This is what I see happening a lot:

1. Using Facebook live, an author starts announcing to her network her book. “Buy my book! It’s on sale for $4.97. It’s available at x bookstores!”

2. She waits.

3. A few minutes later, several “likes” on Facebook come pouring through. Then a few comments. She gets excited. For in her mind, this means “a buy.”

4. She continues in this fashion tagging multiple people – soon it appears she gets a following as she tags more and more individuals. At the end of the day, she tallies all the comments and likes feeling quite proud of herself know that she’s into Facebook live. As a local author, this is what she thinks she needs to do and so she does this daily and eventually, the likes and the comments start trickling down and eventually disappearing altogether.

You may equate this strategy to building a name for yourself as an author, but  this doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve built visibility for your content unless you’re using Facebook live as a means of building your platform.

Building visibility around content-rich information is key to building your platform!

I will argue that these “short Facebook live” announcements are effective for the moment. They are just a short-term strategy plan. An add on. But they aren’t enough.

 

The social media space is flooded with published books. There’s just too much noise. Too much saturation. Too. Much. Too. Much.

Your job is  to rise above the noise.

This does not mean you need to write a larger-than-life story. Or a bestselling book.

You need to build your platform from the ground up.

You need to find a way to get your readers to care.

That’s the way to their pocketbooks. Whether you’re writing about teenage pregnancy or a short story about a teenage girl who gets pregnant.

You might be thinking to yourself, “well, hey, I’ve got my own personal network of peeps who will definitely buy my book.”

And that’s great.

Allow me to clarify a certain misconception going around that an author platform = your own personal network on Facebook and beyond.

I say this because when a client tries building her platform, she often doesn’t quite understand why people in her network don’t care enough about her book to buy it beyond her close circle of family and friends.

What’s your expectation? To sell just a few hundred copies or to reach out to many readers whose can benefit from your book?

The whole concept of platform building is NOT social media.

In fact, social media accounts for only 10%. 10%!!!

Here’s what you need to know about platform building:
1. A platform is a tool used for promotion. It’s a way to sell yourself as an expert and to promote and sell the products, books or services that you have to offer.
2. It’s a method for publicity and a way of branding yourself. According to Dr. Deborah Siegel, a writing coach and co-founder of SheWrites.com, the editor’s definition of a writer’s platform is “qualifiable proof that you’re the person to write this book and quantifiable proof that you have the ability to promote it.”
3. Your author platform will ultimately be based on how many fans you have, how much publicity you can garner and what kind of network you’re tapped into.
4. Acquisition editors at many publishing houses are placing extraordinary emphasis on platform and are actually no longer the deciders of what makes a good book. Since this phenomenon has been true for several years and we can’t exactly make it go away, we need to be our best promoters and platform builders regardless of the format of how we are publishing.

 

Your online readers are hungry for content-rich information they can’t get from just Googling a topic. For takeaways. For solutions to their problems. To learn about issues and themes they care about. Something they can identify with. You’ve been in that moment when something you’ve read resonated deeply with you. That’s because the writer took the time to put herself out there in a way content-rich that made her accessible.  This is what makes them care. And follow you.

 

 

This is WHY creating an impactful experience gives your readers a chance to learn more about you and your book. And the beauty is.. you don’t need to wait until your book is published. Over time, your reader will feel they’ve gotten to know you in ways they couldn’t.

There are two main ways to create content that creates an impactful online experience: your book and yourself as a writer. Both approaches are excellent platform building tools.

1.Draw interest in your book’s subject.

Dig into your expertise by listing compelling subjects that you care about. This is where content mapping can be extremely useful. Remember, your job as an author is to create an impactful online experience. No “buy My Book” fluff!

Non-fiction is extremely compelling for the reader and it’s an easier sell!  Think of content as building that connection.

Think of “how-tos,” lessons or takeaways your readers can apply to their lives? Are there any newsy events that support the themes  of your book?

If you could teach a topic of value from your book to a group of participants, what subjects would you teach?

2. Provide access to your writing world

I don’t know about you, but I LOVE reading posts online about how other authors work, their creativity and writing process from the start to the finish, how they work through blocks, cover design inspiration, writing spaces, challenges of parenting through writing and vis-versa and the list goes on.

Believe me when I say that you WILL build community, one post at a time when you share of yourself this way because every other writer has encountered these difficulties and is looking for solutions.

 

Over to You

As a subscriber to the Giving Voice to Your Courage platform, you get first time access to a very special online course I’ve been putting together called “Build Your Author Platform with Courage” and soon I’ll be asking for input.

The beta version of that course will be offered at a discount before it is officially released. But you have to be part of the Facebook group community “Groovy and Be You in Content” to get access and learn more.

Click here now to be part of the Groovy and Be You in Content community. 

The beauty about building a platform is that you don’t have to wait until your book is finished to get the word out. You can start RIGHT NOW!

This is not a course on how to blog your book but how to create an experience that will deeply connect with your readers so they will be drawn to learn more about your book. That is what platform building is all about.

 

No-one wants to write a book only to watch it sink to the bottom of the sea of unknown authors without a trace.

Click here now to be part of the Groovy and Be You in Content community.