Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Why Michael Bourret loves Twitter

My officemates think I’m nuts. For the past few months, I’ve been (to greater or lesser degrees) addicted to Twitter. For those of you not in the know, Twitter is a microblogging site that allows users to post 140-character messages (the same length as a text message) for others to read. It’s pretty simple. I’m not the most prolific tweeter. Others are much more dedicated to posting. And, it’s those people who make Twitter such an important part of my day.

As my life become more hectic, I find it harder to stay on top of fast-breaking news. With all the reading and emailing, I find that I’m only visiting my RSS reader and favorite news sites a couple of times a day. But Twitter is always open, and the people I follow are always posting interesting things, like links to news articles or new blogs. More importantly, I found out more breaking news on the Mumbai attacks and the US Airways accident on Twitter than anywhere else – including an amazing photo of the plane rescue unfolding from Janis Krums, who took a picture with his iPhone (another obsession of mine, but I digress). While there can be a lot bad information to wade through, it’s worth it for me to have up-to-the-second reporting on current events.

It’s also a great, fun way to network with other publishing folk. When I was looking for a writer for a project, I sent out a message to the Twitterverse, and my authors and even other agents re-tweeted my original message. I wound up with several leads in just a few minutes. Even a self-professed Twitter-geek like myself was impressed. I also have fun learning what my authors are up to, whether it’s revising their novel or writing 140-character movie reviews. And, I like being able to share with my followers (that’s what they’re called – I’m not that narcissistic!) what I’m up to and thinking about, whether it’s the Time article on the future of publishing (so right, but also so wrong) or my bran muffin obsession. (I’m noticing an obsession trend here.) It’s a fast and easy way to keep in touch, and I recommend that authors at least give it a shot. It can be a great way to reach out to other authors, publishing folk and even fans.

You can find me at http://twitter.com/michaelbourret. But I’m not the only agent or publishing pro on Twitter. Editor Unleashed has a good, but not definitive, list here. Many of our clients are on Twitter, and it would be great if they would add their info in the comments.

And if you join, be sure to send me a Tweet!

19 comments:

  1. I love knowing if Michael has had his bran muffin fix because then I can ask him anything and he'll say yes.*

    Here's me: http://twitter.com/lisa_mcmann

    *okay, that's not really true

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  3. There's an even better list of publishing folks on Twitter here:

    http://tinyurl.com/8832tm

    I, too, have become a twitter addict (thanks to my favorite agent). It's really an amazing tool, and not just for keeping up with the weekly bran muffins. It's awesome having network of hundreds of people to keep me up things.

    http://www.twitter.com/alicepope

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  4. Guilty as the rest. Dangerously hooked on Twitter.

    I'm at http://www.twitter.com/knownhuman

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  5. A good strategy with Twitter is following people only in areas of interest to yours (e.g., publishing, writing) rather than just everyone under the sun. So it's great to see these lists of writers/agents/publishers using twitter.

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  6. addicted to Twitter? Please join TwitAnon where we tweet through our steps every minute of every day:)

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  7. I use twitter to keep in touch daily with my agent, editors and a few others. But I'm still getting used to it and learning.

    And for some reason your tweets keep showing up on my page. I don't know how they get there, but you're keeping me very informed with national and world events. And the other morning I craved a bran muffin.

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  8. I just joined Twitter a few weeks ago, and already I'm having withdrawals when I'm at work and can't check.

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  9. Okay, Michael, I'm now a Twitterer (http://twitter.com/NealBowers); even though at 60 I'm bound to be outside the proper demographic. See how powerful your advice is (except for the bran muffins, which at my age seem more medicinal than delicious)?

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  10. Okay, Michael, I'm now a Twitterer; even though at 60 I'm bound to be outside the proper demographic. See how powerful your advice is (except for the bran muffins, which at my age seem more medicinal than delicious)? http://twitter.com/NealBowers

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  12. The awful truth is that I'd need someone to walk me through this or God knows what kind of stupidity I could get up to. Still, two years ago I didn't know what a blog was -- there is hope.

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  13. And I've been addicted to bran muffins for longer than I care to remember.

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  14. I have not yet gotten sucked in to Twitterage, but I suspect it's inevitable. I'll be sure to add you when I get there. :)

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  15. twitter has reeled me in, hooked me and I am now dangling like everyone else............

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  16. And agents complain about how little time they have to read submissions...

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  17. I'm also on Twitter and have a feed in the sidebar of my blog:
    http://antiquityoaks.blogspot.com
    I truly use it as a micro-blogger and send out quick notes on what's happening when I don't have time to do a proper blog post. Of course, there are those who just follow me on Twitter. I'm here: http://twitter.com/antiquityoaks

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  18. What would we do without Twitter? I love knowing what everyone is up to all the time. I don't even watch the news anymore... I catch it all on my little twitter feed!

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