What Would Jane Austen Tweet?

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a romance author in possession of a book or manuscript for sale must be in want of Twitter followers. 

Social media has become integral to the success of any small business marketing plan. Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+ and Tumblr attract attention through graphics, pictures and illustrations, but Twitter is the one social media platform where your writer's voice can and really should shine. Think of each Tweet as a writing challenge. You only get 140 characters, so you must make each one count.

Your Tweets can help create and shape the personality of you as an author. Just as you have a picture of Jane Austen in your mind's eye, use your Tweets to create a public image of you in your writer's bonnet or pith helmet if that's more apropos. Think about your public image before you Tweet.

Your Tweets, like your curtsey to Mr. Collins at the Netherfield Ball, should always be light, bright, and polite. It's a saying I learned at a social media seminar by Josh Ochs that has stuck with me as my mantra.

@Emma: It was a delightful Tweet; perfect, in being much too short.

Your Tweets should be precise, witty and pithy. Try not to use all 140 characters. Leave room for your followers to RT and add comments.

A Twitter feed is a public "micro-blog," not a private text machine. Using #toomanymakebelievehashtags and text abbreviations make your Tweets about as entertaining as Mary Bennet's singing at the piano.

Unless you're Mrs. Elton, your Tweets (as an author) should be free of strong opinions, controversial topics, and politics. And remember the golden rule of social media: There will always be haters. You can choose to engage with them. Or not.

You take delight in vexing me,@LizzysDad. You have no compassion on my poor nerves. 
You mistake me, @MrsBennet. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. 

Mr. and Mrs. Bennet know to seek out accomplices on social media. Note that they don't start Tweet shout-outs to each other with their Twitter handles. Their Tweets will be seen by all their followers and not just each other. @Kristan_Higgins and @JillShalvis do this with panache. 

Use HootSuite or TweetDeck to schedule your Tweets. You can send the same Tweet up to three times a day and not worry about becoming as repetitive as Miss Bates.

Be aware of current events. Un-schedule Tweets that contain calls to buy your book or sign up for your newsletter when a tragedy or disaster strikes.

There are no tricks to gaining new followers. Engagement is key. If you schedule tweets, you still need to make time to be on Twitter live and in person; Follow, Reply and RT the posts of your author-friends. 

Engage your followers. Ask questions about their favorite books, movies and television shows and Reply. Check out @EntangledPub for great examples of how it's done.

Fasten Your Seatbelts...It's Going To Be A Bumpy Night

If asked to come up with a one-word summation of 2008, I would have to say, "Bumpy." 2008 was full of surprises, unfortunately so many of them were disappointments. I am, however, most grateful to have my health and be gainfully employed going into the new year. In order to create a new world order for the year of 2009 that will dawn on the morrow, I have taken to repeating a one-word mantra for the New Year.

Bliss.

It is my hope for the new year.

Bliss.

It's a lovely word, isn't it? Saying it is almost as good as taking a spa vacation. It trips over the tongue as deliciously as a chocolate truffle. I've been silently repeating it over and over in great hopes that I will be able to manifest a "blissful" new year. You too should find one-word mantra of your very own to help guide you into 2009. I'd love to know what your word is. Please let me know.

• Don't try to fool me. I know you got a copy of "Dewey the small-town library cat who touched the world" about the life and times of Dewey Readmore Books in your Christmas stocking. I'm certain that you haven't been able to put it down since then, but to shuffle into the kitchen to make a cup of herbal spiced tea. Well, listen up fans of Dewey, the word on the street is that librarian and best-selling author Vicky Myron has adopted a new kitten -- appropriately named Page. Photographic proof available here.

• Continuing on the same theme...here's another cat who was in the news in 2008. Check out the photos of Frankie the cat burglar. He has no remorse about his crimes. None whatsoever.

• What's up with the chick flick? It's always been my favorite genre. Why is Hollywood trying so hard to harsh on my buzz?

• Do you remember when it was cool to be a tomboy? Nowadays everyone just assumes being a tomboy is the same as lesbian. It's really too bad.

Editor's Note: Today's "blissful" woodland scene is brought to you by the Handsomest Man Alive whose plans to travel back to sunny Southern California for New Year's Eve have been changed by a snowstorm in the Northeast. Falling snow is so beautiful when you're some place safe and warm.

Daily Hot Flash

• Ah! The memoir of the arrogantly lovely Christopher Plummer -- yes! I want to read it! The seduction of Maria by Captain Von Trapp (as played by Christopher Plummer) in The Sound of Music remains one of the most beautiful (and cheesy like Velveeta) onscreen romances ever. It rates right up there with Casablanca and Notorious in my book. It's Christmas, it's time to dust off your DVD copy and watch it again. (Don't tell me you don't own it!) Is there a plain Jane spinster in the world who isn't holding out a hope of meeting her own surly Captain with a beautiful schloss in the bucolic countryside near Salzburg? Yes, I have a feeling there are a lot of other people who feel the same way. When I was in my twenties, I was a bridesmaid in a wedding where the bride walked up the aisle to the "Maria" wedding processional played on a gigantic pipe organ. It was totally over the top! Why are the bridesmaids smiling as they watch her march up the aisle? More Velveeta, please!

• Did you read any of these in 2008? Me neither. Why doesn't anyone ever come up with an end-0f-year list of notable trashy books that we devoured like chocolate-covered candies? I read some great chick lit this year -- Kristin Harmel and Jane Porter became two of my new favorite authors. Delicious stories about real women. And did you know that Sue Grafton's latest mystery is out in paperback for Christmas? Yum. Yum. I'm sure the books on the New York Times list are very notable, but I'd prefer a list of books that are as delicious as 'sugar plums.' Maybe the LA Times could do it...or not.

• One of my favorite little corners of Los Angeles is Tujunga Valley. I didn't know that it had name. Not only is the food at the magical Aroma Cafe fantastic, there's a wonderful little yarn shop just across the street. Oh, and did I mention that Robert Blake popped his ex-wife at the Italian restaurant on the corner? I mean, he 'allegedly' popped his wife...I didn't follow the case and don't know how it turned out...

• Hello aspiring screenwriters! Here's another news story that is easily adaptable into an action film. All you need to do is attach Bruce Willis and you've got the outline for Die Hard 4: Rough Water...Get thee to the closest Starbucks and fire up your lap top now!

• He's no Tim Russert...but then those are awfully big shoes to fill. Go Bills!

Daily Hot Flash

I've been struggling with life lately...I'll tell you why when I get the courage. So I haven't been blogging. I know, I probably should've...but I'm not that brave. I was pushed into posting some links today because there were so many articles about stuff that interests me in cyberspace...and I thought maybe you might be into it too.

• I have two words for you...Steve. McQueen. Immortalized on film and in one my favorite songs by Sheryl Crow, he's the sexiest man who ever lived. And since I've been living in Santa Clarita, I have also fallen in love with the adorable little Santa Paula Airport. It's the opposite of LAX. Which for those of you who use it regularly know...is another word for Hell.

• When I interviewed to intern at Lightstorm Entertainment when I first moved to Los Angeles, I told them that my favorite film was "A Room With A View." What do you expect from a girl who loves books? I'm certain that's the reason the people behind films like "Terminator" and "The Abyss" asked me to read scripts for them. Since I'm unable to travel -- can't afford it and can't do it due to health problems -- I've been doing a lot of imaginary travel. I'm living vicariously through friends who are traveling and watching a lot of House Hunters International. There are three places I have always wanted to see in person...Italy, Hawaii and India.

• Ok, so even if I AM dying, my plans to have my ashes scattered near my girl Jane Austen have been foiled. Not to mention the fact that obviously, my idea was NOT original.

• I don't know who I love more...Maureen Dowd or Tina Fey. They're both in my top ten of favorite girl writers.

• I love it when the press refers to my plans to overeat over the holidays by the euphemism "eating issues." As if!

Daily Hot Flash

• "I'll have what she's having..."A few years ago I went to see a film adaptation of Henry Miller's "Golden Bowl" at a small movie theatre in Beverly Hills. It was a Saturday night and I was all alone in the theatre. Who else would be interested in seeing a costume drama/tragedy on a Saturday night? Much to my surprise, a few minutes after I sat down, Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner and their respective wives sat down in the row right in front of me. I was beside myself. I wanted to call everyone I knew on my cell phone and tell them what was happening. I wanted to go all James Lipton on them, and ask them questions about writing comedy. And I thought Anne Bancroft was the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. I'm so sorry they're both gone.

• Elizabeth Edwards seems like one of the most genuine political wives in recent history. She handles life's hurdles with grace.
  

• I don't know who this dude thinks he's kidding. I have a feeling there are a lot more people who'd like to see a 50 year-old supermodel naked than see him stripped down to his boxer shorts.
  

• Still searching for something fun to do on Halloween?

• If you have some extra cash lying around, you might want to consider bidding on this auction.

Pride & Prejudice With A Twist Of Lime

In the folder of unfinished scripts that clutters up the hard drive space on my laptop is an idea for a time-traveling Jane Austen who lands a gig as a Hollywood screenwriter and orders her lattes with foamed goat milk at a coffee house she erroneously refers to as Starbuckles. Yes. I know, but it turns out it wasn't that bad of an idea. British television is currently airing the four-part series "Lost in Austen" in the United Kingdom. The time-travel costume drama revolves around a modern woman who switches places with Elizabeth Bennett, the heroine and eventual bride of Mr. Darcy (played ubiquitously by the heartbreakingly beautiful Colin Firth in the 1995 BBC adaptation) from the novel, "Pride and Prejudice." The new modern twist on Austen is garnering mixed responses from UK fans of Jane, but the clips of the film contained in this review make me very curious. I feel certain that "Lost in Austen" will be shown soon on PBS in the United States, and Jane's US fans will be able to form our own opinions.

Lit Link-Up

When I was in third grade I won the citywide award from the Dearborn Public Library for the most books read over the summer. I went to film school, but I love books. I consider libraries to be my homes away from home. Bookstores are my soul. If truth be told, I would rather go to Barnes & Noble than See’s Candies. My wildest daydream involves owning a used bookstore on a cobblestone street in Edinburgh…and then Gerard Butler walks in…whoops, wrong kinda dream.

So you can imagine how thrilled I was to discover the Internet is a great place to link up to author’s websites. Most of them are prepared by the writer’s publisher – with little regard to anything other than selling books. Fortunately, I have discovered a few gems.

Stephenie Meyer is the author of "Twilight." The first in the incredibly popular four-book series about a teen girl who falls in love with a vampire. Simple…yes. Done before…yes. But Stephanie is a fantastic storyteller and her prose is completely engaging.

Go make a cup of tea and get yourself some sort of chocolate-flavored baked good. Go on! Okay, then go visit her website. The story of how this suburban mother of three became a publishing phenom will inspire you. She got rejected!!! And she’s honest about it. And angry about it. Stephenie Meyer gets why you’ve Googled her, and her website lets your imagination be just as richly detailed as hers.

Oh, and yes – It IS going to be a movie. You can hit the trailer here.