Top Ten Tweets Of All Time #1


It's been 5 years since I first Tweeted. To mark the occasion, I'm counting down my ten most popular/successful tweets for no reason whatsoever really. 


THIS IS THE

1. 



The Secretary General lacked the skills to be either a secretary or a general. #amwriting THE DIAMOND RUSH

Most Tweeted. Most Favourited. Most Retweeted. One of my favourite quotes, from my first novel. This tweet capitalised on the popularity of #amwriting and #novelquotes

I never link it directly to the sales page for the novel. I just use this Tweet to raise awareness of the book. If people like it enough, finding and buying the book is easy.

Top Ten Tweets Of All Time #2

It's been 5 years since I first Tweeted. To mark the occasion, I'm counting down my ten most popular/successful tweets for no reason whatsoever really. 


2. 



Looking for a new author? Try these #thrillers. They’re as fresh as a freshman’s air freshener. http://goo.gl/BrFU5g 

Can't deny that this one is salesy, but I tried to inject a bit of wit, and give readers an idea of my kind of writing style, while selling my range of novels. And, although it's hard to track precisely how many sales this tweet was responsible for, there were always spikes in downloads when it ran.

Top Ten Tweets Of All Time #3


I had to mark my 5th Twitterversary somehow. So here's a countdown of my top ten tweets I've twittered on about since 2010.


3. 



Wow. 100,000*#downloads of my novels on #Kindle and#Smashwords
*Figure rounded up to nearest hundred thousand.


Self-deprecation was an early tactic of mine. It worked to attract new followers, but didn't boost sales. But this is one of my favourites purely because of the number of followers and retweets it was responsible for. The first line made me look a hugely popular novelist back when I wasn't. The pay off delivered the Earth-shattering truth familiar to many a self-published author (I suspect).

Top Ten Tweets Of All Time #4

It's been 5 years since I first Tweeted. To mark the occasion, I'm counting down my ten most popular/successful tweets for no reason whatsoever really. 


4. 



"Who, except dicks and desperadoes, goes clubbing on a Monday night?" 

Last Night At The Stairways. http://bit.ly/UHmWj0

Time was when not a Monday went by without me tweeting this. Pulling a quote from my 2nd novel, this tweet seemed to resonate with plenty of people, garnering a fair few likes and helping make my nightclub horror my best seller. This isn't overly salesy, it doesn't desperately scream 'buy my book', it just gives an insight into what the reader can expect.

Top Ten Tweets Of All Time #5

It's been 5 years since I first Tweeted. To mark the occasion, I'm counting down my ten most popular/successful tweets for no reason whatsoever really. 


5. 



The #apocalypse is pretty annoying. Here’s 80 other things that’ll give you reason to #whinge and whine. http://tinyurl.com/9foz9cu


A very time specific tweet, and one that made good use of a trending hashtag. This was posted just before the world was about to end (according to Nostradamus or some such other clairvoyant.) Anyway, I thought it would be a good time to promote my sole non-fiction book Gets Up Your Nose And Curls Your Toes (The Anthology of Annoyance). It worked well while that hashtag was trending...


Top Ten Tweets Of All Time #6


It's been 5 years since I first Tweeted. To mark the occasion, I'm counting down my ten most popular/successful tweets for no reason whatsoever really. 


6. 



Straight Outta Croydon. The beerfear #thriller Last Night At The Stairways is set in these two former #Croydon bars http://bit.ly/UXhpYc

This one consistently generated traffic to this very blog, where I posted some background details on the influences behind my second novel. No attempt to sell the book here, merely raise awareness of the work and provide some behind the scenes info that you just can't get from anywhere else, other than the horse's mouth.



Top Ten Tweets Of All Time #7


This month, I'm picking up my 5 years' service badge. 5 years a Twitterer. That's half a decade of musings, ramblings, and the odd sales pitch. To mark it, I'm singling out 10 Tweets I've posted that stand out from the rest for one reason or other (usually other).


7. 



No book called Last Night At The Stairways has sold more copies than this book called Last Night At The Stairways http://bit.ly/UHmWj0


This was a favourite of mine and a few other people in my early Tweeting days, a strong claim there, but no call to action, thereby avoiding the salesyness that so many dislike. Could work with any novel title really. But did just fine for 'Stairways' until I posted it too many times...


Top Ten Tweets Of All Time #8


Five years a Tweeter me, this month. To mark the occasion, I'm listing my 10 most favourite/successful messages of 140 characters or less. Purely a trumpet blowing exercise. More or less.

8. 



So what's the new novel A Dead Chick And Some Dirty Tricks all about then? Err... https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/504217 

I knew when I christened it that my 4th novel's title was not going to be Twitter friendly. To fit that wordy title and a link (even a shortened one) into a tweet was always going to be a challenge, so the message had to be direct. This one is and has been favourited quite a few times.

Top Ten Tweets Of All Time #9


To celebrate half a decade as a Tweeter, I'm counting down the top ten tweets I've tweeted, and analysing why I think they're my best.

9. 



They gave THE DIAMOND RUSH five stars. Will you? http://goo.gl/v7P9oY 


A little bit salesy this one, linking direct to my book on Barnes & Noble, which has gained a brace of five star reviews. The tweet is short and tweet, I mean sweet, and sets a challenge without ramming a 'buy this or else' message down people's throats. Most times I tweet it, The Diamond Rush gets another few customers. Who says tweets don't sell?

Top Ten Tweets Of All Time #10


I’ve been a Twitterer for 5 years. That’s what it says on my Twitter profile page and I’m not going to argue. To mark this Twitterversary, here’s a countdown of my Top Ten Tweets…


10.   



Al wanted a belly that would command respect from the drinkers back home - George in The William and William in The George. #amwriting


This is a quote from a short story of mine 'And Elvis Will Marry Us' about a drunken British lout in Las Vegas. It was a Tweet that got favourited a good few times, and elicited a few direct messages.
It's not selling anything (even though quite a few of my Tweets do) and #amwriting trends regularly, so I recommend it as a good place for writers to preview their work as opposed to blatantly try and sell their stuff.