11 Tips for Building a Successful Writer's Platform

Recently, I’ve received several requests to write a post about how to build an writer's platform. Which makes sense, because this is probably one of the most difficult parts about being a writer. The act of writing is a very solitary task, but the act of selling that writing? You have to get out and interact. You have to impress. You have to sell. You have to talk. To people. Yeah. Those scary organisms many writers actively avoid.
I can just hear you groaning, “People. Why’d it have to be people?” Because we live in an era where everyone and their mother has the means to write and publish a book and market it on social media, that’s why. There’s a lot of competition, so getting out there and working to make friends and connections is the only way to get an edge.
But how do you get that edge? Well, I have good news for you. With the release of my debut story, I finally was able to put my platform to the test. And you know what? It didn’t collapse. So apparently I know what I’m doing. I guess. And I’d be more than happy to share with you some tips I’ve found helpful through my journey, as well as some points I wish people had told me before I started. Ready? Take a deep breath. Try not to get stressed. Let’s go:
The sooner you start your platform, the better. There really isn’t any good reason for waiting. Your platform isn’t going to build itself, so you might as well get started now. You do not have to have a published work to start up a blog or jump into social media. In fact, it’s better to get into this before you publish, for reasons I’ll explain later.Start with social media, and start slowly. Do you hear me? Start slowly. Otherwise you’ll get stressed, have a panic attack, choke on your coffee, pass out, hit your head on your bookshelf, and get a concussion. And we wouldn’t want that, now would we? Try starting with one or two social medias. I recommend Pinterest and Twitter for starters. Pinterest because it will be helpful for generated blog views later on (I get 80% of my visitors from Pinterest), and Twitter because it’s a good way to make personal connections with other readers and writers. After a month or so with those, you can branch out to a few more. Once you know you have a hang of that and haven’t gone into shock, then you can try starting up a blog.Make people like you. Building an author’s platform is a lot like the Hunger Games: You need to make the masses love you, otherwise nobody will sponsor you and you’ll be among the first to die. This is why I recommend starting social media first, then a blog, then publishing. That way people can get a sense for you as a person via social media before you start trying to sell them whatever it is you’re peddling. So when you jump in to social media, be yourself. Interact with other people. Show them who you are. How? Try this:Establish your online personality. Chances are, you have a lot of interests and a very diverse personality. Unfortunately, that’s a bit hard to pull off on social media. So pick parts of your personality that you think will serve you and your followers well. Now, I am NOT saying that you need to fake it. That doesn’t work. Just hone in on specific parts of you that you can easily display. Me? I built myself up as a sarcastic, funny, nerdy writer on a mission to create stories with meaning. That’s how I am in real life, which is why it works. Of course there are other sides of me (like the fact that I’m majoring in Nutrition or fighting Lyme or have a thing for classic movies), but I don’t broadcasts those as much because it’s too much information and often irrelevant. Pinpoint what makes you interesting and unique, then flaunt it. However….Don’t pigeon-hole yourself. You may write gothic fiction now, but what if you decide to branch of into historical fiction? You don’t want to be stuck with a platform geared only towards readers of gothic literature. And just because you’re a writer building a platform doesn’t mean you have to only tweet/pin/post about writing. Basically, you platform has to be broad enough to attract all kinds of people, but not so broad that people stumble across you on the web and can’t figure out what the heck your gig is or how it’s relevant to them.Remember that it’s not about you. Your platform needs to somehow be helpful to other people, otherwise they’re not going to want to follow you. Nobody cares what you ate for lunch or how your Aunt Peggy just bought you the most hideous purple sweater on earth (unless you can make a funny joke about it. Then make a funny joke. Never pass those up). You need to keep the focus on your audience. Some examples of how to do this would be: cheering people on via twitter, leaving reviews for indie writers, writing posts about topics you know people need help with, making people smile, and causing people to stop and think.Be friendly and helpful. Read and comment on other people’s blogs. Say hi to people on social media. Ask them what they’re doing, how they are, look around and see what people need help with. Be a decent, supportive human being and people are going to want to hang around.Don't be shy. If you want something, just ask. Do you want people to share your posts on social media? Put a little request at the bottom of your article. Do you want people to review your book? Just send them a tweet. The worst thing that can happen will be them rejecting you. Just shake it off. They probably don't have very good taste anyway.Don’t be obnoxious. I touched on this above, but I’m going to repeat myself because it seems like a lot of knuckleheads are ignoring this advice: While it's okay to be tenacious, don’t be a pest. Don’t expect other people to hand things to you just because you ask. Maybe you are brilliant, but don’t attack people for disagreeing with you. Try not to always be shouting about you, and what you did, what you’re doing, what so and so said about you. Nobody cares. Sorry.Find a writer that you enjoy and take tips from them. Do you have a blog you constantly read? Figure out what that blogger is doing right and apply it to your own platform. Follow fun people on social media and take mental notes of what they do that makes them fun. Use this for ideas only. Don’t be a copycat and always try to put your own personal spin on it. And don’t stalk people. I don’t care how many people think Edward Cullens was cute. Stalking is not cute. It’s creepy. Don’t do it. Ever.Remember that you’re going to screw up. And that’s okay. People aren’t perfect and nobody expects you to be…except maybe you. So stop expecting that and just open yourself up to exploring and having fun.Sounds scary, doesn’t it? That’s okay. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy. In the words of Grandmother willow: “Sometimes the right path is not the easiest.” So take a step back. Breathe. Everything is going to be fine. You can do this.
Remember that you’ve got a friend in me. If you have any questions or requests for a follow up post, please leave a comment or send me an email. I’d be more than happy to walk you through areas that you’re struggling with. And for those of you who have a hang of this author’s platform deal, please share your wisdom in the comment section!  
Related articles:
Be A Writer, Not An Author
5 Steps to Fighting Off Writer's Insecurity (And Your Overactive Inner Critic) 

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