In the old days, publishing was a closed world and it was full of barriers that only the most experienced authors and industry professionals could penetrate. People had no option but to use postal mail to communicate with each other and the waiting process for responses was quite unnerving. This was in the past because sites like Twitter have now brought readers, authors, editors, agents, and publishers together. Any new information in the networks is updated instantly and it is publicly accessible.

It is now quite easy for an author to start a discussion about his/her book by creating a hashtag for people to use to participate in the discussion. Any comment about a topic created by an author is seen publicly and other users can respond to the comment immediately. The movement of letters to and from editors that was once the norm is now the exception. Tech-savvy people are now turning to electronic media for communication.

It is now a lot easier for people to find out what is affecting the publication or non-publication of their book. For instance, there is a hashtag dedicated to explaining to writers about the various difficulties they encounter. The #publishingeuphemisms hashtag mentions some of the reasons that literary agents and editors give to avoid representing authors’ books. Some of the statements that agents use to let authors down easily and their interpretations are mentioned. For instance, “this is too literary for us” means it’s boring; “our focus is on the paperback” means that the hardback tanked.

Every person on Twitter can join such a discussion and that is what makes the social media network fertile ground for similar ideas. Authors use such discussions to tell others about the hoops that agents make them jump through. Agents, editors, and publishers also use the site to discuss things that affect them in the literary industry.

Apart from discussing general matters affecting the industry, authors can also use Twitter to spread the word about what they are up to. For instance, an author can create a hashtag for people to use to discuss an upcoming or recent book launch.

Using Twitter to publicize their work is something that authors have been trying to do for many years. The degree of success varies a lot and sadly most people don’t have a lot to show for their efforts. Twitter is a great site that provides authors seated at home with a surrogate sense of community thanks to the many people that they can connect to. Using Twitter for experienced authors is just like walking to the water cooler and having a morale-boosting break to give them the motivation to keep writing.

If an author uses Twitter sincerely and understands best practices, he/she can connect with a large number of readers free of charge. The website is a place where many interesting thoughts are shared and it is often a source of ideas for many authors. It is also a place with little negativity because negativity is rarely done well, particularly if you only have 140 characters to speak your mind.