I just can’t board that figurative train. I imagine many of you have read about the backlash of Rick Moody twittering a novel, in Twitter-size bites, every 10 minutes; and the result of each “bite” being re-twittered by multiple sources. Sadly, many folks who already “subscribe” to the same feeds as Rick Moody were not happy, with the final result being overkill of Rick’s tweets (and creativing writing adventure).
If anyone knows me well, they know Red Sofa Literary is all about fun tech gadgets and all-things-internet. I blame this on the early days of telnet and the lack of a graphic interface. It was addictive and thereby changed my own career path. In addition, if there’s anything I love about my job, it’s the accessbility to information.
However, there’s fine line between using a social network (like Twitter) and an e-book. A “tweet” is much like using one’s cell phone to communicate with friends and family- the messages need to be succinct and engaging. Anything beyond the limited # of characters should be discussed in a different medium, i.e. a real live phone call, an essay, a book, a blog, and face-to-face conversations.
I’m already reworking my own personal focus on working with e-book publishers one-on-one, as this is a wonderful window of opportunity for any writer looking to expand his/her platform (and publishing experience). Yet, I would not want my own client list tweeting their books. A tweet does not thereby equal a book. A tweet is a tweet, not a full, outright written & edited book.
I am still a fan of Rick Moody, but hope folks will see his great experiment as an example of how to better market one’s writing and public platform. Using Twitter to market one’s self is truly a silver lining to Rick’s experience, something to definitely build upon.
Wall Street Journal – Are Tweets Literature? Rick Moody Thinks They Can Be
