thanks to karen bc

Negative information about agents is sometimes more prominent than the positive, so I found it wonderful to read all the appreciation that came out for literary agents in celebration of this day. On Twitter, there were even comments by people who were not clients of a specific agent, but tweeted how the agent had helped them out in some way.

Following the #agentappreciationday and #agentappreciation topics on Twitter is also a fabulous way to research agents.

If the agent is on Twitter, you will see their ID (@whatever), which you can then click on to see their Twitter page. Agents often link to their agency or their blog in the top right corner of their Twitter page. Which means following those topics is also a great way to research literary agencies.

Because even if the agent you find on Twitter does not represent what you write, another agent at that same agency might.

Ray Vecchio: Elaine, we really appreciate you.
- Due South, Chinatown, 1.6

urban fish

Sometimes an author’s Twitter name is close to the name on the novel, for example, @rachelcaine and @candacehavens. Sometimes, the author’s Twitter name is not as obvious, such as Jim Butcher tweeting as @LongShotAuthor.

If an author or agent or publisher is on Twitter, they will likely have their Twitter name listed on their website. You can also check out these links to see if there is someone you recognize and want to follow.

• Fantasy Authors, Writers, and Professionals
• 100+ of the Best Authors on Twitter
• Nonfiction Tweets: 70+ Authors to Follow on Twitter

Twitter now has the ability to create a list, which is a page that shows only the tweet from the people that you add to that list. I have a “writing” list, where I’ve put the authors and other writing professionals that I follow.

You can also subscribe to other people’s lists. @jimsissy has a list of “literary agents“.

And some publishers have created lists of their authors, which is a great way to find new people to follow.

• Eos Authors
• ROC Authors
• Ace Authors

And once you start following a few of these people, you’ll see them tweet with other industry people, whom you can then also follow.

Kevin Bacon: No, but Val was in “Top Gun” with Tom Cruise and Tom was in “A Few Good Men” with me. [pause] Huh, that was a short one.
- Will and Grace

key

You’ve probably heard of Twitter, the online social networking website where you say what you want in 140 characters (or less, but no more). Each person has their own page of tweets (mine is heidi2524). You can follow people, and they can follow you.

There is also the use of the hash (#) tag. This is used as a marker for a topic. You easily can view all the tweets that have been marked with that topic on a single web page.

There are several writing topics on Twitter where people will ask questions, tweet quotes, post answers, and generally have discussions related to writing. Some of them have a schedule, in that people agree to be online at a certain time so the conversations are as real-time as possible. If you read something interesting, you can then click on the username of the person posting, and decide if you want to follow them.

Here are some writing advice topics I follow on Twitter. These will open up in new browser windows because sometimes Twitter doesn’t like the search URLs to open in the same browser window.

• #askagent, #askawriter
• #writetip, #writchat, #WarriorWriter
• #pubtips, #pubtip
• #kidlit, #kidlitchat
• #writegoal, #wordathon,

People often post URLs as well, which lets you get a lot more writing advice than just 140 characters.

Stacy Goodyear: Do you have any advice for budding authors out there?
- Bones, “The Woman in the car”, 1.11

When I first got a Twitter account, I poked around for about a day and then deleted it. If you don’t have someone to follow, it’s like walking into a party full of people you don’t know having conversations you don’t understand. Being the introvert I am, I was bored and left.

The next time I got a Twitter account a few months later, I knew some people to follow. Then I looked at who they followed, and followed some more people. I didn’t say much to begin with, still don’t say a whole lot, but I have found value in the Twitter experience.

For me, Twitter adds three things to my life:

• relevant URLs – I follow a lot of authors and agents, and the URLs they tweet are on topics of great interest to me
• another way to chat – I have several IM (instant messenger) accounts in order to chat with different people, so one more makes it that much easier to connect with my friends, both with tweets and direct messages through the Twitter system
• fun – whether it’s the tweet itself, or the picture, or the link to a webpage, I get a bit of fun every day from the information that’s streaming across the little spots of the Twitterverse I pay attention to

There are lots of tools and tips about ways to tweet on Twitter, so find something you like to use that also fits into your life. I have a little pay-by-the-minute phone, so I only tweet from a computer. I like TweetDeck because I can create columns of different people I’m following, so friends are separate from industry professionals. You can also just use your personal Home page after you log in to catch-up on everyone you are following.

winged words

If you’d like to see how a few of the folks I follow use Twitter, here are links to Neil Gaiman, Rachel Caine, Nathan Fillion, Candy Havens, Whil Wheaton, Bob Mayer, The Knight Agency and Your_Novel.

You are welcome to follow me (heidi2524), or just check out all of the people I follow. And if you unfollow me later, no hard feelings, I understand. Twitter isn’t for everyone; I just wanted to let you know if you came to the party, you can come sit by me.

“Man. The boyfriend fled the living room while Jane Austen was on and hid in my office. Now all my computer stuff is upgraded. Sigh.”
- RichelleMead, Thu Jun 20:53 via web”