Thursday, March 31, 2011

Colson Whitehead Novel on Twitter

Back in February, I posted an entry about the early buzz concerning Colson Whitehead's upcoming novel Zone One, which will be released October 18, 2011. I took notice because when Whitehead announced the release date for the novel on twitter, there was immediate chatter among the many tweeps out there that follow his work.

[Related: The Early Buzz on Whitehead's Newest Novel]

Well, today, someone (perhaps Whitehead) started a twitter account with the handle @ZoneOneNovel (October 18, 2011). Apparently, the twitter feed will focus on the novel. Or, better, the twitter feed will assume the persona of the novel.

The opening tweet went: "...Father?"

And on his twitter site, Whitehead responded: "Yes, son?"

Later @ZoneOneNovel tweeted: "It's cold here. Why am I so cold?"

@ColsonWhitehead responded "You haven't been bound yet. You're just a lump of words & a cover concept."

As of 5:30 eastern time, @ZoneOneNovel has 70 followers and is following one person, Colson Whitehead.

It'll be interesting to see how this project develops. It's certainly one of the first and only novel twitter accounts that I am aware of by a work of African American literary fiction.

Beyond how much publicity the twitter project will gain for Whitehead, I'm interested to learn how this new approach will affect the promotional campaigns for others novels and books by black writers.

Stay tuned.

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