#TuesdayBookBlog
Most Twittering bloggers know about the benefits of ‘blog share’ days; it all started with Rachel Thompson and her fabulously successful #MondayBlogs. Now, there is also #wwwblogs on Wednesday (Wednesday women writers), #SundayBlogShare, #ArchiveDay on Saturday, and many more.
Since Rachel started #MondayBlogs, she’s been battling against people using it for book promotion; her view is that you have six other days of the week to promote your books, but #MondayBlogs is about the writing itself ~ in other words, blog posts about anything other than your book! She now states that there should be no book promotion of any sort on #MondayBlogs, not even third party reviews, which is understandable as there are so many ways in which her guidelines can be abused.
Because there are so many avid readers, writers and book bloggers who understand the benefit of blog share days, Rosie Amber’s Book Review Team is introducing a new hashtag on Tuesdays, for book posts only: #TuesdayBookBlog. The first day this will be used is Tuesday, November 3rd.
As anyone who starts a hashtag knows, the main difficulty involved is dealing with ‘hashtag abuse’ ~ tweeters who spot a popular hashtag and add it to any tweet, whether relevant or not. We will do our best to limit this; please feel free to point someone in the right direction if you see this happening.
So what are the guidelines for #TuesdayBookBlog?
DO post:
Blog posts only!
Book reviews ~ either for your own books, or other people’s, or book reviews you’ve written on your blog.
Author Interviews ~ yours or others’.
Cover reveals ~ yours or others’.
Upcoming/new releases ~ yours or others.
Articles or guest posts about books/writers ~ you/yours or others’.
DO NOT post:
Anything that isn’t a blog post
Blog posts that aren’t about books/writers.
Porn.
Blatant promotion of an existing publication that isn’t a proper article – in other words, we don’t want to see a blog post that consists of nothing but the cover of your book, Amazon blurb and buy links. This was one of the ways in which #MondayBlogs was abused, after people were told they couldn’t use the hashtag for tweets with Amazon links.
To get the most out of #TuesdayBookBlog:
Retweet others on the hashtag and spread the word. Hashtags work best when you do your bit, too.
The power of Twitter is in the retweet, more than the tweet. Hashtag retweets are never guaranteed, but do remember that the more you do, the more you are likely to get back.
We hope you will achieve good results from #TuesdayBookBlog, and look forward to seeing you there!
The Write Stuff 
I confess to being totally ignorant about the proper use of hashtags, and I’ve been stumbling in the dark about them for some time. I still don’t really get it. But I’ll try to do my best to use this one, and use it properly. Please let me know if I mess up! (Be gentle, though. I’m old…and fragile. Hahahahahaha.)
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Here is a quick piece of info about why you should use Hashtags in your Tweets
•Using more than 2 hashtags drops engagement by 17%
•Tweets with 1-2 hashtags have 21% more engagement
•Users are 55% more likely to retweet when there is at least 1 hashtag included
•25% of tweets without hashtags do get retweeted
•But 40% of tweets with hashtags get retweeted
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Very interesting statistics, Rosie, but I’m still wondering if this refers to “official” hashtags, with RULES and such, or generic ones like #OctoberWritingPrompt, or #sharingresources? Or are you never supposed to use ones that aren’t already out there? It’s all a mystery to me.
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There are both types out there, I think as long as you apply them because they add to your tweet that’s fine. It’s spammers who spot a popular hastag and attach it to any old tweet just to get it shared that are a pain.
The more popular hashtags get more people involved with them and should get more shares. If you want one for a particular series of posts etc I always search twitter first and see if it already exists.
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Okay, that makes sense. So I can use the subject of my posts or tweets with a hashtag that applies to it, but I should check first on Twitter to see if it’s been used. I have to tell you, I do not want to give up #SwampGhosts, though I know there’s a group of hunters who use the same one. So that’s a quandary. But I can look for arbitrary ones to be sure.
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I think if you don’t move in the same circles with a hashtag like #SwampGhosts as the other people using it, then no one should mind? Sometimes the odd cross over brings new followers. Just try things and feel your way.
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Good advice, Rosie. Thank you for taking the time to clarify a few things for me. I feel like I’ve learned more about hashtags in the last hour than I have the whole time I’ve been on Twitter. And no, the hunters do not generally cross paths with me, so it should be okay. I appreciate ALL your tips!!
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Thanks for sharing this Rosie. I do understand hashtag etiquette. My problem is there are just so many to remember, and I don’t. I use MondayBlogs to share good stuff and I like what your hashtag represents, sharing of blog which pertain to writers/author interviews and book reviews. Now I have to remember this for next Tuesday so I can contribute. 🙂
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I’m sure you’ll start seeing it being used and it will nudge you.
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I hope to use it next Tuesday 🙂
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