In the digital age it's only fitting that a Web site, the micro-blogging phenomenon Twitter, be counted among publishing's innovators. Twitter was developed by software architect Jack Dorsey in 2006 and was made available to the public in August of that year. Initially backed by a group called Obvious from San Francisco, Twitter incorporated as its own entity in May 2007.
If you're not already tweeting, by now you've at least heard how it works: a tweet is 140 characters long, and it goes out to whoever has decided to follow your Twitter feed. You can follow whomever you'd like, and anyone can follow you, but just because you follow someone else's tweets, it doesn't mean they're following yours. It's common practice to “retweet,” or forward someone else's tweet to your followers, and to respond to other people's tweets. It's like everyone on Twitter is publishing his or her own personal news magazine, only every article could fit on a matchbook. It's a boundless conversation happening in real time, and it's changing how book people do business.
If you hook into the publishing Twitter network, you'll find authors talking up their own and others' books, publicity people trying to create buzz, techies debating the latest gadget changes and e-book prospects, and booksellers weighing in from the front lines. Twitter affords a new and unprecedented level of access to and from all sides of the publishing world.
Rebecca Skloot, author of the forthcoming The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and a magazine writer, is also a prolific and highly engaging Twitterer. “I treat my twitter feed like a mini publication, a place where I tell readers about things I think they'd be interested in, as in, 'if-you-like-my-stuff-you-should-definitely-read-this,' ” says Skloot. “I interact a lot with readers there, but I very rarely post personal stuff, except for occasional posts about the progress of my book, which let people know that it's coming.” Skloot uses Twitter to create a direct link with current—and potential—readers, making her a one-woman publicity engine for herself. Colson Whitehead's been tweeting from his book tour for his new novel, Sag Harbor. “The immediacy, brevity, randomness and sometimes dadaesque nature of the enterprise has been unexpectedly appealing,” he says.
Publishers like Farrar, Straus & Giroux are also using Twitter to connect directly with their audience. FSG publicity manager Kathy Daneman calls Twitter “an incredibly efficient way to communicate directly with interested readers. Initially, we were using Twitter as a clearinghouse to interact with bloggers, journalists, bookstores and libraries. As our list of followers grew, we began to use it to promote events, post links to reviews and interviews, and to draw attention to authors who are being reviewed in nontraditional spots.” It's also easy to connect Twitter to other popular social networks and Web sites, and FSG is taking advantage: “We also use it to reach out to readers who may not follow Twitter, but are FSG fans, so our feed appears both on the FSG homepage and on our Facebook page,” Daneman explains.
Esther Porter, publicist for the indie press Coffee House, is excited by the ways Twitter fosters a community around literature: “There is an inspiring camaraderie that exists within the literary community through this new medium,” says Porter. “Twitter brings readers one step closer to the source of their literature, allowing us to build stronger relationships with those who care so deeply about our books.”
Then there's the news angle. Much of the news in publishing these days is about technology, and it moves fast. Rumors turn into news, then into mini-editorials, and then yesterday's news all in the hours between two business days. For instance, if you were on Twitter, you'd have heard all about Amazon's Kindle DX well before the press conference. Former Soft Skull editor Richard Nash is using Twitter to launch his post—Soft Skull career and to participate in the spread of news and opinion about the industry. “I just want to be a useful source of info and perspective on our reader-writer ecosystem,” he says. Of course, there's a book in the works, Twitter Wit, from a HarperCollins imprint, made up solely of clever Tweets.
For all of the exposure Twitter has received of late—there are now more than 6.1 million Twitterers—the company has yet to find a way to make money. According to its Web site, Twitter is working on a business model.
By the way, all the research and correspondence for this article was done using Twitter—it's an understatement to call Twitter a handy tool, and publishing has just begun to explore its possibilities.
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