Twitter had its big moment last week, but unlike so many other technology start-ups in the seeming parade of millionaire-makers over the last two decades (with the obvious exception of Amazon.com), Twitter has developed a special following in the literary community, from high-brow to low. Perhaps that’s not surprising. Writers revel in words, and Twitter, nearly alone among hot technology start-ups, is mostly about words, crafting them to meet the medium’s peculiar restraints and sending them out into the world to be engaged with or ignored. Twitter is like some atomized version of the writer’s process. With Twitter, ideas go out piecemeal, the whole process taking a millionth the amount of time it would if you were to glom all those ideas together into one big whole and turn it into something as unlikely-seeming by comparison as a book. This speed, then, may be deeply satisfying — even addictive — as writers bypass so much of the toil of getting a book out of their brains and off to readers (New York’s Kathryn Schulz elaborated smartly on this idea last week.)
There is no uniform stance on Twitter in the literary community, of course. Some, like Teju Cole and Colson Whitehead, find it vital; many others — led by a certain one-time Time coverboy from the Midwest, do not. Some writers have more prosaic feelings about Twitter. Novelist Peter Orner wrote, “Some are talented at it; others, less so.”
Zadie Smith is not on Twitter. Nor are Jeffrey Eugenides (though his vest once was), Michael Chabon (not really, though his writer wife Ayelet Waldman is), George Saunders, or David Mitchell. Jennifer Egan is, but just a little bit.
Nonetheless, Twitter appears to be here to stay, for a while anyway. And it will remain a pastime for writers looking for book news, inspiration, distraction, literary puns, and every other thing they might want. But it wasn’t always that way. In the not too distant past, the literary lights of Twitter pecked out their first 140 characters and waited to see what Twitter would bring.
Curious, I dug back into the Twitter archive to see how these writers took their first steps into Twitter. What follows are the very first tweets of some of Twitter’s well-known practitioners from the literary world.
Finishing the website entries for my fall novel The Year of the Flood.
— Margaret E. Atwood (@MargaretAtwood) July 8, 2009
How does a petty trader come by N30 million worth of cars? Police hope Israel Ubatuegwu, of Ajah, has a good explanation.
— Teju Cole (@tejucole) June 7, 2011
@R_Nash proud to be a part of ennui 2.0
— colson whitehead (@colsonwhitehead) March 15, 2009
Preparing for Book Expo America in the office in Dumbo. The last time we’ve to schlap boxes ourselves. Next year we pay the Teamsters…
— Richard Nash (@R_Nash) May 30, 2007
Last night at the Norman Mailer Award Ceremony in NYC, Oliver Stone said beautifully: “A serious writer is a rebel.”
— Joyce Carol Oates (@JoyceCarolOates) October 5, 2012
trying to figure out if someone does a decent MP3 workout, which will magically transform my iphone and my body at the same time.
— Ayelet Waldman (@ayeletw) January 27, 2009
@JaneGreen I talked to Rufus just this morning…ok, I interviewed him for T+L
— Dani Shapiro (@danijshapiro) April 24, 2009
Slaughtered by Sam A. and Jefffery Y. at post-diner breakfast ping-pong. Licking wounds.
— Dwight Garner (@DwightGarner) February 13, 2009
Here’s a video of my speech at the NBCC in NYC last week: http://tinyurl.com/dfe8rt
— Ron Charles (@RonCharles) March 17, 2009
Testing…
— Sarah Weinman (@sarahw) April 24, 2007
reading
— Susan Orlean (@susanorlean) December 23, 2007
doesn’t want to be an editor. oops, too late.
— Emma Straub (@emmastraub) December 3, 2008
I just opened my present from Dave McKean, The Big Fat Duck Cookbook. Heavy as a stone and beautiful. “See?” he said. “I do read your blog.”
— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) December 26, 2008
@ShitHomemaker – this is my first tweet and it’s your fault.
— Salman Rushdie (@SalmanRushdie) September 15, 2011
Fine, then. I’ll twitter.
— John Green (@realjohngreen) December 11, 2008
No matter what I do there are always 5 emails in my inbox that I am avoiding.
— Doug Coupland (@DougCoupland) April 1, 2009
I’ve reached the limit on how many Facebook friends I can add. So here is a new page.
— Amy Tan (@AmyTan) August 12, 2010
http://www.thewriterscoffeeshop.com/publishinghouse/books/detail/23
— E L James (@E_L_James) April 12, 2011
First Tweet ever, prompted by Jeff Howe’s essay in Sunday’s NYTBR. Velly interesting. Helloooooo?
— Erik Larson (@exlarson) May 22, 2012
Does anyone know who @BretEastonEllis is?
— Bret Easton Ellis (@BretEastonEllis) April 10, 2009
@erlson You just got me to join Twitter.
— William Gibson (@GreatDismal) April 1, 2009
coveting Susan Lewis’ hair.
— Jennifer Weiner (@jenniferweiner) April 3, 2009
@chuckpalahniuk This is Dennis, webmaster at ChuckPalahniuk.net. Please contact me via my site email address. Thanks!
— Chuck Palahniuk (@chuckpalahniuk) January 28, 2009
Becoming far more wired than I probably really need to be.
— Joe Hill (@joe_hill) January 4, 2009
hi, i’m gary shteyngart, a furry 39-year-old immigrant man trapped in a young dachshund’s body. LOVE ME!!!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/RgLBxjYO
— Gary Shteyngart (@Shteyngart) December 1, 2011
I’m going to do it right this time.
— Emily Gould (@EmilyGould) May 21, 2009
today felt like the unabomber but i wasn’t plotting anything or planning anything or trying to bomb anything and i was wearing 4-inch heels
— Kate Zambreno (@daughteroffury) June 29, 2012
Wessex Man http://tinyurl.com/yw93xb
— New York Times Books (@nytimesbooks) March 18, 2007
News: Netherland wins PEN/Faulkner award: It was overlooked for the Booker prize and the prestigious US Nat.. http://bit.ly/AufPL
— Guardian Books (@GuardianBooks) February 26, 2009
Podcasting: http://tinyurl.com/6hc9z4
— NY Review of Books (@nybooks) July 2, 2008
Check out our feature on the best audiobooks coming this spring.
— Publishers Weekly (@PublishersWkly) January 31, 2009
Mario Bros. meets Macbeth: What do a pixelated plumber and a murderous king have in common? Nintendo DS — in En.. http://tinyurl.com/5gr5m4
— L.A. Times Books (@latimesbooks) December 10, 2008
Hello, world! Official Library of Congress Twitter feed here. So nice to see 215 followers before so much as a single tweet!
— Library of Congress (@librarycongress) January 27, 2009
Welcome to the new GalleyCat Twitter feed, regularly collecting tweets from Senior Editor Ron Hogan, Editor Jason Boog, and Jeff Rivera.
— GalleyCat (@GalleyCat) August 26, 2009
Welcome to @nprbooks! We’ll use to to share our book coverage and hopefully talk about some good books, too. / @acarvin
— NPR Books (@nprbooks) January 8, 2010
We noticed lots of sites use Twitter for feedback. We created this account as a placeholder, but please visit our Feedback Group anytime!
— goodreads (@goodreads) August 19, 2008
56 years after William Styron warned us about chasing the zeitgeist, The Paris Review is now on twitter. From issue 1: http://bit.ly/BCnnE
— The Paris Review (@parisreview) September 4, 2009
Culling together work for Electric Literature no.2, planning events for October, spinning splendidly through another day at the office.
— Electric Literature (@ElectricLit) August 31, 2009
Rick Moody on running out of luck: http://tinyurl.com/ckno8d
— The Rumpus (@The_Rumpus) January 29, 2009
What will be named top book of the decade? http://bit.ly/AMgq8 What’s your pick?
— The Millions (@The_Millions) September 21, 2009
What’s the best part of B.G.’s “Bling Bling” video? Pre-tattoo’d Wayne, zooming red VW Beetles, or the crew’s outdoor fine china picnic?
— Nick Moran (@nemoran3) February 2, 2011
Great blog entry! Ties in nicely with my recent post, The E-Book Revolution.
-Warren
I always thought the Penguin Great Ideas Series was a nice start, even if it focused on classic and not modern lit.
Ironically, I just wrote a post before seeing this one about how I find these small-sized editions so annoying.
I see editions of literary fiction in this format occasionally here in Buenos Aires under the label "export" or "open market" edition.
It's better than nothing, but I certainly am willing to pay a few more dollars for the trade paperback edition. (BTW, abroad the editions are not necessarily any cheaper than the trade editions).
Interesting post indeed, though the question of quality arises: are consumers who are used to the space and cleanliness of trade paperbacks going to go for smaller type and lesser production typically found in these cheaper editions? The question of production and design is ever present in forecasts for e-books too, of course. Haven't readers become savvy about how books are presented to them visually?
Interesting post. As for the Kindle, alas, three months on, mine is still sitting in its box. The whole hook-it-up-to Whisper Net thing… One day…
In Australia we seem to get TPB very quickly as the overseas hardbacks are priced so ridiculously. It's cheaper to personally import titles from Amazon US than to buy the same edition from a local bookstore (even with airmail costs factored in).
I find the mass market-size paperback a handy size to hold, but usually much too bulky to put in any pocket.
In order to cut down on bulk, the publisher has to reduce the size of the type face and spec very lightweight, cheap paper. I prefer a 6" x 9" trade paperback, which, after a lot of indecision, was the size I chose for my first book as an independent publisher this summer. The Cure for Jet Lag was originally published by Berkley Publishing Group in a 4.25" x 8" format with print so tiny it was barely readable. Page count 160. THAT edition could fit into your breast pocket and it did sell hundreds of thousands of copies. My new edition is still 160 pages, but in a 6 x 9 trade paperback format. Nice, colorful cover on good paper stock. Still slim enough to slip into a case beside a laptop, and not falling apart and difficult to read.
So, sure, if you want a disposable book and to wear your strongest prescription reading glasses, go for the "mass market" size.
Lynne W. Scanlon
PS I have a kindle and I love it, even though the back panel is always falling off. My big disappointment came, however, when I wanted to pass a great read on to a friend. That's not going to happen with a Kindle! Of course, perhaps the friend went to the bookstore and bought it! That's good for the author and the publisher and the bookstore.
Ultimately, the size of the book matters less than the quality of the words inside. I think we'd all do well to remember that and focus less on how we're sending those words out to the world. If the story warrants a good read, readers will find it.
That being said, nothing helps a product more than being portable. I suppose the question is one of preference. Do you want a book that's short, squat, and fits in your pocket (though not your back pocket unless you want sciatic nerve damage) or would you prefer a thin, lanky edition that could slide into a briefcase, laptop, or messenger bag? Either way, I support the end of the hardcover. I read them from libraries, but haven't bought one in years.
And as for the Kindle…
Thanks for this post.
Ironic, isn't it, that Allen Lane founded Penguin Books to provide pocket-sized quality books for train commuters?
Since Penguin is run these days by accountants with little regard for literature, or their own history, you now need a dedicated backpack to carry around their 'product'.
I did this when I published my first novel four years ago and it was a big success for me. People indeed responded positively to the smaller size, and many bookstores that offered to carry it said it was specifically because they loved the form factor. If financial constraints hadn't forced me to use POD/trade paperback for my later titles I'd have used the mass market size for all of them.
I grew up on the pocket paperback and was sorry when it died. For the past five years I've been trying to convince an editor that now is the time to return to it. Some books won't work as pocket editions (too unwieldly) but the vast majority will.
All I know is that I'd love to see a return to the pocket size paperback; nothing beats it for cheapness and portability.
Only 42 percent more expensive than the books that Hard Case Crime has been putting out for about four years now. But then, that's just genre fiction.
==============
Detectives Beyond Borders
“Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home”
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Wonderful article you have written here.
Personally, I find myself satisfied with the size of all of my pocket paperbacks. They easily fit inside of my purse so I find it very easy to read on-the-go.
Also, environmentally speaking, these books are a much better option all around.
One of my easiest reading experiences ever (even while standing in a moving subway car) was with a truly portable edition of Vanity Fair published in Thomas Nelson and Sons’ New Century Library. Dimensions: 6 1/4 by 4 1/4 by a half-inch thickness. The pages are Oxford India Paper—opaque, thin, and durable. The entire book fit in the palm of my hand and was lightweight, even at 784 pages. The type size wasn’t reduced and there are still margins. This is a true pocket book.
Postscript on the Nelson m: the book is c. 1909.