Social media expert Carri Bugbee and Twitter for writers on July 28 WordCount live chat

Love Twitter?

Love Mad Men?

Whichever it is, tune into the WordCount Last Wednesday live chat tomorrow for a chance to meet the award-winning tweeter behind the @Peggy Olson Twitter account.

That would be Carri Bugbee, a Portland, Oregon, social media, marketing and public relations executive who took home a 2009 Shorty Award for anonymously tweeting as Olson.

Bugbee will lead a chat on how writers and bloggers can use Twitter to crowdsource and promote their work. She’ll also discuss some of the best Twitter apps for writers.

The one-hour chat takes place on Twitter at 8:30 a.m. Pacific time.  To follow along, use the hashtag #wclw.

The format of tomorrow’s live chat is as follows:

• 8:30 – Log on, introduce yourself with your name, city, type of writing you do and what Twitter-related topics you’d like the chat to cover.
• 8:35 to 8:40 – I’ll ask Carri a few questions to get things rolling.
• 9 a.m. – We’ll open it up to questions from the audience.
• 9:30 a.m. – The chat ends.

Although it’s possible to use the standard Twitter interface for a live chat, you might find it easier to follow along with an add-on application such as TweetGrid, TweetChat or HootSuite. This tutorial explains how to set them up.

If you’re afraid you’ll offend followers by tweeting too much during a chat, you can suggest they use an app called TwitterSnooze to temporarily turn off your tweets. In case you haven’t done this before, when the chat starts, tweet a message like this: “I’ll be in a live chat for the next hour; if you don’t want to follow, turn off my tweets with TwitterSnooze.com.”

Coming attractions

Stay tuned for more on tech tools for writers and running a writing business in coming months. Here’s what you can expect on the next few upcoming WordCount Last Wednesdays:

• August 25 – Using an e-newsletter to promote your business, with Susan Weiner, writer-editor, chartered financial analyst (CFA), blogger and author of a long-running monthly e-newsletter on investment and wealth management.
• September 29 – Facebook fan pages for fun and profit, with Tricia Lawrence, writer, blogger, social media strategist and instructor of an upcoming Writer’s Digest University class on social media strategy for authors.
• October 27 – Creating and marketing your self-published ebook, with Susan Johnson, writer, blogger at The Urban Museand author of the new ebook, The Urban Muse Guide to Online Writing Markets.

If you’ve got a suggestion for a subject you’d like to see covered, send it my way.

If you’re an expert in a particular aspect of freelance writing, running a freelance business or tech tools for writers and are interested in participating as a guest speaker, contact me.