TECHNOLOGY FOR AUTHORS & WRITERS

Twitter

Twitter(and related tools)

Twitter is a free social messaging utility for staying connected in real-time. What does that mean? Think of it like Instant Messaging on Crack. It's a way to connect to dozens, perhaps hundreds to hundreds of thousands of people all at once -- and directly into their account.

http://www.twitter.com |

Cost: FREE | Time Usage: Minimal to Obsessive

Words You Need to Know

tweets. --> Your 140 character twitter message;

tweet in verb form: the act of posting to twitter

retweet --> when you tweet something someone else has already tweeted . Always starts with RT.

@replies. --> this is how you reply to someone in a conversation.

hashtags. --> #hashtag, used to create conversation topics easily followed. Use the # with the words behind it to be included in any conversation.

DM. --> Direct message on twitter from one person to another.

Tips for Writers in Using Twitter

Sign up now. Give yourself time to get adjusted. Take a few weeks to add some people of interest to follow. (Get a list of agents and editors on Twitter here.)
The more people you follow, the more will follow you.
Be selective in those you choose to follow -- for this to work, you need to be smart.
Get involved in conversations, don't just promo yourself. Look for hashtags in people you follow, get involved in those conversations that interest you.
Personalize your Twitter page. It's a bio and you can get a custom background.
(Yes, I design them. See Services.)
Add a badge to your website and your blog that includes your twitter status updates. The beauty of the internet these days is the interconnectivity. Work smarter, not more.

Tools

There are a number of related tools to help you use Twitter to your advantage. I've tried to focus specifically on ones that will help you manage this or enhance it's usage in your marketing efforts.

To make it easier to tweet and reply:

Tweet Deck [recommended] - This allows you to manage your account, replies, direct messages as well as select to follow certain conversation threads. | Installs on Computer
Digsby - Works like an IM account, but allows you to see all your social networking tools at once, including Twitter (multiple accounts), facebook, myspace and more. | Installs on computer
TwitterMail - Send tweets from your email | Website sign up
Twitterfeed - Autopost your blog entries to twitter | Website sign up
TweetLater - Autoresponders to your tweets | Website sign up

To moniter and watch conversations and certain key terms

monitter.com - A website you can visit and put in #hashtags or topics to all tweets related. | Steps: web browser
twitterfall.com - A website to watch the upcoming trends and custom searches.
Tweet Deck [recommended] - I listed this in both places because it has multiple uses. In addition to managing your account, you can follow conversation threads. | Installs on Computer

Blog or Website Functionality/Additions

To add twitter capabilities to your blog and/or website:

Twitter Remote - Add a widget that shows which twitter users recently visited your site/blog. Usable on both blogs and websites. | Easy cut and paste.

Wordpress plugins

Tweet This - This adds a Twitter icon to every post and page, so your readers can talk about your blog entries on their Twitter accounts with ease.
WP Twitip ID - This adds an extra field to the comment form on your blog to enter a twitter username (for your visitors)
Twitter Badge - Display badges showing what you are posting on Twitter.
The Twitter Updater - Automatically sends a Twitter update to your Twitter account when you create, publish, or edit your WordPress post. You can customize the text for the updates, and turn the auto update on/off for the posts
TwitThis is an easy way for people to send Twitter messages about your blog post or website. When visitors to your website click on the TwitThis button or link, it takes the URL of the webpage and creates a shorter URL using TinyURL. Then visitors can send this shortened URL and a description of the web page to all of their friends on Twitter.
Twitter Tools - This wordpress plugin creates an integration between your WordPress blog and your Twitter account. Pull your tweets into your blog and create new tweets on blog posts and from within WordPress.
Twitter Wordpress Sidebar Widget - Customise the number of updates shown in your sidebar, individual links to each status update on Twitter, style your Twitterings using CSS, choose whether to display your Twitter name before each post and customise text between the post text and the relative time.
Twitter Feed - Posts your blog updates to your twitter account. Login to twitterfeed using your OpenID, provide the URL for your blog RSS feed, and how often to post to Twitter.
Twitt-Twoo - Allows you to update your Twitter status from your blog’s sidebar.
Tweet Blender - Allows for multiple tweeters. Great for group blogs.

Just plain entertaining or interesting

SecretTweet - As a writer, I'm fascinated by this. It's like true confessions in 140 characters or less. Go to this website to post your secret, anon comments. Then go twitter.com/secrettweet to sign up to receive the tweets.
PollDaddy Twitter Polls - Create a poll and send it out easily.

Helpful Links

How @replies and replies work on Twitter
How To Search Twitter
How to Get Followers
Twitter How To
How to Find Your Twitter RSS Feed

THE LIST ON TWITTER

Literary Agents

Publishing Industry

Book Publishers

Why am I seeing this page?

404 means the file is not found. If you have already uploaded the file then the name may be misspelled or it is in a different folder.

Other Possible Causes

You may get a 404 error for images because you have Hot Link Protection turned on and the domain is not on the list of authorized domains.

If you go to your temporary url (http://ip/~username/) and get this error, there maybe a problem with the rule set stored in an .htaccess file. You can try renaming that file to .htaccess-backup and refreshing the site to see if that resolves the issue.

It is also possible that you have inadvertently deleted your document root or the your account may need to be recreated. Either way, please contact your web host immediately.

Are you using WordPress? See the Section on 404 errors after clicking a link in WordPress.

How to find the correct spelling and folder

Missing or Broken Files

When you get a 404 error be sure to check the URL that you are attempting to use in your browser.This tells the server what resource it should attempt to request.

http://example.com/example/Example/help.html

In this example the file must be in public_html/example/Example/

Notice that the CaSe is important in this example. On platforms that enforce case-sensitivity example and Example are not the same locations.

For addon domains, the file must be in public_html/addondomain.com/example/Example/ and the names are case-sensitive.

Broken Image

When you have a missing image on your site you may see a box on your page with with a red X where the image is missing. Right click on the X and choose Properties. The properties will tell you the path and file name that cannot be found.

This varies by browser, if you do not see a box on your page with a red X try right clicking on the page, then select View Page Info, and goto the Media Tab.

http://example.com/cgi-sys/images/banner.PNG

In this example the image file must be in public_html/cgi-sys/images/

Notice that the CaSe is important in this example. On platforms that enforce case-sensitivity PNG and png are not the same locations.

404 Errors After Clicking WordPress Links

When working with WordPress, 404 Page Not Found errors can often occur when a new theme has been activated or when the rewrite rules in the .htaccess file have been altered.

When you encounter a 404 error in WordPress, you have two options for correcting it.

Option 1: Correct the Permalinks

Log in to WordPress.
From the left-hand navigation menu in WordPress, click Settings > Permalinks (Note the current setting. If you are using a custom structure, copy or save the custom structure somewhere.)
Select Default.
Click Save Settings.
Change the settings back to the previous configuration (before you selected Default). Put the custom structure back if you had one.
Click Save Settings.

This will reset the permalinks and fix the issue in many cases. If this doesn't work, you may need to edit your .htaccess file directly.

Option 2: Modify the .htaccess File

Add the following snippet of code to the top of your .htaccess file:

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# End WordPress

If your blog is showing the wrong domain name in links, redirecting to another site, or is missing images and style, these are all usually related to the same problem: you have the wrong domain name configured in your WordPress blog.

How to modify your .htaccess file

The .htaccess file contains directives (instructions) that tell the server how to behave in certain scenarios and directly affect how your website functions.

Redirects and rewriting URLs are two very common directives found in a .htaccess file, and many scripts such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla and Magento add directives to the .htaccess so those scripts can function.

It is possible that you may need to edit the .htaccess file at some point, for various reasons.This section covers how to edit the file in cPanel, but not what may need to be changed.(You may need to consult other articles and resources for that information.)

There are Many Ways to Edit a .htaccess File

Edit the file on your computer and upload it to the server via FTP
Use an FTP program's Edit Mode
Use SSH and a text editor
Use the File Manager in cPanel

The easiest way to edit a .htaccess file for most people is through the File Manager in cPanel.

How to Edit .htaccess files in cPanel's File Manager

Before you do anything, it is suggested that you backup your website so that you can revert back to a previous version if something goes wrong.

Open the File Manager

Log into cPanel.
In the Files section, click on the File Manager icon.
Check the box for Document Root for and select the domain name you wish to access from the drop-down menu.
Make sure Show Hidden Files (dotfiles)" is checked.
Click Go. The File Manager will open in a new tab or window.
Look for the .htaccess file in the list of files. You may need to scroll to find it.

To Edit the .htaccess File

Right click on the .htaccess file and click Code Edit from the menu. Alternatively, you can click on the icon for the .htaccess file and then click on the Code Editor icon at the top of the page.
A dialogue box may appear asking you about encoding. Just click Edit to continue. The editor will open in a new window.
Edit the file as needed.
Click Save Changes in the upper right hand corner when done. The changes will be saved.
Test your website to make sure your changes were successfully saved. If not, correct the error or revert back to the previous version until your site works again.
Once complete, you can click Close to close the File Manager window.

NEED A LIST OF AGENTS & EDITORS TO FOLLOW? FIND IT HERE.

Get the Tweet Blender widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! Not seeing a widget? (More info)

Hints & Tricks

Add your twitter name to your business card along with your email and website URL.

It's a free, easy way to bring people to you.

Add your Twitter "Follow Me' Message everywhere on your websites, blogs, email signature line, everywhere. How?

Your twitter URL is:

http://www.twitter.com/yourusernamehere