Oh yeah?

-
Yeah, gonna smack you down, bitch. (img src)

During one of the sessions in last year's Manila International Literary Festival, I remember someone saying that it makes sense for an author like Neil Gaiman to be on Twitter, but not really for literary authors. And a lot of the audience were nodding their heads.

Aside from my usual annoyance at the delineation once more of "literary" and "genre" authors, I also thought, "These people probably aren't on Twitter much, or else they'd know a 'literary' author such as Margaret Atwood is very active on Twitter, and her fans are loving her for it."

And just to prove some more how wrong that statement about literary authors on Twitter was, I bring you Salman Rushdie's very involved engagement with Tweeps in the #literarysmackdowns hashtag. I am seriously impressed that Rushdie is taking all this time and effort to interact with people he does not know from Adam. Whether it's him or a staff member, I still appreciate the effort.

Which brings me to my next point: if you're an author, then by golly, use Twitter! It's not the Holy Grail, fine. But it does win you the loyalty of your fans, not to mention potentially brings you more fans or readers.

And yes, I'm talking especially to you, Filipino writers. Well, at least the ones who haven't caught up yet to the online marketing phenomenon. Go to Twitter, look around, follow people, lurk for a while (if you want), say some interesting stuff, react, retweet even, and let people get to know you. It's the personal touch that makes all the difference. Even highbrow Mr. Rushdie up there gets it.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I thought he looks like Salman Rushdie. And he is Salman Rushdie. LOL.

I have no qualms about writers tweeting, but I think it's best if they maintain a blog. They have a wider audience that way, reaching out to non-Twitter folks like me. Example: Jessica Zafra.

But tweeting is too powerful to ignore. Oh well.
December 5, 2011 at 1:04 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Soledad's Sister by Jose Dalisay, Jr.

-
Image
Soledad's Sister  by Jose "Butch" Dalisay is the first Philippine novel to be shortlisted for the distinguished Man Asian Literary Prize  in 2007. I remember reading about the Man Asian at that time and finding out about Dalisay's shortlisted novel. And I recall thinking, "Well, that sounds about right." After all, Butch Dalisay is one of the country's premier writers.This much is evident when you read Soledad's Sister . Way back in college, I was fortunate enough to have Butch Dalisay as one of my professors. The class was an undergrad course on Survey of American Literature, and I remember every single story and poem we took up to this day. I also remember him reading to us one of his essays during class. He had his Mac open on his desk and was reading his essay from the screen. Back then, I was thinking, "This should be boring. But it isn't." And I realized it wasn't boring because I was entranced by his words. The summary...
Read more

Filipino authors with internationally-published books

-
Image
Some of the books from Filipino authors published by intl. publishers. Clockwise from top left: Age of Blight by Kristine Ong Muslim; The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco; The Courageous Princess Vol. 1 by Rod Espinosa; Learning To Fall by Mina Esguerra, Smaller And Smaller Circles by F.H. Batacan; The Last Time I'll Write About You by Dawn Lanuza. It seems an exciting time for Filipino authors. A Filipina YA author was at the Brooklyn Book Festival and other festivals, some Filipino authors just wrapped up panels during the Fil-Am International Book Festival in San Francisco , a few other Fil-Am authors are coming out with new books from a major publisher in the next few months ( literary fiction , young adult , and middle grade ), and another classic author was recently published by Penguin Classics. Not to mention that a few Filipino authors have been pitching at #dvpit and have already found agents . And I'm pretty sure I'm barely scratching the surface her...
Read more

The El Bimbo Variations by Adam David

-
Image
When reading a poetry collection, one of the last things you expect to do is laugh out loud. But, if you were to read Adam David's new edition of The El Bimbo Variations , that is exactly what you'd be doing. My advice: try not to read it in public, unless you're okay with people looking at you weird because your shoulders are suddenly shaking in laughter or you have a snap-happy grin on your face. I first read The El Bimbo Variations back when it was still in pdf format. Four years ago, the poet Adam David gave a talk to one of our high school junior classes during a yearly activity where we expose students to real-life writers. In preparation, he sent us  a copy of his El Bimbo Variations , and told me that we could distribute it to the students so that they'd know his work. We photocopied them for the classes assigned to Adam and, on the day of the talk, I went in and listened to his session where he got riled up about big publishers and their limited repertoire...
Read more