Since Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, we have seen countless issues with the platform. Anyone can become verified if they are willing to pay, hate speech and false information are no longer being strictly regulated, and people are leaving the platform in droves. What was once a thriving book community – known as ‘book twitter’ – has taken a beating. So, is it still worth including Twitter, or X as it is now officially called, in your social media plans? Or should you focus your energy on platforms where the community is more engaged?

As with most things, the answer isn’t simple.

Here we break down a few things you should consider when thinking about whether to worry about creating content for and posting on Twitter/X.

The ‘book Twitter’ community: what it is and why it is useful

While the first few chaotic months of ‘X’ saw people racing to potential alternative platforms, none of them have really taken off. Platforms like Mastadon are not user-friendly and Threads is still not available in the EU (and at this rate may never be). Still, many people have begun focusing their energies on other platforms where they feel the book community is growing more than on Musk’s new version of Twitter.

For those uninitiated, Book Twitter is the book community on twitter made up of writers, publishers, agents, readers, booksellers, editors, and other literary organisations. It is where such classics as ‘Ask an agent’ and ‘book pitch’ hours began. You can always find other writers completing writing sprints, sharing their favourite books, and generally supporting each other.

It has, historically, been a great place for building relationships between writers, readers, and those in the publishing industry. Many people have made lasting friendships from Twitter (including me!). Book Twitter, put simply, is a warm, welcoming corner of a platform otherwise known for vitriol and the spread of false information.

And apart from the general good vibes, the platform has often proved useful for the book community. Many authors have experienced noticeable sales bumps when their tweets go viral, even if the content of the post is not directly related to their work. This is how they get seen by new potential readers – just getting your name out there is important.
But are people still using it?

Despite the initial fears, yes, Book Twitter is still alive. It may have suffered and has lost some people, but there are still plenty of people continuing to believe in the power of the platform. But there are some things you should consider before you decide to include Twitter in your social media strategy.

Do some research: know your audience and whether they engage with the platform

If you want to make the most of Twitter, it’s worth doing some research. You will want to know whether the audience you are after is still active on twitter. Check out the profiles of authors similar to you, and see how engaged their followers are. If the authors who write similar books to you are not on Twitter, that’s a good clue – if no one else is there, their readers are unlikely to be there either.

As well as profiles, take some time to look into relevant hashtags and see if people are actively using them too. There are many common, more generic Book Twitter hashtags such as #BookTwitter, #WritingCommunity, #WritersLift, #AMWriting, #AMQuerying, and more. While these hashtags are still used regularly (at least at the time of writing), you will want to dig into hashtags that are more specifically relevant to your work, genre, and general tweet content as the generic hashtags are often flooded and you would get lost in the noise if you relied solely on them.

Be clear about what you want and hope to get from your social media presence

If you are a writer who is just starting out, perhaps you are working on short stories or novels, but have yet to finish anything or start the querying process and just want to find your community, Twitter may well be the perfect place for you. It is still one of the best places to find support from other writers – simply because of how easy it is to connect with other writers and begin conversations. It is also a great place (still) to find agents, editors, and publishers who like to share comments about the industry and in particular, agents like to share the kinds of books they are looking for by firing off a quick tweet.

If your aim is to find readers for books that are already completed, if your research showed that your genre(s) or theme(s) are still being actively engaged with on Twitter, it might be a good place. However, for generating buzz before a book is out or posting content to gain more readers, you may find platforms like Instagram and TikTok (Booktok!) are more appropriate.
It’s also important to consider how often you use Twitter yourself – if it feels like the most natural platform for you, then don’t be afraid to make use of it!