Why I Tweet

Where to Start

If you're Twitter savvy this blog post is not for you. There are still many people out there who just don't get the whole Twitter thing. The first thing they need to do is create a Twitter account. 

There are lots of reasons people use Twitter. I'm not a celebrity junkie so I don't follow any stars, but that could be a reason you might want to Tweet. Do you like to hear the news as soon as it happens?  Do you have a book or product you want to promote? Do you want to help your friends promote a product or book? Once you follow someone you can just click retweet and their tweet will retweet to your followers. 

Tweets

The best part of a Tweet is that it is short and sweet. Each Tweet is limited to 140 characters including punctuation and spaces. Twitter will automatically shorten any link you include. As you Tweet, the number of characters you have left appears next to the Tweet button. Did you bake a cake, review a book, or have a cover reveal? Tweet the info and include a link if you want to. No need to try and condense the entire recipe into 140 characters just add the link.:) You can pre-schedule Tweets just like you do a blog. You can also pay Tweeting companies to put your Tweets out there. I've never done this so I can't say if it works or not. Many of my writing groups are very supportive and we retweet often. Here's one of my Tweets from this morning.

Zelda Benjamin @benjaminzelda · 8h

#Fashion is not necessarily about labels. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H0L1HAO  #kindle #romance

Followers

In the search box put in a name or email of someone you're interested in following. Start with mine if you'd like. My Twitter name is benjaminzelda. If you want to mention me in a tweet you would type @benjaminzelda. People will follow you, but you don't have to follow them back.

Hashtags

Words preceded by a # sign are hashtags. They are used to categorize keywords and topics. Chocolate Couture is a story that has a fashion component. I want people with a kindle, romance readers, and anyone interested in fashion to check out my book.  Step out of your comfort level and use different hashtags.

Analytical Dashboard

This is something new. Twitter is allowing you to see your Twitter activity. Don't panic if you're just getting acquainted with Twitter. You don't have to do this.  It's not on your Twitter page. You have to go to analytics.twitter.com to find the info.

What I like about this feature is that I can check to see if certain hashtags are engaged more than others. I can correlate the number of impressions and engagements with the sales number of my Montlake books on my Author Central page. Do weekends get more impressions and engagements than weekdays? Does the time of day that I Tweet make a difference?

Read Tweets to see what engages you. Which hashtags get your attention? I've found that starting my Tweet with a quote related to the subject of the book I'm promoting gets more engagement than just Tweeting the link.

Happy Tweeting.

Peace, Love, and Chocolate.

Zelda

What if You Gave a Party and No One Came

                                                                                                        Zelda Benjamin

Explain the location
Online parties such as fb parties and events are a great way to bring together people with similar interests. It's important to explain that it's a come as you are party and no one has to leave the comfort of their home or their computer screen. So many of my co-workers  apologized the next day for not being able to attend because they were unsure of the location. It's a hard concept for some people to grasp. However, once you get the concept you'll become a real party girl.

Set a time limit
My party ran from 7PM to 10PM EST. The time is set when you create your event. Don't forget the different time zones.




Make it fun
My first party was to launch, Chocolate Couture. To engage my guests I asked them to bring their favorite chocolate recipe. I started the event with a recipe mentioned in the story. It didn't take long for everyone to add a link or picture of their signature or heirloom  chocolate recipe.

Party favors
Everyone loves a prize. Announce at the start of your party what you're going to give away and how often. Make sure the details are clear- US only or International. Remember people will come from all over. At my last event, I had a guest from the Netherlands. 
For the first hour, I gave away a DD gift card so a lucky winner could enjoy their favorite beverage with one of the recipes. The second hour, I offered a recipe box with all the recipes mentioned in my Love by Chocolate series. I announced the winners at the end of each hour. 



Invite people you know will come
My critique partners as usual came through for me. They not only came with chocolate recipes, they came bearing gifts. Each of them offered a copy of their books to randomly selected guest who posted on the event.

Thanks for stopping by. Wishing you peace, love and chocolate.
Zelda

Books, Movies, and Rock&Roll - It's All About Love

The one thing on this planet that everyone wants, is to be loved. Books have been written, movies filmed, and songs sung.

Hard as I try, it's impossible to name just one book that stands out. Although, I read all genres, romances with  Happily Ever Afters are my favorite. My love for HEA started at a very young age with the Little Golden Book copy of Cinderella. The story had everything a romance should have. There were evil people determined to keep the lovers apart and friends and magical mentors to balance out the villains. Most important was the HEA. There were many versions, but this is the one still on my bookshelf.

There are two movies which I can easily say are my favorite love stories. Unlike my passion for HEA in books, movies can have a bittersweet ending. Casablanca and The Way We Were are two movies I can watch over and over. In the Way We Were, there are so many touching scenes, but nothing is as heart wrenching as the final scene. As Katie backs away from Hubbell at the Plaza Hotel, I can't control  the tears. As I write this, I can hear the music playing in my head and feel the pain in my chest.

Music has a completely different effect. I'll listen to songs about past loves, tormented love, and lighthearted love songs. My favorites by far are all those simple love songs that stick in my head after I've heard them. No artist does that better than Paul McCartney. After the Beatles broke up, John Lennon claimed Paul only wrote Silly Love Songs for the Beatles. Paul responded by writing the #1 hit for Wings. It stayed on the charts as #1 for weeks. 

Are you humming the tune? I am. "You'd think that people would have had enough of silly love songs. But I look around me and I see..."


Put these all together and that's a lot of love. 
But nothing says love better than the universal symbol - A heart shaped box of chocolate

Pair your Valentine's favorite book or song with a decadent box of candy and sit down together to enjoy your favorite romantic movie.

Wishing you and your Valentine - Love, Chocolate, and many Happily Ever Afters.

Zelda Benjamin

visit my website  www.zeldabenjamin.com