What can be more exhilarating to any author in 2024 than the ‘author platform’? Don’t worry. We feel you. We don’t blame you. Every author in the early 20th century went through it, But now, after a lot of research, we were able to crack the code to crack the marketing game. As an author, establishing a strong online presence is critical for connecting with readers, promoting your work, and, ultimately, selling books.
Think of your author platform as a digital hub where you showcase your writing, share your expertise, and build a loyal community. But are you thinking about where to start? Well, this blog can be your blueprint. If you follow the steps carefully, you are sure to craft an author platform
Why Do You Need an Author Platform?
First things first, let’s clarify the concept of what an author platform is. Well, it can be defined in any way that tells the audience about your authorship and the book you have published. Every author needs it for two purposes: to create awareness that eventually snowballs sales. You can certainly leverage eBook ghostwriting services or sign up for a deal with some professional publishing agency. Let’s talk about why you need a platform that promotes your books and showcases your achievements.
Increased Visibility: For almost every author, the two things that matter the most are book sales, creating a readership, and reaching a broader audience. Well, you can market on any platform to get increased visibility but strategically stand out in a crowded market.
Credibility: Building an author platform or even an author’s brand can establish yourself as an authority in your genre. People will trust you more and buy more from you, which can help you in the building credibility and foster trust.
Connection: The more connections you have, the better you engage with readers, gather feedback, and build a loyal following. This eventually contributed to the book sales.
Marketing Power: There are several platforms where you can promote your book, events, and services. Marketing games can be a game-changer for any author. Following are the steps you can take to build a better author platform.
Step 1: Define Your Brand
Before you start searching for marketing tactics, all you need to first with a clean slate is you should define your own brand and:
Identify Your Genre: Identifying a genre is very important as it is of utmost importance to be specific. To be successful, target the right audience. Focus on your primary writing category so you can target a specific brand.
Develop Your Unique Voice: To be known as a unique figure, you must have a unique and own voice. Share your perspective, values, and personality, and try maintaining your unique tone in your writing style and keep it consistent to build a prominent personality.
Craft Your Author Bio: Concise, compelling, and consistent across platforms.
Step 2: Choose Your Platforms
Now, once you’re done identifying your unique audience and your genre, it’s time to choose a platform where you can market or build a proper author platform; you can utilize a variety of platforms like:
Website: Having a website for an author can serve as a central hub for your author brand. This could also build credibility and foster trust. (e.g., WordPress, Wix).
Social media: Select social media platforms where your target audience is most active and start posting and raising awareness on the specific platform (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram).
Email Newsletter: Building a subscriber list for exclusive updates can help marketing and create awareness in the audience.
Step 3: Create Engaging Content
The next step is pretty predictable, to guess. Yes! It’s creating engaging and trendy content to market effectively. Don’t miss out on trends and content that can captivate the audience; you can leverage the following:
Blog Posts: Share writing tips, industry insights, or personal anecdotes.
Videos: Author interviews, readings, or tutorials.
Podcasts: Guest appearances or hosting your show.
Social Media Posts: Share updates, quotes, or behind-the-scenes insights.
Step 4: Grow Your Audience
Then, the final step is growing your audience by doing something out of the box as posting and sitting idle, waiting together your book sales 10x can’t be possible. Try:
Collaboration: Collaborating with fellow authors, influencers, or industry experts.
Engage: Make sure to respond to comments, answer questions, and show appreciation.
Optimize: Use SEO techniques to improve visibility. People often forget this, but this can be the secret sauce for getting on top.
Giveaways: To snowball the engagement, you can host contests or offer exclusive content to maximize sales.
Step 5: Leverage Your Platform
Then last but not least is to leverage your platform using:
Book Promotions: Then there comes book promotions; you can share updates, excerpts, or special offers to hook the audience and compel them to buy it with value.
Events: Hosting events like signings, webinars, or workshops can result in the spread of awareness among the readership.
Services: Offer your audience more value, like offering them editing, coaching, or speaking services.
Newsletters: Share exclusive content, updates, or promotions to intrigue the audience.
Conclusion
Summing up the whole blog, we see that building an author platform takes time and effort, but it’s essential for successful book marketing. Having an author platform can help you focus on providing value, engaging with your audience, and showcasing your expertise. If you read the whole blog till the end, we hope that you have an idea of what to do but, more importantly, how to do it.
By following these steps carefully, you can establish a strong foundation for promoting your work and connecting with readers. If you are an extremely busy person, you can opt for online book marketing services and work with a professional ebook ghostwriting agency having experience in this field. There are multiple platforms offering freelance marketing services. You can for sure leverage them if your book sales are stagnant, or you can follow these steps.