To Follow or not to Follow on Twitter

90% of my twitter feed is from writers, agents, publishers, editors and other people in the writing business. (10% is NFL or Central Missouri football-related.)

So, yeah, I can't see any "etiquette" issues with this.

I don't think etiquette has anything to do with honestly. Most people just do it because its helpful to them, gives them a sense (or at least the illusion of one) of an agent's tastes, methods and schedule. I honestly don't think agents care on way or another.

Some agents tweet how up-to-date they are with their queries, so if you are querying those particular people, it can be useful. I follow one agent, even though I already have an agent, just because she tweets interesting information about the publishing world.

I follow no one yet, but I do check in occasionally. It's great when agents and editors tweet useful information. But how much shoe/clothing/foodie /etc outside information can a person handle before the reader suffers information overload? At some point, it feels more like stalking or the frenzied social obsessions of high school girls waiting for A Boy to call.

In my case, I don't have Twitter access during my normal day job hours, so I don't have the compulsion to follow everything all the time.

I don't mind following them, usually to get information about their tastes and what their query reading stats are. I have connected with a few who follow me back, but it's mostly because we share interests or a sense of humour. Many don't represent what I write, but that's okay with me.

I followed agents I was querying who had active, interesting Twitters. The most awesome moment was when my future agent followed me back. I had a feeling good things were going to happen then.

Only do it if you won't drive yourself crazy over-analyzing everything they tweet.

lweinberg18 said:

Oh okay, but that made me laugh!

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Actually, almost all of my internet activity is tied up with Football, (either K.C. Chiefs or the University of Central Missouri - my alma mater), Kendo, or writing.

That and checking my work/college e-mail every so often to ensure I don't miss something.

Family and friends? That's what the phone's for.

I follow quite a few, and 2 who have my full MS have followed me back. In a way it's good--because they're following me I've self-censored a lot of my anxious tweeting.

I follow quite a few agents; my own doesn't have a Twitter but generally my entire feed is publishing professionals. It's fun to gossip and see what other people are thinking.

I follow agents I think I may be interested in querying someday. I follow writers I like, my husband because I have to, and a bunch of other people because I like what they tweet.

I don't autofollow and every so often, I go in and cull the herd (kind of like my FB friends list.) I can go days without tweeting, and then make up for it in a few short hours. Oh, and I hate the new Tweetdeck with a passion, but I think I'm the only one who does.

One time I followed up with what an agent was requesting on a Twitter site, but it felt like stalking. So I never did it again.

Following agents - or anyone - is fine, and I know lots of writers do it. I've had some great advice from agents on Twitter too, using hashtag '#askagent' (several agents will sporadically advertise that they're answering any and all questions for the next half an hour or so) or #pubtip. I've been followed back by a couple and I'm R+R'ing for an agent I only originally submitted to because I found her on Twitter and checked out her site.

And as said, many update their query stats, so it stops a lot of compulsive e-mail checking!

BUT... don't spam agents with loads of 'witty' comments and replies and retweets. I suggest keeping pretty much silent and simply following their feed until you have a specific reason to communicate.

It's funny this should come up because I've been wondering the same. I've followed quite a few agents for a long time, so I didn't think much of it when it was time to query. But then I had these dilemmas about agents I hadn't followed yet but *had* queried. I did an R & R for an agent but didn't follow before querying, and now I'm holding off. The timing doesn't seem right.

Just chalk it up to another obsession of the querying writer.

Wow, do I know how to give a helpful non-answer or what?

I would find it crazy-making, personally.

I don't see anything wrong with following an agent your querying. They have thousands of followers anyway and wont even know its "you" following them.

Jersey Chick said:

Oh, and I hate the new Tweetdeck with a passion, but I think I'm the only one who does.

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I have nothing to add to this thread, other than: I HATE it, too! Drives me crazy!

*falls back into shadows*

popmuze said:

One time I followed up with what an agent was requesting on a Twitter site, but it felt like stalking. So I never did it again.

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What do you mean by that? The types of stuff they tend to request, or you specific request/submission?

If it's the latter, I'd never do that. Even with the agent who approached me about my writing via Twitter DM. I switched to email for the most part.

I have a feeling I might have misunderstood what you meant, though.

It was something specific. I might have emailed the agent with: "I just saw on Twitter you were looking for such and such...and here it is." Not sure if it resulted in a read.

Oh, if it's incorporating something like that into the query letter, as a touch of personalisation, that's usually fine to include, but hard to phrase in a non-stalkery way, I agree .

I follow agents that represent what I'm interested in and what I write. I agree with what a lot of people have said already--don't over analyze what the agents are saying. I just think it's a good idea to get a feel for what the agents like and to get more information about what's going on in the marketplace.

I'm following quite a few agents on Twitter, even the ones that already rejected me. Mainly for updates on the publishing world or because they could be useful for future projects, as to not forget their names.

But the question is, do you respond to their tweets in your correspondence to them? To me that's going over the line.