Twitter Talk
by Your Review Acquisition Coordinator
Lois W. Stern
The Twitter accounts of several prominent personalists including Elon Musk, Joe Biden, and Kim Kardashian, had been hacked in a Bitcoin scam setting off a wave of alarm about this platform’s security. The hackers obtained control of employee credentials and hijacked accounts of some influential people who appeared to be tweeting out for those account followers to send them Bitcoins. This hack led to a lot of concerns about the security of the social media platforms. Although #FreePress is an inalienable right in our democracy, #FreePress does not include freedom to spread false information or damage someone else through libel or incitement.
You might have read about the accounts of other prominent personalities twitter has closed down for similar reasons, but since I am not an Elon Musk or other high profile personality, I’m not concerned about having my Twitter account hacked. But since this issue recently came up again when I suggested that authors whose books are listed as part of my TheNewBookReview free book review query service hop onto Twitter, I wanted to address it.
Note that I used the word suggested. It is hardly a requirement that you join Twitter to have your book listed at http://bit.ly/FreeBookstoReadandReview It’s just that having a presence on Twitter is simply an effective way for us to help you get many more eyeballs focused on your book. So I will repeat those suggestions below, but first let’s address the security issue.
PART 1:
How to protect your Twitter account from hackers
Although I have not done either of the following to safeguard my Twitter account, if you have concerns about your security, here are two things you can do to further protect your account:
1. Turn on two-factor authentication. This feature adds a secondary layer for a hacker trying to crack into your account. For a hacker who does not have internal access, this is a very difficult layer to crack. Keep scrolling for my easy instructions on how to add this layer. *
2. Unfollow and Block: If you find that a user is stalking you or troubling you on your platform, you can either unfollow them to stop seeing their tweets or block them, to make them vanish from your Twitter feed and messages altogether. *
*(See footnote below for details on how to engage those features.)
PART 2:
Here are the suggestions I already sent out to the authors whose books are listed at: http://bit.ly/FreeBookstoReadandReview.
If you’re not yet on Twitter, please try to establish your page now. Here is a super video I recommend - clear and very easy to follow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwKwOyb62xs
My advice: Go slowly, you don’t have to learn Twitter all at once.
Just follow the steps on this YouTube guide to set up your profile now, and learn more about other ways to use Twitter as time goes on.
Whether you are a newbie or seasoned Twitter users, here is what I am suggesting you do:
Once you have a Twitter account, go to the upper right corner of the screen and type in @tales2inspire2 to follow me and @FrugalbookPromo to follow Carolyn (the founder and owner of this blog).
Here’s why: Carolyn and I will begin tweeting about each genre of books listed at http://bit.ly/FreeBookstoReadandReview. Once you are following us, watch for our tweets relevant to your genre, because that’s your chance to jump in, retweet our tweets, and add a few tempting words to attract readers to your book. To do that you use the little icon underneath every tweet that looks like a comic dialogue bubble as pictured below.
Now suppose your book is listed in the MYSTERY genre. When you see Carolyn or me tweet about the this genre, grab that opportunity to expand on that tweet by clicking on it and adding a comment as
“Nothing like a good mystery thriller! Check out (your mystery book title here). . . about (. . .) by clicking on the MYSTERY icon at http://bit.ly/FreeBookstoReadandReview.”
Don’t forget to click on the + sign next to the blue TWEET to add a picture of your book cover, because Twitter viewers love images.
We are hoping to make this a game changer for you and your book(s)!
This is another free service from #TheNewBookReview.
To jump on the bandwagon and have your book listed as well, follow the steps listed at:
https://thenewbookreview.blogspot.com/p/ethical-free-reviews.html
________________________________________
Footnotes:
* How to enable two factor authentication on twitter?
a) Scan the left column of icons to select
b) Click on the gear icon
c) Select Security and Account Access to make your selections.
More About #TheNewBookReview Blog The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Authors, readers, publishers, and reviewers may republish their favorite reviews of books they want to share with others. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read and love. Please see submission guidelines in a tab at the top of this blog's home page or go directly to the form at https://www.bit.ly/FinishedReviewSubmissions. Authors and publishers who do not yet have reviews or want more may use Lois W. Stern's "Authors Helping Authors" service for requesting reviews. Find her guidelines in a tab at the top of the home page, too. And know that Carolyn Wilhelm, our IT expert, award-winning author, and veteran educator, makes an award image especially for those who volunteer to write reviews from Lois's review-request list and post them in the spirit of her "Authors Helping Authors" project. Reviews, interviews, and articles on this blog are indexed by genre, reviewers' names, and review sites so #TheNewBookReview may be used as a resource for most anyone in the publishing industry. As an example, writers will find this blog's search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. #TheFrugalbookPromoter, #CarolynHowardJohnson, #TheNewBookReview, #TheFrugalEditor, #SharingwithWriters, #reading #BookReviews #GreatBkReviews #BookMarketing
