Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Twitter’s Magic Symbol, the Hashtag




Twitter’s magic symbol is the little tic tac toe pound sign known in Tweet-speak as a hashtag. Categorize messages by placing a hashtag in front of keywords. Click on a hashtag word to bring up the other tweets in that category or type it in the search field. When you sweeten your tweets with hashtags they are seen by more

tweeters. Be polite and follow good twitter etiquette. Don’t use more than three hashtags in a single tweet are you will look like a spammer or hashtag hogger or something equally boring. Here’s an example of hashtag use and please feel free to retweet it. #Writers Lens blogging #contest – win Zen In the Art of Wriitng & #Steampunk model Airship http://www.thewriterslens.com/.

As we all know writing is a lonely profession, but we can share our progress and offer help to other writers with the following popular hashtags: #wip, #author, #pubtip, #authors, #editgoal , #critique, #writing, #revisions, #writetips, #editing, #writenow, #writegoal, #wrotetoday, #writingtips, #amwriting, #amediting, #nanowrimo, #amrevising. So other people will know how wonderfully you’re progressing and how hard you’re working. It doesn’t matter that these people don’t know you, they are still proud of you and encouraged by your progress. I use #amwriting all the time and I’m not the only one. It seems like someone besides me should know I’m writing.

To fish for readers in your genre draw from these hash tag hooks: #YA, #yum, #vss (very short story), #ufo, #nerd, #blog, #wolf, #goth, #xoxo, #sexy, #teen, #poem, #poet, #poems, #teens, #smexy, #yalit, #scifi, #story #ghost, #genre ,#novel, #novels, #erotic, #kidlit, #series, #sequel, #indies, #webfic, #weblit, #creepy, #horror, #yasaves, #review, #fantasy, #mystery #undead, #turnon, #zombie, #poetry, #hotguys, #fiction, #erotica, #chivalry, #twilight, #thriller, #chilling, #romance, #vampire, #zombies, #suspense, #novelists, #kissable, #kidstoday, #haunting, #vampires, #werewolf, #romantic, #dystopian, #steampunk, #werewolves, #longreads, #anthology, #livingdead, #paranormal , #bookreview, #truestories, #historical, #apocalyptic, #shortstories, #youngadult, #shortthriller, #releasedate #indieauthors, #ghoststories, #romancenovel, #contemporary, #romanceauthor, #vampirebooks, and #paranormalromance. There are plenty of hashtags swimming in the twitter sea to help you net and network with readers.
Some of the best hashtags for authors are ebook and epub tags: #wifi, #nook, #ipad, #sony, #apps, #kindle, #tablet, #scribd, #mobile, #ereader, #99cents, #amazon, #publishing, #blackberry, #goodreads, #smashwords, #librarything, #selfpublishing, #kindlebooks, and #kindlebargain,

Hashtags are for readers too. Booklovers, share what you are reading every Friday with #fridayreads. Other fabulous hashtags bookworms will love are #read, #review, #reading, #readthis, #booklook, #mustread, #bestseller, #literacy, #paperback, #amreading, #nowreading, and #summerreading.

Next time you chat about reading or writing let your fingers do the talking on Twitter with handy hashtags. This is not a full list so keep your eyes open on twitter for other hashtags to help you target fellow tweeters who share your interest.

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9 comments:

  1. Great list!! Here are a few litchat hashtags for writer's who want to chat about craft:
    #kidlitchat, #yalitchat and #mglitchat These hashtags actually 'meet' on twitter 9pm est. Tues, Wed, and Thurs. respectively.
    I think finding readers via hashtags is a great idea. Great post!

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  2. so many tags! I got snowed under trying to follow several and had to cut down!

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  3. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm new to Twitter and couldn't for the life of me figure out the hashtags. Yay!

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  4. Love this! I'm still a relative newcomer to social media and this is soooo helpful! Here are a few more geared toward writers from a list Dianna Graveman shared in August at the St. Louis Writers Guild's Writers in the Park conference: #writechat and #scifichat (hashtag groups that meet Sunday and Friday, respectively)and #askagent--Q&As with agents.

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  5. Thank you all for the wonderful comments and thank you so much for sharing other tags especially these wonderful chat tags. I appreciate it so much.

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  6. Awesome post. As a relative new tweeter having tried ignoring it for years, this is wonderful info.
    Thanks,

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  7. Thank you for your comment mysitchawker. I am so glad you found the article helpful and so glad it will encourage you to tweet more.

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  8. Thanks Cornelia, It's a great article, I am sharing with some friends that are doing the NaNoWriMo this year. I have at least 3 books started, I should make good use of hashtags and maybe get inspired to finish them or even receive some help. thanks a lot!

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  9. So ... that's what it's for *face-palm*... who'da thunk!

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