Your Writer Platform

Build your platform. Engage your fans. Sell more books.

The Writer’s Weekly Wrap-Up (Issue #2)

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Basketball hoopThis post is part of a weekly series on YWP, aptly titled “The Writer’s Weekly Wrap-Up”.

Each Sunday, I will endeavour to provide you with a curated list of the best articles I have seen throughout the week that relate to building your platform.

The featured articles cover topics on book marketing and promotion, blogging, social media and self-publishing. (I may even throw in a few inspirational and fun posts, just so that it’s not all work and no play!)

This week, consider looking at the ‘failures’ you’ve experienced in your writing career from a different perspective:

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

~ Michael Jordan

[Read more…]

How to Market a Book and Strengthen Your Author Platform with Goodreads

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How to Market a Book and Strengthen your Author Platform with Goodreads YourWriterPlatform.comImagine a magical place that gathers together 17 million of the most passionate readers who want to talk about, review and buy your book.

A place that not only allows, but encourages, both new and established authors to promote their books.

A place that provides FREE opportunities to

  • get your book in front of thousands of buyers,
  • conduct informal research (polls),
  • participate in a highly viral environment,
  • join or create groups with like-minded people on every literary topic imaginable,
  • create an author presence, connecting your book, your blog and your social media platforms.

Now imagine if Amazon purchased this magical realm of high quality, book-buying, book-loving influencers in the spring of 2013, likely leading to big opportunities to align your Amazon marketing to this Utopia.

If such a paradise existed, would you want to be a part of it?
[Read more…]

The Writer’s Weekly Wrap-Up

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your writer platform

This post is part of a new weekly series on YWP, aptly titled “The Writer’s Weekly Wrap-Up”.

Each Sunday, I will endeavour to provide you with a curated list of the best articles that I have seen throughout the week that relate to building your platform.

The featured articles will cover topics on book marketing and promotion, blogging, social media and self-publishing. (I may even throw in a few inspirational and fun posts, just so that it’s not all work and no play!)

Remember the old adage a chain is only as strong as its weakest link? Use these resources to help strengthen the ‘weak’ points in your writer platform and forge a solid career.

[Read more…]

35 Hot Blogs to Help 21st Century Writers Light Their Fire

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35 Hot Blogs to Help 21st Century Writers Light Their Fire _ YourWriterPlatform.com

Let’s face it. The business of writing is tough.

There is no ‘easy’ button to grow that fanatical fanbase that you know is out there.

So instead you’ve been scrambling around trying to piece together the platform puzzle on your own, with little to show for it other than a lot of frustration and a dull throb behind your left eye.

But there is something you should know that can make the road to success a little easier:

It takes a village.

No well known author has made it to the top of the pile without some help.

You may be able to figure it all out on your own, but why not grease the wheels with a bit of guidance from fellow writers, indie authors and marketing experts? [Read more…]

11 Author Website Must Have Elements

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11 Author Website Must Have Elements _ YourWriterPlatform.com

An author website has a lofty goal: it needs to not just be, but also needs to perform and respond.

No longer just a fancy, static, online business card, it is an author’s ‘homebase‘, a marketing and networking hub and a portal that allows communication to flow between an author and his or her readers.

Visiting an author’s website is one of the leading ways that book readers support and get to know their favourite authors better. The stronger the relationship, the more likely zealous advocates will spread the word about the author to friends, family and peers.

And website visits can translate directly into books sold.

Therefore, even if you are on social media or actively promoting your work offline, operating without a website is just silly. Why invest the time and energy in writing your book, getting it published and developing other marketing strategies only to be absent online? In today’s market, it is a huge drawback and a valuable promotional opportunity missed if your readers can’t easily locate you with a few quick key strokes.

The rub?

Learning how to design a website and incorporating the ‘must have elements’ requires some skills.

[Read more…]

Authors with Platforms Sell Books.

It’s that simple.

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