For today's #TenThings, let's get a little more specific to social media and talk about TWITTER TIPS FOR WRITERS. Because this place can be heaven... or hell, depending on how you use it.

The usual disclaimers apply: YMMV, every journey is different, my way is not the only way. Advice is meant for new writers pursuing traditional publishing of fiction in the USA. I'm a straight white woman, so your difficulty level may be set higher than mine.

1. If you're working towards being published, it helps if you Twitter name, website name, and email all match. Be easy to find. If your Twitter handle is @mshotkitty3777129 and your Twitter name is Jen Smith and your email is Ron Jones, no one know who you really are.

2. Buying followers doesn't work. Period. They are not actual people who will interact with you or eventually buy your book; they're garbage nothing made up merely to make money. Earn your followers through being positive, supporting others, and adding value to their feed.

2.5 It's better to have a few genuine followers than thousands of followers who aren't real or who were just 'follow for follow' people. The fastest way I know to get real followers is to build a time machine to 2008 and start then. Otherwise, build a genuine crew. Slowly.

3. If you begin a tweet with @person, only @person and people who follow you both will see the tweet. So if you want to begin a tweet with someone's Twitter handle, put a period in front of it. Like so:
. @delilahsdawson hates raisins and loves birds.
Now everyone can see it.

4. If you want to bring real meaning to your #ff or other means of spreading knowledge of good folks to follow, list one or two people with genuine reasons they're worth a follow. That list of 60 people = very few folks will click on any of them. 1 true fan > 60 names on a list.

4.5 Not only that, but when you tag 60 people in a tweet, each of them gets 60 replies of 'Thanks!', and some of 'em won't thank you for it and might, in fact, Mute you. It's basically the Reply All of Twitter, even when it's done with love and kindness.

5. If you're looking for valuable writing folk to follow, consider the accounts you really love and see who *they* follow and who they interact with. Bigger accounts who follow only a small number of people are generally well curated.

6. You can also look at hashtags like #amwriting, #amquerying, #amediting, #1k1hr, #nanowrimo, #writingcommunity, #writingtips to connect with other writers sharing your current experience. Or check out the pro org that deals with your genre: @romancewriters or @sfwa, etc.

7. Follower/Following ratio can be very informative. If someone follows 30k people, I'm assuming that they're not there for genuine connections. If their Follower/Following numbers are identical, I assume they follow anyone. Neither ratio makes me want to follow them.

8. At any given time, your first three tweets = what any potential follower will use as their basis for whether or not to follow you. If I see 3 identical BUY MY BOOK tweets or 3 'ugh publishing sucks' tweets or 3 tweets expressing more hate than positivity or support, no follow.

9. To crate a thread, just make a tweet, reply to it, then reply to the next one. If someone clicks on any tweet in that thread, the entire thread will pop up. It's helpful to number the tweets in a thread either like I do or by ending with 9/ to indicate it's 9 of however many.

10. Touchy subject, but I'm gonna quote @scalzi here and remind you that 'asshole is the failure mode of clever'. Meaning that if you're trying to impress someone on Twitter by correcting a typo, being snarky, or butting into a convo in a douchey way... that's not a good look.

10.5 Folks can feel very familiar here on Twitter. You see your favorite writer or celebrity casually bantering with buds, and you long to join in and feel that glow. But you never know who has an established relationship offline on which those tweets are based. Just be cool.

10.75 That goes for agents and editors, too. I say this as someone who has made an ass of myself and deleted tweets after realizing that I got too excited and blurted something annoying. It happens to everybody, but you just don't want to be remembered for being a jerk.

To sum up: On Twitter, be a genuine and professional version of yourself that people will want to interact with. Reach out to make connections, not with the spirit of artificially inflating numbers, but in making friends and learning. Pass on great links, RT others. Be friendly!

So that's today's #TenThings on TWITTER TIPS FOR WRITERS. If you have an ungoogleable question, feel free to ask! If you dig my advice, pls consider picking up one of my books or comics, all of which are at http://whimsydark.com . Good luck!