Having a platform as a writer makes writing not only easier to keep in touch with your readers but promoting any work you are doing as well; getting the word out there about your book no matter if you are an self published author or been published by a big name company.
You see authors like Stephen king, J.K. Rowling and Stephanie Meyer still using twitter to promote and keep up to date on there readers and with the writing world always changing it can be hard to stay up to date on it and not fall behind.
Some of my biggest tips are as followed to help you build your author platform to the best of your ability and remember to always use resources available to you.
This goes without saying but if you don’t know who your readers are you cant efficiently interact with them. If your target audience is teens then you will need to use social media platforms to reach them like Tiktok, Instagram and YouTube but if your target audience is say middle aged men and woman then you should look into twitter and Facebook etc.
With the pandemic this one can be harder to accomplish but I do know some conventions are still on so its just a matter of research on your part to see what you can get involved with. In person writing groups can be an amazing way to meet other writers in your area and make life long friendships and contacts that can help spread the word about you. Conventions are also another way to stay active in the community.
It is very easy to get lost now on social media if you are not consistent. What ever platform you decide to work with as an author platform you need to really stick to a schedule so your readers know when to check for your posts as well as not missing a day if you can. If you choose a platform like twitter you should be writing tweets daily and not just one but many. I personally try for at least five posts spread out through my day to reach people in different time zones.
If you run a blog as a way to reach your audience think about writing guest posts on other writing related blogs. Reach out to fellow writers and both of you can write a blog post and upload it to your blogs so that you are using your readers to spread the word and love to other writers.
Doing interviews or going on someones podcast is also a good way to get out there and bring in new readers.
Everyone you know is a contact. By talking to friends and family sometimes even neighbors or people you meet you can boost word of mouth and not only get them to read your work but they are more likely to spread the word to there friends and people they know which immediately boosts how many people know about you.
I had a three hour layover back in 2019 and got to talking to a mother and daughter and found out that the genre I actually write in is the genre the daughter likes to read and it all started because I was working on my book while waiting and my mum got talking and told this ladies mother about my work which just goes to show how far words can go.
While Twitter can be hard to stay connected to the younger audience it is a valuable resource for writers to meet other writers. There are so many hashtags on Twitter that writers are active in daily and following that it is quite handy to use to make more contacts and friends as well as get help when you are stuck with writing itself.
You see authors like Stephen king, J.K. Rowling and Stephanie Meyer still using twitter to promote and keep up to date on there readers and with the writing world always changing it can be hard to stay up to date on it and not fall behind.
Some of my biggest tips are as followed to help you build your author platform to the best of your ability and remember to always use resources available to you.
1. ) Know your target audience.
This goes without saying but if you don’t know who your readers are you cant efficiently interact with them. If your target audience is teens then you will need to use social media platforms to reach them like Tiktok, Instagram and YouTube but if your target audience is say middle aged men and woman then you should look into twitter and Facebook etc.
2. ) Connect offline {if you can}
With the pandemic this one can be harder to accomplish but I do know some conventions are still on so its just a matter of research on your part to see what you can get involved with. In person writing groups can be an amazing way to meet other writers in your area and make life long friendships and contacts that can help spread the word about you. Conventions are also another way to stay active in the community.
3. ) Consistency
It is very easy to get lost now on social media if you are not consistent. What ever platform you decide to work with as an author platform you need to really stick to a schedule so your readers know when to check for your posts as well as not missing a day if you can. If you choose a platform like twitter you should be writing tweets daily and not just one but many. I personally try for at least five posts spread out through my day to reach people in different time zones.
4. ) Get out there
If you run a blog as a way to reach your audience think about writing guest posts on other writing related blogs. Reach out to fellow writers and both of you can write a blog post and upload it to your blogs so that you are using your readers to spread the word and love to other writers.
Doing interviews or going on someones podcast is also a good way to get out there and bring in new readers.
5. ) Contacts
Everyone you know is a contact. By talking to friends and family sometimes even neighbors or people you meet you can boost word of mouth and not only get them to read your work but they are more likely to spread the word to there friends and people they know which immediately boosts how many people know about you.
I had a three hour layover back in 2019 and got to talking to a mother and daughter and found out that the genre I actually write in is the genre the daughter likes to read and it all started because I was working on my book while waiting and my mum got talking and told this ladies mother about my work which just goes to show how far words can go.
6. ) Twitter
While Twitter can be hard to stay connected to the younger audience it is a valuable resource for writers to meet other writers. There are so many hashtags on Twitter that writers are active in daily and following that it is quite handy to use to make more contacts and friends as well as get help when you are stuck with writing itself.
