If you’ve been reading our blog over the last few months, you may have noticed references to our store Twitter account. We’ve had plenty of customers, booksellers, and book industry people follow us, but for those of you who haven’t signed up for Twitter (or are new to it) and have been wondering what it’s all about, I wanted to provide a brief explanation and a few suggestions for connecting with other book people.
Let me explain what Twitter isn’t. It’s not a bunch of self-obsessed people telling each other what they ate for lunch. Well, there are probably a few folks who still do that, but it’s pretty easy to avoid them. There was probably more of this kind of activity in the early days of Twitter, but pretty soon people figured out that no one else really cared what kind of coffee they ordered that morning.
Instead, Twitter became a place to write and pass along any thoughts that could be condensed into 140 characters — headlines, news, jokes, social commentary, basically anything that could be reduced to a pithy comment. Links and photos can be added to tweets (the individual posts on Twitter) when 140 characters of text just won’t cut it.
There’s plenty of how-to guides for using Twitter out there, so I’m going to skip some of the nuts and bolts. If you’re really lost, start by reading some of the Twitter help pages, and I’d also recommend reading this little guide that covers Twitter “etiquette.” It won’t hurt just to sign up and learn as you go along, however.
I like my Twitter timeline to be a mix of news, commentary, “famous people,” and people I know, but you can always follow and unfollow accounts till you are satisfied with your own mix. Here’s some suggestions.
Lemuria staff:
@LemuriaBooks — This is the main store account, where we post information about events, store news, and general info.
@Maggie4Lemuria — Maggie. Everyone that comes in to ask Maggie for suggestions and recommendations needs to follow her.
@JoeHickman — Joe. Good info on industry news and occasionally coffee beans.
@LisaANewman — Lisa, who also writes the tweets for the @LemuriaBooks account, and plans most of our social media efforts.
@emilyofoz — Follow Emily for all the news from Oz.
@petitchou — Kaycie will be missed when she leaves for Paris, but I expect we’ll still be able to find out what she’s reading.
@mgeoffriau — Me! I tweet about all kinds of stuff…sports, politics, movies, TV, news, and books too.
Industry and book news:
@PublishersWkly — Industry news from PW.
@PublishersLunch — More industry news.
@ShelfAwareness — Same folks that do the Shelf Awareness newsletter for sellers and readers.
@paulbogaards — PR guy at Knopf.
@yrstrulyREL — Director of Accounting Marketing at Random House.
@DonLinn — Publishing consultant.
Some of our favorite bookstores:
@SquareBooks — Our friends in Oxford.
@mcnallyjackson — McNally Jackson in NY.
@fightthestupids — Maple St. Book Shop in New Orleans.
@RainyDayBooks — Rainy Day Books in Kansas City.
@octaviabooks — Octavia Books in New Orleans.
@greenlightbklyn — Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn.
@lanora — Next Chapter Bookshop in Mequon, WI.
Some favorite authors on Twitter:
@chuckpalahniuk — Get ready for our Chuck event by following his official Twitter account.
@harlencoben — If you were here for Harlen Coben’s reading, you’ll understand.
@JackPendarvis — Jack Pendarvis
@escherx — Adam Ross
@Danchaon — Dan Chaon
Friends of the store:
@CATHEADVodka — Our favorite vodka, from Mississippi’s first legal still.
@beanfruitcoffee — Joe and Lisa go nuts for this locally roasted coffee.
And finally, possibly my favorite book-related Twitter account:
@NormsBookClub — Comedian and actor Norm McDonald hosts a monthly book club. This month Norm’s Book Club is reading Walker Percy’s “The Moviegoer” but the discussion ranges far and wide.
That’s only a fraction of the twitter accounts I follow, but it’s a good start and should include something for just about everyone. Now you tell me — what’s your twitter account? What great twitter account did I overlook? If you know of a great book-related twitterer, please share it!
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