Using hashtags on Twitter is a great way to join an existing conversation and make your tweets more discoverable.
A hashtag is a word or phrase (no spaces) that starts with #. When you click on a hashtag in Twitter, it reveals all the tweets marked with that hashtag.
Here are some of the most useful ones for authors.
General Writing Hashtags
- #amwriting and #amediting—Highly used and shared, these hashtags are a must when you are in the writing or editing stage of creating a work. Use them to tell people what you are working on and to connect with other writers. They have even spawned a web community at www.amwriting.org.
- #writetip and #writingtip—These resourceful hashtags offer tips and tricks for writers.
- #writingprompt—This tag offers prompts to help break writer’s block.
- #bookgiveaway—If you choose to run a book giveaway, this hashtag is a great way to let people know about it.
Day of the Week Hashtags
- #teasertuesday—Use this to highlight a favorite line or paragraph (or a link to a blog post containing them) from your book or current manuscript. Most often used, logically, on Tuesdays.
- #ww or #writerwednesday—This tag helps authors/writers promote their work as well as give shout-outs to fellow writers on Wednesdays. (It’s worth noting that wine and weddings are also vying for use of the #ww hashtag.)
- #indiethursday—Book lovers tweet about what books they bought at independent booksellers that week.
- #fridayreads—This hashtag lets people know what book you are currently reading. It provides a great opportunity to support your fellow authors on Twitter by recommending books on Fridays.
- #ff—The original day of the week hashtag (which stands for “Friday follow”) is a way to call out other Twitter accounts worth following. Recommendations don’t have to be book-related, and can often lead to a Twitter conversation with the person you recommend.
- #samplesunday—A chance for writers to link to an excerpt from their book or work in progress.
Promotional Months
- #poetrymonth—This is the hashtag for National Poetry Month, which takes place in April.
- #shortreads—This hashtag generally relates to short stories and gets used most intensively in National Short Story Month, in May.
- #nanowrimo—This is the hashtag for National Novel Writing Month, which takes place every November.
Some Final Tips
- Don’t use more than three hashtags in a single tweet.
- Hashtags can appear anywhere in a tweet, but they are most frequently used at the end.
- Publishing Talk gives some good examples of tweets containing some of the hashtags we’ve highlighted.
- This article by author Orna Ross contains additional useful hashtags.
- Problems with hashtags? Look here for common issues and solutions.
By Sophie McNeill & Sarah Cahill, Digital Channel Development