During the past few weeks, I have been summarizing my methods for increasing my following on Twitter, so I thought it might be helpful to combine the main points from each week into one post.  Here's a succinct list of how I went from 0 to over 1,000 followers on Twitter in just five weeks.

1. Followed over 200 accounts on Twitter the first week and 50 when there seemed to be a lag in followers.
2. Thanked all new followers.
3. Thanked all followers for any retweets, favoriting, or mentioning.
4. Thanked all followers for adding me to any lists.
5. Posted 5-10 times per day.  This included a mix of links to my blog and articles on writing, as well as non-writing related information about me or other topics.
6. Utilized Hootsuite to schedule tweets multiple times a day.
7. Added ‘Tweet Old Post’ plugin to WordPress to retweet my old posts from my science blog (www.rockheadsciences.com) to my Twitter account.
8. Participated in Follow Friday (#FF) to ask my current followers to follow my new followers and other followers that have helped me.
9. Asked questions on Twitter to start conversations.
10. Responded to questions from followers to start conversations.
11. Signed up at www.twittercounter.com to watch my Twitter account growth.
12. Updated my Twitter account details.
13. Set up Google Alerts so I’m emailed once a day on topics of interest that I can add to my Twitter posts.
14. Used Flipboard app to search for additional news stories.
15. Used positive blog comments on Twitter posts.
16. Posted pictures to generate conversation.
17. Participated on a writing process blog tour and posted the link on Twitter. (See http://www.sandiewill.com/blog.html)
18. Learned more information on social medial in general through www.yourbrandingpower.com and by attending classes and webinars, as well as participating in a 21-Day Personal Branding Challenge to improve my social media presence.
19. Wrote several blogs and posted them on Twitter.  My writing blogs were posted twice a day and my science blogs were posted four times a day.
20. Reached out to new tweeters to assist growing their followers.
21. Listened and followed the advice from fellow tweeters on building a presence on Twitter.

I think I’m off to an excellent start, but next, I plan on expanding my efforts to include those followers that will buy my books.  Advice I’ve received from others on Twitter and my social media expert have stressed that it’s not just about the number of followers, it’s also about the quality of the followers.  So, I will be focusing more on my target audience.  Since my novels are young adult and middle grade, I will be following more students and teachers, as well as those that love to read.  I’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime, let me know if you have any questions or recommendations from your own Twitter experience in the comments below. 

Good luck on Twitter!  --Sandie

Well, the Twitter followers are still coming in strong, and I have made some supportive writer contacts.  I'm up to 1,048 followers now (up 188 followers from last week), have been added to 18 writer lists, and several of my posts were retweeted.  Also, one of my blogs landed on someone's paper.li which exposed my article to an even wider audience.

Probably the main event of the week was participating in the writing process blog tour, which I posted on Monday, April 21.  Unfortunately, when I first posted it, I included the wrong link.  Luckily, the Twitter writer that invited me to do the blog (@Stirlingwriter) noticed the problem right away and let me know.  The automated post from Weebly was correct, but when I tried to share it and tag all the other writers involved with the tour, I mistakenly copied the link to the Weebly admin page instead of the actual webpage.  I quickly posted the correction, but a few people had already shared the wrong post. Once I realized I could delete the incorrect post, though, the sharing stopped and the corrected post was retweeted.  

In case you're not familiar with blog tours, they include a set of questions for each writer to answer and a mention of three additional writers that will continue the "train."  Finding others to write can be a difficult task, especially for new writers who don't have connections yet.  I ended up calling on six Twitter friends, two of whom agreed right away, three I didn't hear from, and one I waited on for a couple of days who finally let me know she didn't feel this was "her thing."  I graciously thanked her and embarked on the task of finding a replacement, and boy, was that impossible, being it was the day before the blog post was due.  I tried everyone on Twitter and Facebook with no luck.  Good thing my husband is a bit of a writer, because he was able to fill the last spot.  These will post on 4/28/14.  Since that time, however, I heard from another author that was out of town last week, and he wants to participate in the blog tour, so I will be replacing my husband's bio with his bio this weekend, and he will post his blog a week later (5/5/14). 

I completed some additional tasks for the 21-day Personal Branding Challenge through Jill Celeste on Facebook and replied to comments on my blogs.  By posting a new article on my science blog, as well as this one, my traffic has increased on both sites.  Currently, I'm averaging 100 visitors a day on www.sandiewill.com and 10 visitors on www.rockheadsciences.com.  I also learned that I won a "Big Ass Box of Books" from Bradford Literary Agency (www.bradfordlit.com) via Twitter - can't wait to see which books! 

As far as my methods on Twitter this week, they are the same as last time, except I went back to following more writers again. One day, I selected 50 and that seemed to increase the followers even days later.  I don't think I mentioned it, but during my first week on Twitter, I followed at least 200 writer-types and that really started the following for me.  If you are included on any lists, check out the members. They usually have the same interest as you, so it's a great way to start a following that will be meaningful.  I also posted a picture of a homemade key lime pie this week and a picture of kayaking in a spring, but it only generated one comment.

Here's a summary of the tasks I did on Twitter this week:

1. Thanked anyone who retweeted or mentioned my name or blog, included me on a list or recommended to follow me
2. Followed new followers, as well as 50+ writers
3. Replied to any comments on Twitter and blogs
4. Participated in a writing process blog tour: "How Do I Write:  A writing process blog tour" at www.sandiewill.com/blog and set this up to post twice a day on Twitter through Hootsuite
5. Posted a blog titled, "Week 4 on Twitter as @SandieWillWrite" on Twitter twice a day through Hootsuite
6. Posted a blog titled, "So, what's it like to go to geology field camp?" on my science blog at www.rockheadsciences.com and set this up to rotate with all of my other blogs and post on Twitter @SandieWillWrite four times a day via a WordPress plug in
7. Posted pictures and articles related to writing, publishing, geology and other sciences
8. Posted some non-writing related content, but need to do more

In addition, I'm going to post an additional blog tomorrow that will summarize how I reached 1,000 followers on Twitter in five weeks.  

Hope you had a good week and find this blog useful.  Have fun tweeting! 
--Sandie

How do I write?  Interesting question.  It’s not something I’ve thought about before, and I’m hoping I can put my process into words.  All I know is this: I must write.  There's no choice, no question about whether or not I should write, no worry about when I'll have the time. It's almost instinctual, built within me somehow.  I welcome any chance to sit with my thoughts and create a story, and today, I thank Rachel Stirling for her invitation to join this blog tour and her faith in me.  If I can write this blog even half as eloquently as she did last week, I’d be pleased.  Visit her blog at wp.me/p3cqD7-rA, and you’ll see what I mean.

What am I working on at the moment?

I have written two novels and am seeking representation for them.  I am still editing my first middle grade, time travel novel, Angle of Incidents, but have queries out on my second novel, Anclote Manor, which is a young adult suspense. I've decided to query through June, and if I don't receive any interest by July, I will move forward with hiring an editor and self publish.  I'm also working on a children's book on birds.

In the meantime, I’ve been spending most of my time building my presence on Twitter.  Part of this involves writing blogs for my author page, www.sandiewill.com, where I explain my process for building a following on Twitter and my progress on a weekly basis.  Another part involves my science webpage, www.rockheadsciences.com, where I write blogs on my experiences as a hydrogeologist on a monthly basis. 

I will also be involved with creating scientific experiments and writing lab manuals in alternative energy and hydrogeology for Einstein in a Box this summer.  The boxes are sent to families on a monthly basis to work on a new theme each month and the lab manuals promote critical thinking while building the experiments.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

There is usually some element of science or history intertwined in the pages.  I can’t help it.  It’s something I seem to levitate toward, as if I’m trying to educate the reader, even if it’s in a small way.  I love to do research and see where I can make it fit with the characters or story of the day.

Why do I write what I do?

Passion.  It’s a need.  And I don’t know when the transition into writing fiction novels occurred.  I was a technical writer for many years and am doing less of it with my current job, so I think writing on my own time fulfills some void.  With my novels, I tend to write for younger audiences, and I think it’s because I can relate to them.  I love to hear about their dating dramas, tests and future plans.  

How does my writing process work?

It starts with a fleeting thought - a curiosity about something, and I immediately write it down.  Just a few lines so I can remember it later.  If I forget about it, I don’t revisit it.  I only write on the ideas that nag me.  The ones that interfere with my life and start living in my mind.  And then the process of generating the story overwhelms me, causing me to live the characters in some ways.  As I write, I hide myself in my writing room, because during that time, I act out the lines, feel the emotion of the characters and live what they live.  And no way do I want anyone witnessing this insanity or interrupting me.  I’ll live and breath the book, article, blog, whatever until it’s done.  Doesn’t matter how big or small, I will sit at my desk as much as I can and finish.  And every time I do, I feel satisfied until two days later when a fleeting thought catches hold on my curiosity once again. So to answer the question, 'How do I write?,' it's more than a process for me. It's a cyclic experience that takes me on a journey before anyone else even sees the printed words. And I'm always ready for the next ride.

Up next week:

The following writers have graciously accepted to be next in line for the blog tour, and I’m ecstatic to introduce them to you.  I have known Bethanne for a long time. We lost touch when I left for Florida during junior high school, but it's been great to reconnect with her over the past few years.  Sandie is a new friend from Twitter, and Charlie is my husband. 

Bethanne Patrick, writer, author and journalist, is above all a reader, one who has built her career on talking and writing about books. Whether she’s recommending a great book, interviewing a novelist or promoting reading online, Bethanne covers both the creative and digital side of the publishing industry. In 2009, she founded the popular #FridayReads hashtag under the Twitter handle @TheBookMaven. The weekly #FridayReads conversation, which peaks on Fridays but runs 24/7, attracts thousands of readers around the world. Bethanne is the author of two books, An Uncommon History of Common Things (co-authored with John Thompson) and An Uncommon History of Common Courtesy, both from National Geographic Books. She writes a monthly column for Virginia Quarterly Review on feminism and culture. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, AARP The Magazine, the Daily Beast, TheAtlantic.com and O the Oprah Magazine. Other credits include PAGES Magazine, where she was an editor-at-large for four years; moderator of “Centerstage,” Barnes & Noble’s first online book club; and a blogger for Publisher’s Weekly.  http://www.bethannepatrick.com/blog/

Sandie Docker is an aspiring author of contemporary women’s fiction. She is currently querying her first novel, THE POINT, and working on her second, THIS SHADOW LIFE. Sandie came to writing quite by accident after her university Mandarin lecturer suggested she take up writing on the back of a translation course she was doing at the time. That idea sat quietly at the back of Sandie’s mind for quite some time before she decided to do anything about it, but once she put pen to paper (yes, she writes everything the old fashioned way before hitting a keyboard), she knew there was nothing else she wanted to do with her life. She is a stay-at-home mum pursuing her writing dream in those rare moments between motherhood and wifedom in a sunny corner of Sydney, Australia.  http://www.sandiedocker.blogspot.com

Charlie Will is a 49-year-old guy who recently started a rowing and fitness blog.  The tagline to his website is, “A near-quinquagenarian’s journey to elite fitness.” A quinquagenarian is someone between the ages of 50 and 59.  He's almost there, but healthy and fit people in their 50s are not really uncommon.   In addition to being an old man, he has severe osteoarthritis in his left knee, stemming from an injury sustained in high school.  In Charlie's blog, he writes about the treatments to his knee and looming knee replacement.  He was devastated after not being able to run, but soon found the sport of rowing—both on the water and with a rowing machine (called an erg). The challenge with rowing is great; but the opportunity to excel in performance-based athletics is greater still!  He has been married to Sandie Will for 26 years and has two sons in college.  His entire career was (and still is) in the IT industry and he currently works for a distributor as a systems engineer.  He also enjoys writing and has kept a journal on-and-off throughout his life. The internet presents a great opportunity to share and see if what comes from his brain really is interesting!  http://chuck-fit.com

My growth on Twitter has continued during week 4, and I have used many of the same techniques I mentioned in the last two posts as well as some additional ideas.  Currently, I have 860 followers which means I have gained 200 since last week - this is still incredible to me at such an early stage, and I owe numerous Twitter friends and Jill Celeste (@Jill_Celeste) at Your Branding Power for much of this success!

Since last week went so well, I decided to keep going with many of the same methods I've been using including:

1. Thanking followers and those who retweeted any posts on a daily basis
2. Following back those who follow me with the exception of a few
3. Thanking any followers who added me to their lists
4. Rotating my science blog posts four times a day
5. Posting my last week's blog twice a day
6. Posting interesting news articles on writing or publishing
7. Posting on anything I thought would be interesting outside of the science or writing realm (I posted a few of these but need to focus on doing this more next week)
8. Continuing with the 21-day Personal Branding Challenge by Jill Celeste

The only task I did not perform this week was to seek out new authors or writers - I only followed a couple.  I wanted to see if I was gaining followers without provoking the followers, and it appears this is the case, since my followers grew by almost the same amount as last week.  I've also been keeping an eye on my website hits.  Since I started www.sandiewill.com four weeks ago, I have had 405 new visitors, and during this week, I averaged 52 new visitors a day with the highest amount being 146 following my blog post last week.  In comparison, my www.rockheadsciences.com website has been live since October 2013 and only averages 3 new visitors a day.  Since posting the science blogs under @SandieWillWrite, there has been more interest, but it hasn't been significant.  I'm not sure if this is due to the subject matter and/or my lack of using the same methods for this website as I do for www.sandiewill.com, but it would be interesting to see if using the same techniques on my Twitter account for my science blog (@RockHeadScience) will generate more visitors.  I'm not planning on doing this next week, but maybe in the near future I will as a test.

There were also a couple of additions this week as follows:

1. I set up Google Alerts.  So, now an email is sent by Google once a day to let me know of any new science, geology, writing or publishing articles that have been released.  This saves me hours of searching online for articles to add to Twitter.  Another good source for articles is Flipboard which I have also been using for several weeks.
2. I posted a picture of my desk on Twitter and asked for pictures of other writer's desks; however, this did not generate any interest.
3. I received comments on last week's blog on my website and replied.
4. I was asked to participate in a blog tour on my writing process by a fellow author on Twitter named Rachel Stirling (@StirlingWriter).  I am very excited about this opportunity to say the least!  The idea is to write a blog and refer three additional writers for the next week to keep the blogs going.  Rachel is a talented writer and her blog post can be found at http://stirlingwriter.wordpress.com/2014/04/14/how-do-i-write-a-writing-process-blog-tour/. Mine will be posted on 4/21/14, so I'll let you know how it goes next week.
   
5. As I mentioned last week, I was referred to Einstein in a Box (@EinsteinInABox1) to possibly assist with a geology box to be send to children whose parents subscribe.  Last night, I had a conference call with the founders, Elaine Hansen and Monica Canavan - two talented business women with science and education backgrounds.  As it turns out, I'll be assisting them with a science experiment boxes on hydrogeology and solar energy, and I'm very excited about this opportunity as well!  They'll be sending me a few of their boxes, so I can see the concept and will follow up in a couple of weeks.  Again, having a social media expert like Jill Celeste has opened new doors for me!

Once again, I'm having a successful week, not just with Twitter but with other avenues that are opening up. The one downside I'm seeing is the amount of time it takes to keep up with Twitter.  I spend at least 2 hours a night during the week and several hours on the weekends keeping up with it.  I can't imagine how much time it will be to add other social media platforms.  Next week, I'd like to figure out ways to streamline my process plus continue sending out queries for my novels - I can't forget about them!  I'm sure as I become more proficient in social media, my time spent will be less, and I'll be able to juggle the needs of both better. In the meantime, hope you've had a successful week too and stay tuned for my update next weekend.  I can't wait to share the progress!  Feel free to share your successes or lessons learned in the comment box below.
--Sandie

Week 3 has been another success! I'm very pleased with now having 660 followers (up 250 followers from last week) on Twitter.  I have added a few more ideas to my normal regime since last week's blog, and I have gained more knowledge about social media which I will share with you today.  I hope you're having as much (or more) success as I've been having, but if you're struggling on Twitter, I hope this series of blogs will help you boost those numbers!

Like I said, I've been using the same methods as last week, as well as some new ones, for my daily routine on Twitter.  This consists of continuing to thank those that follow me every day.  Not only is this a cordial response, but also this will promote your followers to retweet your Twitter name or add your tweet to their favorites.  It's a mutual benefit to you and your followers and also a way to start conversations which is key to social media - you want to engage with them.  Not only is it fun, but it gives you an opportunity to converse with others from all over the world. One way in which I engaged was to put this question out there:  "Hi writers! Do you think it's useful for an aspiring author to start a Facebook page? Or should I just stick with Twitter/webpage for now?"  A few followers commented on the amount of time it takes to maintain Facebook and another advised to concentrate on the quality rather than quantity of my followers, keep in mind the target audience, and not to oversell to fellow authors or they will stop following (Rachel Stirling @Stirlingwriter).  Even further, a follower advised to, "Just write and let the rest fall into place" (Jonathan King @JonnaKing).  I thank them all for their great advice.  

My gut was telling me not to go with Facebook for now, since I'd like to keep focusing on Twitter and this webpage, so I waited.  A few days later, I found out that I had made the right decision.  I was fortunate enough to attend Jill Celeste's Social Media 101 class. There were probably about 10 attendees sitting in the conference room from different types of business sectors.  Jill was thorough with information on several social media platforms, but best of all, she had us figure out our target audience and which social media platform would be most beneficial for each of our business types. For my young adult/middle school novels, Facebook is not the place.  The younger generation has moved on from there to other places such as Instagram and YouTube.  And so will I.  In a nutshell, Jill taught me that the most important factors in being successful in social media are concentrating on quality rather than quantity (sound familiar?), building relationships and gaining trust.  And two hours later, I had a direction and newfound energy to go out and feel more confident about my approach to social media.

In addition to Jill's class, I have also been participating in her 21-day Personal Branding Challenge during April where she provided a checklist of 50 social media related tasks to choose from for the month. One of the tasks was to write a comment on a blog. So, I searched through the Twitter accounts until I found an author whose writing captured me, and I left a short comment about his work (William Woodward @chirpingscribe).  What a gift to find such a talented author!  Another task was to provide a guest blog post for someone, so I got to thinking that maybe I should provide my geology expertise to a small business such as Einstein in a Box (@EinsteinInABox1) which sends out monthly scientific experiments to children whose parents subscribe.  Jill helped me contact them and next week I will be meeting with the founders to help design a geology box for the kids. I can't wait! This personal branding challenge has opened up a new world for me.

So, between the class, online challenge and continuing my previous methods, here's a list of what I have incorporated into week 3:

1. Increased the number of posts per day to 5-10
2. Thanked new followers
3. Thanked followers for retweets/favoriting on my blog
4. Posted writing and publishing related articles on tweets
5. Started Hootsuite and scheduled tweets multiple times a day
6. Added Tweet Old Post plugin to WordPress to retweet my old posts from my science blog (www.rockheadsciences.com) to my Twitter account
7. Participated in Friday Follow (#FF) to ask my current followers to follow my new followers
8. Asked a question on Twitter to start conversations
9. Decided to stay with Twitter only for now, but will research using Instagram and/or YouTube
10. Signed up at www.twittercounter.com to watch Twitter account growth
11. Updated my Twitter account details
12. Started to establish relationships with others by adding tweets that were outside of writing

It has definitely been a good week for me on social media.  I hope you've had a good one too! If you haven't already, I would find an expert to help you understand social media.  There are several that provide free information.  You can also contact Jill at www.yourbrandingpower.com.

Check back next weekend for my next update.  If you'd like to add any advice or information about your experience on Twitter or Facebook pages below, feel free!

Until next time, keep up the tweets!  --Sandie

So, I'm on my second week as @SandieWillWrites on Twitter, and I already have 410 followers! Sounds crazy, I know, but having a social media expert in the family has helped tremendously, and I though I'd share what I have learned from her, as well as on my own. First off, I picked a Twitter name that included my name as well as what I do, and I made sure to write an informative narrative about me. Second, I searched about 100 writers and literary agents the first week and followed them, and I made sure to thank all of my new followers on a nightly basis. Writers like this, because it brings them exposure, since they are trying to sell their books. In addition, I posted informative writing-related articles and posts from my science blog to try to keep the interest and several were retweeted. I also made sure to write back to any authors who asked me questions or started conversation.

After the first week, I was up to about 220 followers and added onto a writer's "list." These lists are a valuable source of information, as everyone on the list is a writer or likes following writers.  So, I proceeded to follow around 200 writers on this list. And BOOM! The flood gates opened up, and I'm getting about 50 followers a day now. I will continue this technique to add to my followers and soon should have over 1,000. This is peanuts though compared to the writers I've seen with 10s, even 100s, of thousands of followers. Even better, these power tweeters love to share your information to all their followers, creating even more followers for you!

What I have experienced so far on Twitter is a warm and inviting "village" of writers.  They don't mind us newbies, and in fact encourage others to follow.  It's like having an army of mentors at your fingertips! In addition, publishing companies, social media experts, publicists and all varieties of bookworms provide information on new books, screenplays, and giveaways.  This has truly been more successful than I ever imagined, and I'm well on my way to gaining many follows before my book comes out, something that is important whether I use an agent or self-publish.  This, on top of the following of this webpage and a new Facebook account, should hopefully give me a good-sized audience.  Until then, I'll keep on tweeting and bring you back the tips I learn, so you can be an expert tweeter too! Good luck and have fun!  --Sandie

If you're already an expert tweeter, feel free to share your tips in the comment box!