Howdy,
Now that I'm a soon to be published novelist, I've discovered something. I need to be serious about my platform. Whatever that is, exactly...??? I know, I know, in some ways, it's a good problem to have. My book is going to be FREAKING published! I have yet to not be excited whenever I write that.
I have some ideas about building a platform. Social media. Blogging. Check and check. Do I need to improve on both? I'm sure that's the case. At least, I'm not starting out at square one, and that's a good feeling. Still, expanding my platform is, dare I say, daunting. I mean, some of these successful authors have a gargantuan social media presence. It raises the chicken and the egg question. Which came first? The social media presence or the books? I haven't been following any of these people long enough on social media to know.
I do know I have work to do. I have a checklist, up until now mind fluff only, of things to try.
GoodReads– I've just started posting reviews in Goodreads. I'm not sure exactly how it works as far as gaining more exposure, but I do know writers use it. I've written some mini book reviews for my blog, so I figure it's a relatively painless way to expand my social media presence.
Facebook–I have an author page on Facebook, but that's not saying much. I need to figure out how to utilize this better and perhaps experiment with advertising later on.
Guest blogging – this actually intrigues me quite a bit. I don't mind writing blog posts, it's actually kind of fun. Social media just feels like work to me and I don't think I'm very good at it–I need lots of practice. Blogging, I think I'm OK at. Plus, presumably, it works. I have several leads I need to follow up on in this realm.
The resources on https://publishedtodeath.blogspot.com–I view this website as a trusted source for all things writing-related. There is a page dedicated to all kinds of resources to promote you're writing and build a platform.
Other resources – one thing has become clear to me, there are tons of services out there to help writers build their platform. That gives me hope that I won't be floundering forever. I think the intimidating aspect is having to sort out the zircons from the diamonds.
Anyway, I wish you luck in building your author platform too, and during this time pandemic, remember to social distance.