Spring into action! Tips on building your author platform

Spring has sprung, writers! So let’s talk about springing into author platforms and leaping into the details of exactly how to build it. Because writing is such an intensely personal activity, authors are often intimidated by publishers’ and literary agents’ desire for a large author platform. But isn’t the primary attraction supposed to be the writer’s skill and story?

Of course! However, a platform will help share your story, and it will be a good incentive for publishers and agents to invest time and energy into your book. 

By having a large following on social media, a blog, newsletter, website, or other platforms that showcase your writing, publishers will recognize that you have invested your own time and energy into your platform.  If you’re participating in the development of your following, then publisher will think, Why shouldn’t we?

​An author platform provides a built-in audience for your book.  Afterall, a publisher wants your book to sell as much as you do, and assuring a promising audience for your book is sure to catch a publisher’s eye.

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Seeking out your following is the most effective way to build your author platform.  If you write young adult fiction, you should advertise to teenagers perhaps through school visits, library book signings, and social media that has a primarily young audience such as Instagram.  If you write romance, you should advertise to adult women through book clubs, newspaper articles, and of course social media such as Facebook, which is used mostly by women over thirty years old.

Author platforms are sometimes difficult to pursue but a breeze once you’ve got the process down.  First, you must figure out exactly what type of audience you want as your following.  Once an audience is defined, connect with readers by consistently interacting and corresponding with them through the platform in which you’ve chosen to pursue.  Also, dive into reading groups and make contacts with other people interested in similar subject matter. 

​Don’t forget to stay in contact with local organizations!  Those around you who already know and support you will build your author platform higher than you think––in fact, word of mouth is quite effective in selling books, especially to your built-in audience of family and friends!

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To stay organized and on top of your author platform, here’s a bulleted list you can check off as needed while building your platform.
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• Create a social media page to target the audience interested in your genre​
• Contact journalists/newspapers about an author interview (Tip: newspapers in small towns around you will be very likely to speak with you and will likely contact you for a follow-up article)
• Create an author website where people can learn about you and your book
• Ask your local Barnes and Noble when they’re having their next “local authors book signing”
• Contact indie bookstores about hosting a book singing there
• Post on social media and your website every book review, award, accomplishment, and signing
• Research magazines’ specific audience and pitch your article to them

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Another way to get build your platform and spread your title as an author is to have a book launch party! Find a venue, set a theme from your book, and have themed baked goods and drinks to share.  But before the party, have local press write a piece on the event to spread the news about the time and place of the party and invite all who want to come out and support you. Also, a book launch is the best way for an author to spring into the adventurous life of a writer!

See how much fun building your author platform can be? While it might seem intimidating at first, once you’ve got all the right tools and resources to build, there’s nothing stopping you from being on your way to the Bestseller list!  

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​Macy Cochran is a freelance editor and writer for the Tryon Daily Bulletin. Learn more about how to work with Macy on her website at ElegantEditingServices.com or by email at eleganteditingservices@gmail.com. ​

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