Growing Twitter

I know that as an aspiring author part of my job is to build a platform, and I know why it’s important, and why I have to do it. I have this blog, and on I’m Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus. But I don’t have a very large following. If you’re wondering why I’m building a platform before my book is done, the simple answer is that building a platform takes time, so if I want the thing built by the time my book is ready, I need to start now. Actually, l needed to start yesterday, and technically I did, I’m just now telling you about it.
I’m also not very good at the whole networking thing. I’m the guy at parties who is most comfortable finding a quiet corner and watching with envy the people who move through the room fluidly, seemingly knowing and being liked by everyone. This is not me.  I want people to read my books, maybe even, I don’t know, one day, when my writing is good enough, maybe even  give me money for them. For that to happen I need to connect with people. People who might one day become my fans, or might know someone who might become a fan.
One of the guys I follow on Twitter is Chris (@foldberg1). I first found him back in my days playing World of Warcraft. Chris had a blog on how to make gold in game, and I wanted to make more gold. After Warcraft, Chris moved on to giving tips on how to use social networking and blogging in general. On Monday, he put a link on Twitter to an article he had written about increasing the number of followers you have on twitter. I thought to myself, “Ted” (don’t you address yourself by name when you think to yourself?) “You want more followers on twitter right? “Yes, yes I do” “So let’s give these techniques a shot”
So I did. As of this writing I’ve been using his techniques for 4 days and I’ve gained 9 new followers. That’s about two a day and much better than I was doing on my own.
This post is to say thank you to Chris for his help. 
*Disclaimer: Chris did not ask me to write this blog and I’m receiving no compensation for it. In fact, until he saw it in his twitter feed, he didn’t know it was going up.