Marcy Kennedy

Hashtags are one of the best things about Twitter. (In case you’re brand new to Twitter, a hashtag is the # sign followed by a term.)

Normally, your tweets are seen only by people who’re following you, but if you add a hashtag, everyone who’s watching that hashtag sees what you’ve tweeted. If we’re using Twitter to build our author platforms, making connections with new people is one of the key things we want to do.

But hashtags on Twitter do more than just build our author platform. When we know which hashtags to follow, they can be amazing learning tools, provide us with inspiration and motivation, and help us keep up-to-date on the industry.

So today I’m going to share the twelve best hashtags for writers.

Genre-Related Hashtags

Sometimes, you just need to ask a question of someone who writes the same thing you write. Or you want to talk about an issue that really only affects others who write in your genre. That’s where genre-related hastags can be great. Not every genre has an active one, but these three do.

#SciFiChat – This chat is held Fridays from 3:00–4:00 pm Eastern. You can find more details on David A. Rozansky’s (the moderator’s) website.

#KidLitChat –You can find more details at www.kidlitchat.blogspot.ca. It’s held on Tuesdays at 9:00 pm Eastern.

#ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) – This isn’t a chat, but it is an active hashtag for faith-based writers.

Industry-Related Hashtags

Keeping informed on what’s happening in the writing industry, what’s working and what isn’t, and what the current taboos are can be headache inducing (at least for me). Here are the hashtags I’ve found help me keep up-to-date on the latest, greatest, and worst of the writing world (without wasting a lot of precious time).

#getpublished – This hashtag contains information on exactly what it says—ways to get published. You’ll find calls for submissions, contests, and articles offering tips on how to increase your chances at publication.

#publishing – This hashtag focuses on publishing “news” such as the newest author programs offered by Amazon, ways to avoid common publishing snafus, and how the publishing industry is changing (plus what that means for authors both indie and traditional).

#promotip – Book launch promotion tips, whether or not free still works, the importance of author branding, ways to market your audio book, etc. If a tweet or link to a post deals with helping you spread the word about your book, you’ll likely find it bearing the #promotip hashtag.

#askeditor – This hastag has been around for years for a good reason. While it doesn’t seem to have a set time of use anymore, you’ll still see editors and small publishing houses announce that they’ll be taking questions for a certain period of time on a certain day using this hashtag. Even if you can’t attend, it can be fun and informative to read through the conversations afterward.

Bonus Hashtag Tip: Go Conference-Specific – There are too many of these to list, but a great trick is to find out the hashtag being used for some of the bigger conferences in North America. Many people use these hashtags during the conference to tweet awesome tidbits they’ve learned. It’s not as good as being there, but it comes close.

Creativity and Productivity Helpers

Let’s face it—the well occasionally runs dry. We’re out of good ideas (or so it feels) or we’re struggling to put fingers to keyboard. Hashtags come to the rescue for this as well.

#writingprompt – I don’t keep this one open because some people abuse it. However, when you’re needing a kickstart, this is a good hashtag to scroll through. You’re sure to run into a prompt or idea that gets the juices flowing again.

#storystarter – This is the sister hashtag of #writingprompt. I find this one to be a touch less spammy, so if you’re really in a time crunch, I recommend going here first.

#1k1h/#1k1hr – Have you ever noticed how you get more done when you have to report your progress to someone else? (I sure hope that’s not just me.) That’s what these two related hashtags are for. The idea is that you go internet black for an hour to write, and when you return, you need to report your word count. You can either put out a call for other people to join you or you can watch for someone else to ask for joiners. Even though this hashtag implies you need to try to write 1,000 words in an hour, the real goal is to write as many words as you can. Beat your own personal best.

When You Just Need to Talk

No list of the best hashtags for writers would be complete without some hashtags where you can share your blog posts (both non-writing and writing-related) and simply talk with other writers. The non-writers in our lives won’t always understand what we’re going through, so being able to share with other writers can often be what saves our sanity.

#MyWANA – This is my absolute favorite hashtag. Author Kristen Lamb created it as a place for conversation and human connection. You’re fine to share your blog posts on the #MyWANA hashtag so others can support you with re-tweets, but only if you’re a regular and active participant there. No spam allowed.

#amwriting – If you need encouragement, this is a great place to hang out. Writers post their words counts, cheer each other on, share funny anecdotes, and link resources they’ve found particularly helpful.

Are you regularly using any of these hashtags? Are there others you think fellow writers should know about?

Want to know more about Twitter and how to use it to build your author platform in a time-efficient way? Check out Marcy’s newest book, Twitter for Authors: A Busy Writer’s Guide. It’s available in both print and ebook versions!