Giving The Bird: The Indie Author's Guide to Twitter [Kindle Edition]

Benjamin Wallace (Author)

Book Description

“Get on Twitter,” they said.
“You’ll sell lots of books,” they said.
“They can suck it,” you said.
You got on Twitter and tried to sell your books, but nothing happened.
You searched for readers, but just kept attracting spam.

So, what’s the point?

Twitter is a powerful marketing tool for the indie author. Within its ranks are millions of readers looking for new authors and new books. But, simply broadcasting your link isn’t going to get you the attention you need.

This concise guide doesn’t focus on the nuts and bolts of Twitter. It will not tell you how to gain a kabillion followers. It will tell you what “they” don’t – what to tweet to build your brand as an author.

This guide is about how to sell yourself as a person and a brand, one tweet at a time, to an engaged group of followers.

So, why is the guide so short? Because, just like on Twitter, it doesn’t take a lot of words to communicate a powerful message.

Product Details

• File Size: 355 KB
• Print Length: 43 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B007P8BGHG
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #358,391 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just for writers, but for everyone who wishes to build their Twitter kingdom. March 31, 2012

By jdkinman

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I should've given this book four stars instead of five. . . for making me read it at one sitting. Now I'm on the Twitter website, have a crick in my neck and no Ben Gay or other salve to rub on it.

Knowledge like this CAN hurt.

This is the first common sense "how to do it" no BS book about today's technology and social media I have ever read, let alone purchased.

Wallace gives the reader the benefit of his decade-plus in advertising, marketing and promotions by explaining what Twitter can and cannot do, and better yet, what you should and (more importantly) should NOT do.

The book is easy to read (ask my aching neck if you don't believe me), very concise, self-deprecating at just the right places, brutally honest and best of all, it works.

What this book is NOT: It is not one of those scam direct advertisement debacles you get spammed with in which you read and read and read, scroll down the page and keep scrolling only to get to the part that says, "For the REAL secret of how to make zillions of dollars like me, sign up for my secret newsletter and send $24.95 for my amazing secrets all contained in this incredible e-book!!!"

What this book IS: The best damn $3 you'll spend on an e-book this year if you are in to social networking and social media to enhance your present business model.

Good job, Mr. Wallace.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Short, Sweet, Simple June 15, 2012

By Keith D. Grimes

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This has got to be the most surgically precise book ever written about Twitter. Get in, get out, then get on Twitter.

While it covers the basics of using Twitter, its real strength lies in the "why" and "what for" departments. Rather than simply re-telling us how to use the service, the author does a great job of explaining how to build an audience by following the unwritten rules of Tweeting etiquette. Moreover, the slant of this little guide is geared toward authors looking to promote and sell their work without making the same, obnoxious mistakes currently cluttering up the Twitterverse.

My only complaint was that I found the dinner party metaphor a tad trite. Mercifully, it only lasted a page or so. Perhaps this little niggle is the result of my real-life aversion to dinner parties in general, and something for which I shouldn't fault the author. Sorry.

I would recommend this guide over all of the others to anyone considering using Twitter. It's short, sweet, and simple -- you know, just like a tweet.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Giving the Bird May 2, 2012

By @EvangelinaJo

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

A MUST read for any author wishing to help boost their promotional selling power...without actually selling. Clever ideas I have seen demonstrated by Ben Wallace that truly work towards huge selling success. A hilarious read is almost guaranteed with his books. I highly recommend this book to every serious author interested in increasing book sales in a fun and successful way. A witty & helpful book.

More About the Author

benjaminwallacebooks.com
dumbwhitehusband.com (check this out for more dumb white husband fun)

I was born in Canada; I grew up in Texas. In between I've had a thousand fascinations.

Little things. Trivial things. Almost anything can catch my imagination and spur on a thought-a random article on Wikipedia can cost me hours of a day as I link from page to page.

Mix this active imagination with poor time management skills and you get me. I have more ideas for stories than I have time to tell.

But, I'm trying; I write in the wee hours, the downtime hours, and the many hours when I should be sleeping. One day I hope to write in the daylight hours. Maybe then I'll be able to stay a step ahead of my imagination.

Until then I'll do my best to write books worth reading with jokes worth laughing at as fast as I can. The serious stuff is being taken care of by a world full of great writers. I don't want to shock you or change your mind. I don't even care if it makes you think. I just want you to squirt that drink out your nose.

Hope it's not carbonated.

That tends to sting.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#83 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Science Fiction

#83 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Science Fiction