I have a sneaking suspicion writers are missing opportunities to connect (with each other and readers) and to receive help and advice because of unfamiliarity with hashtags -Twitter old hands and newbies alike. Whether you’re new or a twitter veteran, I hope this guide helps you make the most of your tweets and positions you well to find whatever you seek in the #WritingCommunity. With so many non-writing related tweets flooding our feeds, I also hope it will help you find and participate in serious conversation about writing.

(If you are new to Twitter and haven’t seen the tweeting tips in my previous post, I suggest reading it first.)

Hashtags To Be Found/ Find Writers On
Hashtags that say ‘I’m the kind of writer you are/ the writer you like to read’ are more likely to stand out on a twitter feed and prompt us to read and reply -because they suggest we will relate to your tweet. Hashtags that say ‘I’m feeling your editing/querying hopes/agony’ also signal who will relate to your tweet and invite them to read and respond. Some hashtags to give these signals with are Writer Type Hashtags, Genre Hashtags and Wip (Work in Progress) Stage Hashtags. I highly recommend the latter -most of the writer’s I’ve made friends and stayed in touch with on twitter are at similar stages of the writing process. Tweeting about your wip stage on hashtags which make it obvious is a great way to make those connections.

 Live Chats (Courtesty of @AndrewRoberts66)

#5amwritersclub Daily EST

#MondayMixer Mon 12am UK

#WritingCrew Tue 8pm EST.

#WritersLifeChat Wed 8pm EST

#WriteChat Wed 10pm EST or after

#WeekNightWriters Fri 12:00 am UK

#JustAddTea Sun 5:00 pm UK  

(Another non-exhaustive list.)

Shorts/ Poetry Piece Prompts

If you enjoy writing shorts or poetry, you’ll find regular prompts and fellow shorts writers and poets on these tags.  In this case, sharing an appreciation of each other’s writing is good way to connect.  

#vss365    #SatSplat   #1LineWed #HangTentorieSs   #SixWordStory 

#BardBits  #vsspoem

#WritingPrompts –used by a range of writers for a range of prompts, not one host like the others.         

Hashtags To Find Tips/ Help On

Whether you’re writing, revising, editing or querying there are specific hashtags you can search to find tips and practical help. In Twitter, selecting or pasting any hashtag in the search bar will display a feed of only tweets on that tag (all tags below are linked to those feeds so selecting them will do this too).

Critical Reader Tags

#CpMatch

#CritiquePartner

#Betareader(s)

Query Tip Tags

To Tweet for General Help or Resources use #WriterHelp. If you’re editing/ querying/ publishing you can tweet questions to editors/agents/ publishers on #AskEditor / #AskAgent/ #AskPublisher.

If you’re looking for critical readers (get as many good ones as you can!!!), ask who’s interested by tweeting on Critical Reader Tags above.

(To View All Tags listed in Twitter see my #WritingCommunity Hashtag Catalog.)

Pitch Parties

Pitch parties are when writers with a manuscript ready to query (as in you’ve edited it countless times and responded extensively to feedback from critical readers more concerned about quality writing than sparing your feelings, if not sent it to an editor) can pitch a manuscript to literary agents and indie publishers on Twitter. During set hours on set days, literary agents and indie publishers search the pitch party and their preferred genre hashtags to view tweet pitches. If they heart pitches, that’s an invitation to submit to them. If you’re querying a manuscript and want more information, check out the websites below for how to participate and exact pitch party dates.

If you don’t participate, be aware of pitch party etiquette -heart = ‘I’m an agent/ publisher and would like you to submit.’ If that isn’t you, suppress your ‘hearting’ reflexes when you see pitch party tweets to avoid disappointing participating writers. To support pitching writers, retweeting boosts tweet impressions, increasing a writers chance of having pitches seen by agents and publishers, while quote retweeting lets you encourage participating writers by saying what you like about their pitch. (For DVPit you can only quote RT). For advice on how to craft an effective pitch and party participating see this article. The pitch parties I know of are;

February  #KissPit   Romance  KissPit Website

#PBPitch Picture Books Picture Book Pitch Website

March #Pitmad  All Genres and Audience Ages Pitmad Website.

April #DVpit Minority Group Member Writers DVpit Website.
#Revpit (Revision & Editor Mentoring) Revpit Website.

May #PitDark  Dark Fiction PitDark Website.

June  Pitmad  and PBPitch again.
July  SFFPit  again (last year but not 2020 -date TBC)
Sept  Pitmad  again.

October PitDark  and PBPitch again.

November #FaithPitch Website. (Nov & Feb)  

Other Writing Calendar Event Tags

June & Nov Mentorship by authors;  #Pitchwars  Pitchwars Website.

April  Writing Event  #CampNaNoWriMo 

November National Novel Writing Month   #NaNoRiMo  Website.

Query Contest  #PassorPages by  @OpAwesome6  (check their account for dates.)  

For a full list of all above tags in Twitter see my #WritingCommunity Hashtag Catalog.

Got questions or comments about any of the above?  You’re welcome to tweet or DM me @EliseIsWritingYA.