44 Essential Twitter Hashtags Every Author Should Know

by Caitlin Muir | Jan 24, 2012 | Promotion, Publishing, Social Media, Writing Craft | 36 comments

Authors need to know more about Twitter than how to get started.

Used correctly, Twitter hashtags are one of the best ways to connect with industry experts, readers, and other authors. Used incorrectly, it’s just another way to waste your precious time.

And you dear author, do not have time to waste.

If you’ve used the social network for any length of time, you’ve seen hashtags floating around at the tail end of the 140 character tweets. Here’s what you need to know to use them well.

Hashtags are used for:

Indexing emotions (#Vague #OhNoHeDidnt)
Identifying a Brand (#Ferrari)
Recommending a Product (#BestRead)
Connecting with like-minded people (#MemoirChat)
Finding Experts (#AskAgent)

Some Twitter hashtags are easy to understand. #WritingTip and #WriteTips are tags that provide, you guessed it, writing tips. Others, like #FF are a little harder to understand. #FF stands for #FollowFriday. On Friday, Twitter users tag other users for their friends to follow.

If you don’t know what a certain hashtag is, you can look it up on TagDef. The chances are, it will be there. If you’re lost by all of this, one of our social media experts can help you out.

Here’s our list of essential Twitter Hashtags. You should use them and monitor them. If you are using TweetDeck, it is easy to monitor hashtags. Just create a new column to follow the hashtag. Monitor away and jump in to the conversation.

Connect With Other Authors –

#AmWriting
#AmEditing
#WordCount
#WriterWednesday (or #WW)
#WritersLife
#YALitChat
#LitChat (every M/W/F)
#MemoirChat (every other Wednesday at 8 pm ET)
#BookMarket (Thursday’s at 4 pm ET)
#ScriptChat (Screenwriters)
#PoetTues
#ZineChat
#WritingParty
#IndieAuthors
#WriteChat
#NaNoWriMo
#WANA (We Are Not Alone community)
#PBLitChat (Picture books only)

Connect By Book Genre –

#RomanceWriter
#SciFiChat
#KidLitChat
#RWA (Romance Writers of America)
#ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers)
#MGLit (Middle Grade Lit)
#SCBWI (Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators)
#MemoirChat
#FlashFic
#Romance
#Horror
#FanFic
#YA
#History
#Biopic

Tweetables –

.@AuthorMedia can’t count. There’s more than 45 hashtags for authors here. – Click to tweet.
So many hashtags for authors…which one should I use first? – Click to tweet.
Finally, a list of hashtags for authors. – Click to tweet.
Time to tweet smarter. – Click to tweet.
I’m an author, tweeting about hashtags for authors. #Ironic – Click to tweet.
45+ essential Twitter hashtags every author should know. – Click to tweet.

Get Industry Information –

#WritingTip
#WriteTip
#GetPublished
#BookMarket
#BookMarketing
#PromoTip
#SelfPublishing
#SelfPub
#Publishing
#AskAgent
#AskAuthor
#AskEditor
#EBooks
#IndiePub (or #IndiePublishing)
#BookMarketing
#PubTip

Get Your Creative Juices Flowing

#WritingPrompt
#StoryStarter
#WordAThon
#Creativity
#WIP (work in progress)
#1K1H (write one thousand words in one hour)

Connect With Readers

#FridayReads
#BookGiveaway
#MustRead
#LitChat
#StoryFriday
#MustRead
#TeaserTues
#BookGiveaway
#FreeBook
#FreeDownload
#Kindle
#Nook

What hashtags do you follow? Which chats do you like to jump in on? Let us know in the comment section.

PS – Your book should have a hashtag of it’s own.

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36 Comments

Linsey Lanier on January 24, 2012 at 6:46 pm

Wow, I have been waiting for a post like this. Thank you so much, Caitlin!
- Caitlin Muir on January 25, 2012 at 9:11 am
  
  You’re welcome! Happy Tweeting!
  - Jhon piller on August 9, 2019 at 7:54 am
    
    Thanks for such wonderful post i will surely use your suggestion, i generally use hashtags-tags.com for hashtags suggestion.
Casi on January 24, 2012 at 6:52 pm

Lovely. I’m with Linsey. I’ve been waiting for a list like this. But you missed one: #30min1k one thousand words in thirty minutes.
- Caitlin Muir on January 25, 2012 at 9:11 am
  
  That IS a good hashtag. But I’ve never been able to hit that word count. Especially when I’m tweeting!
Tony Noland on January 26, 2012 at 2:06 pm

There’s also #TuesdaySerial and #FridayFlash, used respectively to identify and promote serial fiction and flash fiction online.
- Caitlin Muir on January 26, 2012 at 9:31 pm
  
  Thanks for adding those, Tony!
John Soares on January 31, 2012 at 9:44 pm

Very good list — I found a couple of new hashtags to try.

I use #writing most of the time, and occasionally #amwriting.
- Caitlin Muir on February 2, 2012 at 9:41 am
  
  Glad you found the list helpful!
Emily Christou on March 6, 2012 at 3:10 am

Thank you for the list. It’s great help! I’ll start with:
#WritingTip
#WriteTip
#GetPublished
#IndiePub
#BookMarketing
- Caitlin Muir on May 31, 2012 at 1:39 pm
  
  Let us know how they work for you!
david nicol on May 27, 2012 at 3:27 pm

It seems that your post has been ripped off: http://www.wiseinkblog.com/social-media-2/31-twitter-hashtags-for-the-indie-author/

I suppose it’s a sign of success in a way….
- Caitlin Muir on May 31, 2012 at 1:41 pm
  
  Thanks for letting us know, David!
  
  I’m just happy more people are learning how to use hashtags!
Michelle Grogan on June 11, 2012 at 9:29 pm

Thank you so much for this!! I am already familiar with a few of these hashtags, but the ones I was not familiar with I am so glad to see here! Currently, I use #WIP, #FridayReads, #WW, #FF the most.
Darshana on June 12, 2012 at 3:52 pm

The ones I predominantly use are:
#kidlit
#picturebook
#bookaday

Thanks for the post!
Ken Ashe on June 14, 2012 at 8:49 am

There is some great info in this post, and I’m heading over to Twitter now!
Ken E Baker on July 30, 2012 at 4:09 pm

For a guy just getting into using hashtags, this is such a great article 🙂 Thanks for taking the time and effort to put this together – I have a dozen new words to start learning now 🙂
Lily-Bea on August 29, 2012 at 5:03 pm

Oh thanks for this! I will definitely be using some of these hashtags!
Maryann Miller on September 16, 2012 at 9:42 am

What a great resource. I have used some of those hashtags, but had not heard of many of them. Thanks so much for compiling this list.
Jo Deurbrouck on September 16, 2012 at 10:37 pm

Hey, I’ve got a fun addition for your ‘creative juices’ list: #cnftweet, sponsored/managed by Creative Nonfiction, a great little lit mag.
Viklit on September 27, 2012 at 12:33 pm

Great post and have linked to it in my blog post here: http://viklit.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/why-twitter-is-good-for-writing-and.html
Isla McKetta on October 13, 2012 at 12:44 pm

Thanks for the great list. I super-appreciate the way you’ve broken the hash tags into manageable chunks. I’d like to give a plug for #fridayfiction which was started by @HugoHouse. They suggest a new topic every week and writers tell a story in 140 characters. Some great relationships have been formed by #fridayfiction writers.
Borje Melin on October 20, 2012 at 5:17 pm

So simple. So thoughtful. So helpful Thnks a lot Caitlin!
Karen Tyrrell on November 4, 2012 at 10:35 pm

Thanks Caitin! … I’m sharing everywhere!
Heather Day Gilbert on March 1, 2013 at 6:50 pm

I also frequently use the #ACFW and #Christfic hashtags for Christian fiction updates. And I love the new #Momswrite tag. Perfect for writing mommas like me!
Keri Neal on April 8, 2013 at 4:47 pm

Great page! I have an addition to #LitChat
which i just found out today:
“@LitChat @authorkerineal Please not the time (4-5pmET) for #litchat moderated discussion andhold your tweets until after the chat.
Thanks. #litchat “. I got alot of hate tweets for this 🙂
Lexus on May 17, 2013 at 10:37 am

One I love is #storycraft. It’s a Sunday afternoon chat that always leaves me inspired.
Jordan on June 16, 2013 at 2:06 pm

Thank you so much for these. I was looking for active writing hashtags that were commonly used on twitter but didn’t really know of any beyond #amwriting. This posts will help me out a lot when I try to spread my message around on twitter. Thanks!
KB on July 23, 2013 at 1:45 pm

This is a fab easy to reference tool!
Jason Matthews on December 30, 2013 at 5:00 pm

Is #amreading out now?
Carrie on October 14, 2014 at 9:27 am

Connect with other authors, but also bloggers! As an author you want to blog about your work as well, including those hashtags in your posts. The Speaking of Wealth blog (http://speakingofwealth.com/hashtags-to-reach-your-target-market/) shares that advice really well. But this blog is an excellent breakdown of how authors can target their social networking market!
DB Nielsen on November 28, 2014 at 7:25 pm

Thanks Catilin.
Fab tips.

You may wish to include another # for contacting Authors

#IndieBooksBeSeen

🙂
Dee
Sue Coletta on November 29, 2014 at 8:36 am

I wanted to share on my FB page, but don’t see a share button, only a FB like. Am I missing it?
Alan Scott on January 11, 2015 at 5:21 am

Great helpful tips, as trying to market my fantasy horror books. I have self published but trying now to get the word out. Any tips are gratefully received.

Many thanks

Alan
Nội thất Hàn Quốc on February 3, 2020 at 3:32 am

Nice hashtags
proiettore Bewinner on February 26, 2020 at 7:27 pm

Guestposting seems like the best option when promoting your pYown blog