You knew this was coming. Everyone’s talking about it. Local news stations have an account. Your kids’ PTA has one. Most of the blogs you follow have one. Heck, even your dry cleaner has one.

So what can you really get out of Twitter other than updates on your friends’ lunches and the whereabouts of your coworkers on their off days?

Short, insightful glimpses into the lives of people that matter to you.

Now, let’s not get personal. I’m not talking about a best friend or a grandchild. I’m talking about people that matter to your goals. I was just as hesitant to join Twitter as the next guy until I realized how many literary agents tweet little nuggets of information to whomever is willing to listen in. The result is that I’ve learned more about publishing from Twitter than I would have from any book. Getting the information in such concise spurts (and from so many different perspectives) leaves no room for jargon or overwhelming confusion. The point is…people get to the point.

The hardest thing about joining Twitter is figuring out who to follow (follow me!). Shameless plug aside, if you have a book in the works and you’d like to learn a thing or two about publishing, here are my recommendations for some of the most informative literary agents you’ll find on Twitter (shall we call them Twiterary agents? Sound too creepy? Yeah, I thought so, too).

Colleen Lindsay of FinePrint Literary Management: Following Colleen is a true insight into the life of an agent living in NYC. She doesn’t hold anything back, whether that be things that ruin a query letter for her or the leaky roof in her apartment. And she’s very interactive, occasionally starting threads like #askagent where she takes questions on publishing and answers them in real time. (Anytime you see a word pre-fixed by the # symbol, it denotes a group of tweets unified by a particular topic.)

Nathan Bransford of Curtis Brown, Ltd (San Francisco office). Nathan’s that funny, smart guy who gets along with everyone and everyone wants to be friends with. Follow his tweets and definitely follow his blog, where he talks about craft, querying, and the publishing industry in general. Things like how royalties work, what an ARC is, and what phases comprise the publishing process can all be found on his blog, along with a chuckle or two.

Ginger Clark, also of Curtis Brown, Ltd. (New York). Ginger’s a great example of how blogging about one’s day can be relevant to the right audience. When she tackles a giant slush pile it’s a good reminder of the numbers our single query letter will be up against. When she gets a mani/pedi and gets pitched a book by the hair stylist at the salon, you get a sense of the times when it is and isn’t appropriate to pitch an agent.

Rachelle Gardner of Wordserve Literary: Rachelle reps fiction and non-fiction that would fit into the Christian marketplace, but her advice is relevant to writers of all genres and subjects. She really lets her personality shine through on Twitter: She’s a sweetheart, and you get the sense that if she were to reject your book, she’d be gentle, honest and constructive about it (as long as you’re nice, too. Few agents tolerate rude writers who whine about rejection).

Janet Reid of FinePrint Literary Management: Janet’s avatar is a picture of the smiling shark from Finding Nemo, which couldn’t be more dead-on. She’s of the tough love mentality, brutally honest about the difficulties in getting published and she doesn’t take BS from anyone. She’s also an incredibly helpful source of information for these same exact reasons.

Jennifer Laughran of Andrea Brown Literacy Agency, Inc.: Jennifer works mainly with children’s books, and though I’m not writing for this market I still love to read her reflections on the author events she attends, what does and doesn’t work, and her general advice like what questions writers should ask when they go to a writers conference. If you’re writing something for that market also keep your eyes open for the #kidlitchat thread, co-hosted weekly by @GregPincus and @BonnieAdamson, which, as its same suggests, is a conversation between a large community of agents, editors, aspiring writers and illustrators focusing on children’s literature. You can check out transcripts of past chats here.

Okay, so that’s only six of the 91 Tweeps I follow, but it’s a start. A great way to find more people to follow is to see who they’re following (or who I’m following. Sorry, gotta give it a shot.) and also check out their blogs and subscribe to them with Google Reader, so all their latest posts can be in one convenient place. Also check out the #pubtip threads, where you’ll find plenty of other agents, editors and writers who chip in with publishing advice.

If you join or if you’re already on Twitter, leave me your username in the comments so I can follow you!