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!