BOOK REVIEW: ‘Social Media for Anti-Socials: #Howtousetwitter’ by Christoph Paul

How to Use Twitter

How to Use TwitterChristoph Paul’s Social Media for Anti Socials certainly hits the nail on the head with its ambition and the point that he (rightly) states often throughout the book: it’s not just enough to be an artist anymore, you have to be a brand.

It’s sad, but it’s the truth. When you submit a manuscript you have to write how many Instagram, Twitter followers and whathaveyou. Paul deals the harsh reality that we can’t just be recluses a la McCarthy and Pynchon, but we have to be actively marketing and promoting our work. Paul isn’t relying on letters in front of his name to act as credentials, nor is he using plenty of buzzwords (though, you may need them, too), he has almost 20,000 followers. For a small press writer, that’s pretty solid. So going into this you should know that the man knows what he’s talking about. You should also know that like any diet book, just reading it isn’t enough – you’re going to have to put in the dedicated hours to get results.

Paul effectively uses himself as a case study. Rather than pull in statistics from boring surveys we don’t want to read, he tells us the techniques he used and how they helped his book sales. Sometimes it may be bordering on the cusp of extreme self-promotion, but in a book that’s about self-promotion, it’s fine because it’s an insight into the life of a writer that we might not get to see if it wasn’t for this book.

We get to see aspect of Paul’s personal life as well. Whether it’s the alias that he writers erotica under, or his relationship. It’s all glimpses into the bigger picture of how to make social media work with your life as an artist. For some people parts of this book may seem slightly obvious, such as the reminder not to engage with trolls unless it’s in a satirical way, but perhaps that is advice that some of us had to learn the hard way, and for readers new to social media they won’t be able to see passed the risks, and ultimately will be better off for reading this book.

For current users of social media who play the game and the tricks, this book may not be a blast of information. But for people who are new to this game, or are stuck with less followers than they’d like but have plenty of ambition, this is worth a purpose. The beauty of it? You don’t even have to stop being truly antisocial.

Some of the coverage you find on Cultured Vultures contains affiliate links, which provide us with small commissions based on purchases made from visiting our site. We cover gaming news, movie reviews, wrestling and much more.