Setting up a Twitter account to promote your books is easy enough, but once you’ve finished that, the real challenge begins: actually writing tweets.

Never mind that for most writers limiting oneself to 140 characters is a toughie. Still, with a little practice that obstacle can be overcome (You are a writer, after all!). The big problem is what to tweet about.

Actually, there’s a lot you can tweet about, even if you’re in the middle of writing books. The key is to tweet about topics that have wide appeal yet relate to your books and that invite discussion (and ALWAYS include links!).

Here are some ideas:
• Your blog headline – Did you just pen an entry about the latest talk in the self-publishing or book world? Tweet that blog entry’s headline, such as New survey says Twitter No. 1 social media for writers.
• Writing-related events you participate in – While these tweets won’t be highly read, they do help establish you in other’s eyes as a professional, serious writer. One way to make them more interesting is to find something unique in the event to report; for example, My fifth-grade teacher attends my book signing!
• Your interests and likes – Just finish reading a good book or thought about an old one you really enjoyed? Tell the world and invite them to share their likes: My favorite childhood book is Green Eggs and Ham. Yours?
• Topics related to your book – If you write about zombies, for example, almost any tweet related to that subject works: Excited about new zombie TV series, Dirty Dead Men. Have you seen trailers?
• Interesting news articles related to your book’s topic – Should you write science fiction novels about extraterrestrials and a new report comes out on the subject, then tweet that news article’s headline: Scientists predict first alien contact by 2050. Will they be right?
• Quotations touching on your book’s topic – If your book is about food, you might use a humorous quotation, such as: “My cooking is so bad my kids thought Thanksgiving was to commemorate Pearl Harbor.” – Phyllis Diller

Remember that the goal of your tweets is to build readership by by connecting with people and in doing so bringing their attention to your books. The best way to do that is to not exclusively run promotional tweets like Do you want to read a great science fiction novel? with a link to your book’s Amazon page. Each of the above tweet topics, however, can build readership and hence sell your books.

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past decade, I’ve helped more than 300 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the 7 Minutes a Day… writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.