A Creative Writer
Explores
Social Media
by
Tia Azulay

Background
• Online MA in Creative Writing and New Media (DMU)
• BA and BA (Hons) English Literature and Poetry
• South Africa, Switzerland, Israel, Turkey, UK
• Salesperson, insurance claims assessor, public relations
assistant, abstract-writer, childminder, technical writer,
HTML programmer, Documentation Manager, Head of
QA (software testing) and Documentation
• Web consultant: websites, blogs, coaching
• Two common themes: interaction; communication skills

Incorporating Social Media
• Print media: essays, poetry, articles, short
stories, press releases, ad copy, brochure copy,
abstracts, software documentation
• Web: website copy, blog posts, short stories,
personal essays, e-poetry
• Surely it’s simple to migrate to social media:
interact; express myself in writing?
• Well, yes and no

New Media Writing
• Explosion of digital writing forms
• ‘The writer’s guide to making a digital living’
Therese Fingleton, Christy Dena, Jennifer Wilson
http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/writersguide
• New Writing Universe - animation
http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/writersguide/newwriting
universe/
• Video intro to Writer’s Guide on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=AU&hl=en-
GB&v=tRueQ1Q6NGA

Stories: Digital Narratives
• Inanimate Alice - Kate Pullinger http://www.inanimatealice.com/
– Everyone can do it: iStories tool http://www.istori.es/
• Games and cross-media stories
Carolyn Handler Miller and Christy Dena
• Virtual Worlds
– Film: Another Perfect World - Femke Wolting, Jorien Van Nes
• Social media becoming primary content channels
– Japanese cellphone novels:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/12/22/081222fa_fact_g
oodyear
– ‘Twitterature’
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jun/24/twitter-
literature-twitterature

Finding an Audience
• How do people find this newfangled content?
– Google (accidentally or on purpose)
– Referrals from social media users
• Static website is passé
– one brochure amongst millions
• Successful online writers have an online ‘pulse’
• People know you are alive, in touch and in tune

Promotion
• E.g. Internet and social media advocate: John Kremer,
author of ‘1001 Ways to Market Your Books’
http://www.bookmarket.com/
• Newsletter 4th May 2009:
– Twitter activity caused his site’s Alexa rank to increase by
80,000 visitors in 3 months.
– 10% of his visitors now come directly from Twitter, i.e. 10,000
new unique visitors each month.
• ‘Twitter Mania Manual’ DIY for authors:
http://www.BookMarket.com/TwitterManiaManual.doc

Learning
• Social media can be learning tools for writers
• Information and practice, e.g. Jeremy Griffin
– ‘How Twitter Can Make You a Better Writer’ by
http://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/how-twitter-can-make-you-a-
better-writer/ Twitter helps with Word Choice, Simplicity,
Audience, Adding Value, and Inspiration.
– ‘5 Social Media Tools for Great Writing’ covers StumbleUpon,
Twitter, Digg, WeBook, NaNoWriMo.
http://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/5-social-media-tools-writing/
• Writers’ Forums – peer reviewing and discussion
– E.g. http://www.writewords.org.uk/forum/

Difficulty of Transition
• I struggle to stay active in WordPress, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
• I am not alone: A 2009 report divides US technology users:
– “motivated by mobility” (39%); “stationary media majority” (61%)
– Only 8% are ‘Digital Collaborators’
• “lead the pack in … assets, actions, attitudes towards technology”
• comfortable with leading their social and working lives online
– Everyone else has some level of resistance
• Slideshow: ‘Friending Libraries: Why Libraries Could Become Nodes on
People's Social Networks’ dated 30 March 2009:
http://www.slideshare.net/PewInternet/friending-libraries-why-
libraries-can-become-nodes-in-peoples-social-networks-1222975
– Report: http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/5-The-Mobile-Difference--
Typology/15-Methodology.aspx?r=1

‘Contact’ Changes Mindset
• Two things that help this change:
– Communicating with an audience
– Online collaboration with other writers and artists
• Instant feedback maintains creative momentum
• My experience: TiaTalk http://tiatalk.wordpress.com
– A stranger comments (positively)
– Immediate effect: the world at my fingertips
– Motivation to revise and edit for audience

Network as Normal
• From pressing the flesh to pressing keys
• The same principles apply:
– Be there
– Be courteous
– Be responsive
– Be interested
– Be interesting
– Be generous

Creative Response
• Social Media offer ways to show and discuss
creative responses to creative stimuli
• E-Poem: ‘Watercolour’
– http://tiatalk.wordpress.com/watercolour
• Response: make a Wordle
– http://www.wordle.net/
• Have a go!