In April this year, ALLi's new Twitter chat #IndieAuthorChat was born. Today, Twitter chat host, Tim Lewis, is looking back at the year in review and highlighting some of our best chat questions.
Tim Lewis, ALLi Author Member and Twitter chat host
Review of the #IndieAuthorChat Twitter chat in 2019
A Twitter chat is a conversation about a topic in a fixed period of time (an hour at 8pm GMT/BST in this case) where everybody uses the same hashtag.
So far on the chat we have had over 30 guest experts who have answered questions and several general topic discussions. It's going to be impossible to cover all the guests and topics in this article, but I'll include all the guests and topics below and how to search for each chat on Twitter.
Best Questions in the #IndieAuthorChat Twitter Chat
We started off with me describing my author journey on the 23rd April, and then our first guest was the awesome Louise Harnby of the Editing Podcast. One question that is common to self-publishers is how to find the right editor for your book which I think Louise gave a fantastic set of answers to:
A4: National editorial societies are good starting points: there’s a list here: https://t.co/iO47rZ5jAe. For example, I’m an Advanced Pro Member of @TheSfEP. All the editors in its directory meet certain standards in terms of training, references, experience. #indieAuthorChat
— Louise Harnby, Fiction Editor (@LouiseHarnby) April 30, 2019
A4: Google is great too, but it’s huge, and not all good editors are good marketers. However, it is global and your perfect editor might be in a different country so use it in addition to other searches. #indieAuthorChat
— Louise Harnby, Fiction Editor (@LouiseHarnby) April 30, 2019
A4: Social media is another rather noisy option but a lot of editors hang out on Facebook and Twitter in the fiction world. LinkedIn’s great for non-fic specialists I hear. And of course there’s the ALLi Partner Directory! #indieAuthorChat
— Louise Harnby, Fiction Editor (@LouiseHarnby) April 30, 2019
A4: I always recommend authors look at editors’ portfolios, testimonials and online presence to get a sense of how they behave online, what they’ve worked on, and what clients are saying about them. It’s only a glimpse but a very useful one. #indieAuthorChat
— Louise Harnby, Fiction Editor (@LouiseHarnby) April 30, 2019
A4: I know I keep mentioning The Editing Podcast but we dedicated a whole episode to finding the right editor so I think that’s worth a listen! https://t.co/o2NU7MJ5YY #indieAuthorChat
— Louise Harnby, Fiction Editor (@LouiseHarnby) April 30, 2019
Later in the month, Debbie Young did a great talk on running a literary festival, including answering the following question:
A4: But not to be taken lightly! Huge amount of hard work, focus & dedication are required. Like organising a very large wedding! Worth it on the day though – hard work pays off, but it’s tiring! #IndieAuthorChat pic.twitter.com/35NGrZn9l2
— Debbie Young (@DebbieYoungBN) May 14, 2019
A4: I founded @HULitFest on the free model (in fact I think I may have invented it) because I wanted to give back to my community – both to my village and to author friends. #IndieAuthorChat pic.twitter.com/TEqc7Zyp6Q
— Debbie Young (@DebbieYoungBN) May 14, 2019
Also you are not hidebound by big commercial festival rules such as only big names/celebs/bestsellers allowed. Invite who YOU want to speak! Brad Borkan aka @PolarDecisions = our fab 2019 keynote #IndieAuthorChat pic.twitter.com/blw5bMKiEF
— Debbie Young (@DebbieYoungBN) May 14, 2019
In June we had Joanna Penn talking about author business mindset and especially how to avoid burnout:
A3: Take the long view. Creating a body of work you’re proud of takes a lifetime 🙂 You don’t need to rush this book. Sleep. Rest. Fill the creative well. Why are you doing this anyway? #indieAuthorChat
— Joanna Penn (@thecreativepenn) June 4, 2019
A3: Most authors face burnout when they try to do too much. Take a deep breath and a step back. What is most important for your author career? What brings you alive? Do that and cut the rest. #indieAuthorChat
— Joanna Penn (@thecreativepenn) June 4, 2019
A week later we had PR and Social Media wizard Janet Murray on talking about getting exposure in the media. A particularly appreciated answer was on the “low-hanging fruit of PR”:
A4: Start by reaching out to journalists who are actively looking for help with stories. So use hashtags like #journorequest #IndiieAuthorChat 1/2
— Janet Murray – speaker/event founder #2020sorted (@jan_murray) June 11, 2019
A4: And try out media enquiry services like @ResponseSource @JournoLink – they put journalists who are looking for help with stories in touch with those who want to be feat. in media 2/2 #IndieAuthorChat
— Janet Murray – speaker/event founder #2020sorted (@jan_murray) June 11, 2019
In August we had Will from Findaway Voices talking about audio books. This was a particularly interesting answer:
A5: It depends on two factors: the cost of the narrator and the length of your book. We created a handy calculator tool here: https://t.co/NBfEvaqBuf. An average audiobook created with Findaway Voices has about 50,000 words and costs between $1,000 and $2,000 #indieAuthorChat
— Findaway Voices (@FindawayVoices) August 27, 2019
In October we had Joel Schwartzberg talking about how to pitch your book:
A6 (1/2): #1 is rambling through the storyline as if summarizing a film. The story IS important, but create a roadmap for your pitch that conveys protagonist’s mission, the obstacle in the way, and – importantly – what inspired you personally to write the book. #indieAuthorChat
— Joel Schwartzberg (@TheJoelTruth) October 1, 2019
A6 (2/2): The strength of your point increases dramatically if it seems inspired by your own life or personal passion. Understand what internal forces inspired you to create it. Then explain why that connection made you the best person to write it. #indieAuthorChat
— Joel Schwartzberg (@TheJoelTruth) October 1, 2019
Later in October we had the author of Get A Meeting with Anyone, Stu Heinecke talking about getting access to normally unreachable people:
Dan Waldschmidt is a great example. He’s a well-known blogger on sales, but he is actually a turnaround specialist. He sends custom-made swords with handwritten notes to CEOs of companies that have just announced missed earnings estimates. #IndieAuthorChat @BenBellaBooks
— Stu Heinecke (@byStuHeinecke) October 15, 2019
Dan gets a 100% response rate from that campaign. He also spends $1,000 per effort, and when he lands an assignment, it’s typically worth $1,000,000 or more. #IndieAuthorChat @BenBellaBooks
— Stu Heinecke (@byStuHeinecke) October 15, 2019
That’s a great example of how Contact Marketing works. Highly targeted. Often a high cost per piece, but a relatively low marketing investment due to the low quantity. And in Dan’s case, the response and ROI figures are astronomical. #IndieAuthorChat @BenBellaBooks
— Stu Heinecke (@byStuHeinecke) October 15, 2019
Another interesting chat was when Clare Josa was talking about imposter syndrome:
A4: When we ‘push on through’ our fears, we trigger the part of our primal brain that protects us from the sabre-toothed tiger. That trashes creativity and keeps us stuck in stress and hypervigilance for perceived threats – like troll reviews. #ImposterSyndrome #IndieAuthorChat
— Clare Josa (@clare_josa) October 29, 2019
A4 part 2! It's the best way to make sure our books either ‘play it safe' or never get written. #IndieAuthorChat #ImposterSyndrome
— Clare Josa (@clare_josa) October 29, 2019
These are just a selection of the answers given by guests and there's always a large amount of other discussion within the community and a tendency for GIFs and pictures of animals and exotic locations to get posted. Here's a selection of the weird and wonderful community tweets with often no relation to the topic in hand…
She's good. This is her on an explore earlier. #indieAuthorChat pic.twitter.com/0NBwZn5oBj
— Hannah McCall (@BlackCatEdit) May 21, 2019
Ah, that's brilliant news! Well done, Rebecca. #IndieAuthorChat pic.twitter.com/95EgkaY4rX
— Hannah McCall (@BlackCatEdit) December 3, 2019
This is the view of Somerset from the Mendips. A short walk out from our back door. #indieauthorchat pic.twitter.com/KqUC0D3XHG
— Rebecca Wood | Editor & Author Coach (@EditingUK) November 12, 2019
Here’s some NOLA pics for y’all #IndieAuthorChat pic.twitter.com/xefxOb0lzh
— Tim Lewis @Stoneham Press #indieAuthorChat (@StonehamPress) September 10, 2019
Taking Part
The #indieAuthorChat runs every Tuesday night at 8pm UK time, 3pm Eastern US time, midday Pacific US time and 9pm European time.
If you have access to a PC then Twitter's website tweetdeck.com can be used to easily take part in a Twitter chat as seen in this video:
Reading Old Twitter Chat Tweets
To search for a particular week's chat, find the date of the chat (for example the 26th November for our discussion on Mental Health) and then paste the following into the Twitter search bar:
(#indieAuthorChat) until:– since: —
so for the 26th November this would be: (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-11-27 since:2019-11-26
If you then click on latest and scroll to the bottom you can read all the tweets in order. List of historic Twitter chat guests and topics:
Date Topic Guest Name Search String
23-Apr-19 Welcome Tim Lewis (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-04-24 since:2019-04-23
30-Apr-19 Fiction Editing Louise Harnby (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-05-01 since:2019-04-30
07-May-19 Going Wide PublishDrive (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-05-08 since:2019-05-07
14-May-19 Running a Literary Festival Debbie Young (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-05-15 since:2019-05-14
21-May-19 World Building Alison Morton (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-05-22 since:2019-05-21
28-May-19 Author Coaching Rebecca Wood (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-05-29 since:2019-05-28
04-Jun-19 Scaling Author Income Joanna Penn (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-06-05 since:2019-06-04
11-Jun-19 PR (Public Relations) Janet Murray (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-06-12 since:2019-06-11
18-Jun-19 Buyer Psychology Kenda Macdonald (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-06-19 since:2019-06-18
25-Jun-19 Author Websites Rachel McCollin (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-06-26 since:2019-06-25
02-Jul-19 Making a Living From Writing Horror Adrienne Lecter (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-07-03 since:2019-07-02
09-Jul-19 Are authors on “poverty” wages? Dan Holloway (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-07-10 since:2019-07-09
16-Jul-19 The Rise of the Authorpreneur Orna Ross (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-07-17 since:2019-07-16
23-Jul-19 Crowdfunding a Book Ben Roberts (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-07-24 since:2019-07-23
30-Jul-19 Writing about Difficult Subjects Jen Gilmour (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-07-31 since:2019-07-30
06-Aug-19 Proofreading Hannah McCall (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-08-07 since:2019-08-06
13-Aug-19 Turn Life Into Fiction Helena Halme (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-08-14 since:2019-08-13
20-Aug-19 Public Speaking Matt Parker (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-08-21 since:2019-08-20
27-Aug-19 Audiobooks with Findaway Voices Will Dages (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-08-28 since:2019-08-27
03-Sep-19 Ghostwriting Roz Morris (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-09-04 since:2019-09-03
10-Sep-19 Book Websites Nate Hoffelder (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-09-11 since:2019-09-10
17-Sep-19 Social Media Nicky Kriel (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-09-18 since:2019-09-17
24-Sep-19 Using Video to promote books Dan Willis (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-09-25 since:2019-09-24
01-Oct-19 How to extract your book's strongest points Joel Schwartzberg (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-10-02 since:2019-10-01
08-Oct-19 Moving From Publishing to Self-Publishing Helena Fairfax (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-10-09 since:2019-10-08
15-Oct-19 Get A Meeting with Anyone Stu Heinecke (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-10-16 since:2019-10-15
22-Oct-19 How to Successfully Launch a Book Kristina Adams (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-10-23 since:2019-10-22
29-Oct-19 Beating Imposter Syndrome Clare Josa (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-10-30 since:2019-10-29
05-Nov-19 NANOWRIMO N/A (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-11-06 since:2019-11-05
12-Nov-19 Using your books to promote your business Catherine Carrigan (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-11-13 since:2019-11-12
19-Nov-19 Writing Satire Charles Harris (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-11-20 since:2019-11-19
26-Nov-19 Mental Health for Authors N/A (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-11-27 since:2019-11-26
03-Dec-19 Podcasting David Bain (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-12-04 since:2019-12-03
10-Dec-19 Books2Read and Library Distribution Kevin Tumlinson (#indieAuthorChat) until:2019-12-11 since:2019-12-10
OVER TO YOU
Have you been part of our #IndieAuthorChat Twitter chats? Will you be joining us next year?
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