

2. I will make sure the author of the content is highlighted. If the author is on twitter, then I use their twitter name which begins with @NAME. Why? Because these posts will show up in that person's twitter feed and be called to the author's attention. I've had well-known people respond to my tweets because of using this method in my tweets.

3. I use bitly to shorten the link in my tweet. If you aren't using this free tool, I recommend you sign in and begin using it. All of the links you shorten are organized and kept in one place (provided you are signed in). 

4. To get more attention and readers, tweets with a photo are more visible. If I'm getting content from someone else and their article or post has a photo, then I right click on that photo and save it on my desktop. Hootsuite has a feature which allows you to add a photo to your tweet. Be aware the photo addition will take some of your 140 characters and you might have to eliminate some words for it to work properly. If the content you are tweeting does not have a photo, then how can you add one? If it is a quotation from someone, I will go to Google and search for an image, then save it on my desktop for quick use and adding it. Or you can use your phone to take a photo Finally some times I use Snagit to create a photo from something that is on my screen. Make sure your photo isn't too large (440 x 220 is the maximum) or it will not fully show in your tweet.

At first reading, these steps may seem daunting and like they consume a lot of time. They do not.  In fact, the more you use these steps, the quicker you will be able to do it. It will allow you to use the material coming across your screen and fill out your tweet schedule.  I'm often several days ahead of the current day. If I'm going to be traveling or away from my computer, I have an entire week or several days full of tweets. Even when not at my computer, I'm able to consistently provide valuable content and insights to my followers (and on several social media platforms). It looks like I'm constantly doing it—but I'm not because of using this system.

Everyone has limited time and resources but I've been using this simple method to constantly reach and grow my twitter audience. I encourage you to do the same and begin to reach the millions of people using twitter every day.

 

Grow Your Twitter Followers in Less Than 5 Minutes A Day

Several months ago, I saw New York Times bestselling author of Twitter Power, Joel Comm and told him that I had over 100,000 followers. He told me, “You have twitter power.”

If you check my twitter following, I recently went over 136,000 followers. For the last several months, they have been growing at about 100 new followers each day. I'll admit some of this growth is organic and not the result from anything that I'm actively doing. But a good portion of my daily growth comes from my active involvement and use of a tool called Refollow. I use the pro version which is $20 a month but it is well-worth it from my perspective. In less than five minutes a day, I'm able to follow 800 new people.

One of the keys to effective use of social media from my perspective is to not allow it to suck large amounts of your time. For months, I've been using Refollow and whether I'm on the road or at home, using it does not take more than five minutes. In fact, often I spend less than five minutes. 

Here's the home page:

One of the basic principles of twitter is that you follow others and a certain percentage of those people follow you back. I follow the followers of leaders in the publishing and writing community. Here's how my numbers have been increasing:

Here's the publishing people that I follow their followers:

Besides using Refollow, each day I use Hootsuite to regularly send out tweets to my followers. I make sure I'm sending different articles and educational information about publishing. I use the free version of Hootsuite and it does not take much time to load up this tool so it will add tweets every hour throughout the day. 

Finally every few days I use the free version of Manage Flitter. It allows me to find the spam followers, the followers who do not speak English and also to quickly unfollow people who have not followed me back. It can take a while to load all of my followers and tweets for analysis but I simply open a tab and allow it to work as I work on other things. 

I have great things happen in my writing life because of being on twitter. I regularly meet new writers and help them through my involvement on twitter. I'm careful with my time so it does not consume my day. And it does not have to consume your day. I wrote these details in this article so you can follow my example and grow your own twitter following. If some detail is not clear or you have questions, feel free to leave a comment below and I will respond. 

For every reader, I wish you great success on Twitter and that you too will find Twitter Power.