Aussie Readers discussion

Are you a Twitter fan?

There's a weekly Twitter chat called #spbkchat that is aimed at providing people within the South Pacific and surrounding Asian countries a time zone friendly bookish conversation. Here is the website.

It started late last year and they've had some really interesting chats so far including, Kiwi YA, Bookish Podcasts, the #spbkchat Japan Booklist and also a #spbkchat Australia booklist among other great topics.

Their topic tonight (10th March) is "Genre Fiction - Fantasy"! Times to join in are:

5PM in Western Australia (Perth)
5PM in China
6PM in Japan
8PM in Eastern Australia (Sydney, Melbourne)
10PM in New Zealand.

If you miss a #spbkchat you can view the transcript here and catch up with what you missed!

Do you know of any other bookish Twitter events? I know lots of authors keep their fans up to date with Twitter. Feel free to post any thoughts, news or Twitter tags you think we'd like.

I joined twitter but really I don't get it's appeal. I mustn't have my twitter tuned in properly.

For non-Twitter users who are interested in dipping their toes in the water, here's a good site for explanations: http://tweeternet.com/

Gail «Cyborg» wrote: "I joined twitter but really I don't get it's appeal. I mustn't have my twitter tuned in properly."

You've got to hold your head the right way!;)

I'm the same, Gail. I joined twitter as part of the marketing plan for my book, but I don't get it. I have no interest in knowing what other writers are having for dinner and can't see why readers would be interested in my own habits.

Twitter isn't for everyone. Though it can be a very powerful social media tool.

I think with twitter you just need to try it; it's like blogging, it can become very addictive or it can become an afterthought.

As a reader (rather than writer) I find twitter has a moderate level of appeal. I don't follow religiously (when I am at work all day I don't have access and I don't read what I have missed when I get home) but I check in every day or two and follow mostly book bloggers, publishers of imprints I like, Australian bookstores etc. This is a good way to find out new release news, and general publishing happenings.

I do follow a few authors though I have to say not that many unless they tweet something other than self-promotion. I understand why they use the medium for self-promotion but if they use it for nothing else (no snappy one-liners, no links to news articles that have inspired/interested them) then I don't care. I am also pretty brutal about weeding out people who tweet gibberish. The occasional "I'm making a cheese sandwich" is OK but if that's all there is I unfollow. My personal interest in the medium is in getting news, links to interesting blog posts/news articles etc not in the personal/daily lives of a bunch of complete strangers (or even worse, people I know).

It's quite useful to follow hashtags for subjects you're interested in. For example #crimefiction, #mystery, #ebook and #aussieauthor are some of my regular searches/followed subjects.

Some of the people I follow that might be of general interest to the Aussie Readers group

@booku4ebooks (new independent eBook store in based in Oz)
@PnPBookseller (Jon Page is an inde bookseller in Sydney and I think the current head of the Australian independent Booksellers Assoc)
@GuardianBooks (yeah they're English but have good stuff and The Australian doesn't really tweet)
@PenguinDigital
@Booktopia (Australian online bookseller)
@HachetteAus (Australian publisher)
@WakefieldPress (Australian indie publisher)
@boomerangbooks (Australian online bookseller)
@PenguinBooksAus
@writingNSW (NSW writers centre)
@Meanjin (Australian literary magazine)
@PanMacmillanAus
@1stTuesBookClub
@randomhouseau
@DymocksBooks
@DymocksAdelaide
@AustLiterature

Thanks Bernadette that's really helpful! I'll check some of those out.:)

Sometimes I think of getting a twitter account but it holds no interest just like FB doesn't.

2011 Twitter Reading Group for Library Clients

Aim: a Reading Group for Library Clients using Twitter. It's run by the NSW Readers Advisory Working Group and features a different theme each month. Customers are encouraged to tweet, blog or post photographs about what they are reading.

There will be a twitter discussion 8.00pm (AEST) 29 March to discuss #specfic. See you online at the end of the month!

Check out the blog here.

I'll definitely have to check out the discussion. I'm just coming to terms with Twitter, as a writer you have to have an internet presence but I never know what to say - I'm not interesting in myself but maybe you'd like to read my book? Sounds a little pushy and conceited to me lol. Still, it's the new electronic age and I can't complain too much, as least with my laptop I've felt like I'm connected to the world a little while I've been in isolation :)

I use twitter primarily for telling people what I'm up to professionally, but I'm also using it to post things of interest to writers and readers--like publishing opportunities, upcoming awards, festival events, really good articles and the like. And sometimes things that are simply awesome, like Zombie Ants!. I don't really tweet everything that pops into my head--I'm trying to keep it relevant to what other people might find interesting.

If you want to check me out on Twitter, you can find me @mattlangwrites.

From the Wheeler Centre dailies:

Hot on the heels of Egypt’s revolution comes a book with a difference

Tweets from Tahrir collects tweets from some of the key Twitter figures in the events that led to the end of Hosni Mubarak’s reign. Its publication is significant for lots of reasons – as a record of citizen journalism, as a milestone in the history of user-generated content, and as an instance of the way new media is challenging traditional notions of intellectual property.

Check out this article: Tweets from Tahrir is a book of collected Twitter posts. The publication is unprecedented and raises important questions about rights and the nature of authorship.