The Only 3 Times You Should Ever Tweet “Buy my book!”

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Twitter is not a billboard

Twitter is two things:

• It is a personalized news service.
• It is a microblogging platform.

It is not a billboard to announce ‘Buy My Book!’

It can also be a conversation – a place to find and connect with your tribe. That conversation has significant value if you care to cultivate it, but brings costs alongside: in authenticity, time, and a genuine desire to connect. If you don’t want to pay those costs, you can’t get the value of connection. And even that value doesn’t entitle you to success with ‘Buy my book!’

Nonetheless, you can still tweet “Buy my book!” on these three occasions.

Tweet “Buy my book!” for:

1. Release Day

It’s your book’s birthday. Of course you can (and should) celebrate. Announce your #PubDay to the world. Tweet #ReleaseDay far and wide. Pop the corks!

You get complete license on this one exact day. Nobody minds some enthusiasm and commercialism. Everyone feels good for you.

In fact, some people specifically encourage it on this day: your publisher, your agent, and your most ardent followers. They all want as much buzz as you do, so tweet it up!

(Releasing in a new format counts for this as well, sort of, but keep it more subdued.)

And then stop the very next day. Post-party announcements fall as flat as yesterday’s champagne.”

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