You need to build your platform now! I probably should have posted this much earlier. There are so many things that need to get done as a writer that it’s hard to keep juggling everything. Your platform is your contact base. Yes, it will start with friends and family, but hopefully, with the right attention it will grown to reach your target audience. I am no expert in this area so I’m going to suggest a few sites for you to check out. Brooke Warner on theWriteLife.com does a good job of getting you started. You really need a website (WordPress is a good place to start). Then you need to be consistent and helpful. You should separate your personal Facebook page where you post pictures of your kids and your dogs, from a professional author Facebook page where you stick to things dedicated to your writing. Of course, to build my following, I posted on my personal page for my friends and family to go follow my professional page. I just reminded them not to try to post personal messages for me there. You need to start somewhere!
Joel Friedlander in TheBookDesigner.com gives great advice on where to find free resources and information to get started. I’ll copy some here but go check out his full article.
- Simon & Schuster Says Authors Should Blog and Social Network from Joanna Penn’s The Creative Penn blog, chock full of “platform” links.
- The Dreaded Author’s Platform by agent Rachelle Gardener.
- Welcome To Publetariat Vault University! by Indie Author April L. Hamilton.
- How to Build an Author Platform by author and Writer Mama Christina Katz
- Building an Organic Web Presence by Marketing Maven Carol White
- It’s Not the Size of Your Platform, It’s the Magic in It by Tribal Author Jonathan Fields