Your Writer Platform

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Building Your Author Brand: The Most Common Mistakes Writers Make

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Building Your Author Brand_ The Most Common Mistakes Writers Make _ YourWriterPlatform.com

Branding plays a surprisingly important role in your author business.

Every time someone sees your name, lands on your website, reads your book or listens to you speak, you’re reinforcing what you want them to know about you and your work.

And whether you actively shape it or not, with every touchpoint or seemingly ‘insignificant’ interaction, your brand is being formed.

That’s why it’s critical to decide upfront what story you want to tell.

In this 3-part Author Branding Series we’ll:

[Read more…]

Personal Branding for Authors: What It Is And Why It’s Essential

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Personal Branding for Authors_ What It Is and Why It's Essential _ YourWriterPlatform.com

Personal Branding for Authors: A Simple Definition

Personal branding can be a vague term…

It isn’t just a website, a font choice or a clever tagline. It’s a blend of your skills, talents, values, interests, and beliefs reflected through your writing, online presence, and offline interactions.

For authors, it’s often a mix of professional and personal branding which includes what you do, why you do it and who you do it for.

It’s also an indicator of your value to your readers, industry professionals, influencers or other key players in your topic area or genre.

What Makes You Different?

It’s not enough just to be good at what you write.

You must be able to easily and clearly communicate your vision or the purpose behind your work, and coherently voice its importance to others.

This is why effective branding is such a big and significant part of developing and growing your writer platform.

In this three-part series we’ll:

  • Clarify what personal branding is, and why it’s essential to incorporate into your writing business if you want to stand out from the crowd.
  • In post two of this series, we’ll cover the most common mistakes writers make when building their author brand.
  • And finally, in post three, we’ll focus on brand strategy and how you will connect your work and writing to the people who will be most inclined to read and appreciate it.

[Read more…]

Best Practices for Authors Looking to Optimize Their Marketing Strategy

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Best Practices for Authors Looking to Optimize Their Marketing Strategy | YourWriterPlatform.com

Ilan Nass and his company have consistently helped businesses launch, track, and improve their social media marketing and ad campaigns. In this guest post, he’ll share his expertise and social strategies, outlining simple ways authors can optimize their marketing strategy to grow their network and increase book sales.

It’s an unfortunate truth that writing a good book doesn’t guarantee an author’s success.

With so many others vying for readers’ attention, it’s important to implement an effective marketing strategy. Various brands rely on best practices instilled by a Facebook advertising specialist or Instagram expert to promote their products, and authors may consider doing the same to attract a broader audience.

However, if hiring a professional is not currently in the budget, the onus is on authors to understand which marketing channels are available, and which will fit best with their marketing objectives.

Popular options include various social media platforms, a website, and email marketing. The tips here will help you sell more books by explaining how to independently optimize each channel.

[Read more…]

5 Completely Avoidable Author Website Mistakes That Cost You Fans (And Simple Ways to Fix Them)

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5 Completely Avoidable Author Website Mistakes That Cost You Fans (And Simple Ways to Fix Them) | YourWriterPlatform.com

Your author website is the cornerstone of your writer platform and media presence, and it’s the one piece of real estate online that you can (mostly) control. In this guest post, David Loy (Co-Founder and CEO of Leverage Creative Group) outlines 5 mistakes writers often make on their sites that undermine their ability to build an active and supportive community around their work. He also includes simple ways to fix these mistakes. Enjoy!

Let’s say you’ve just read an amazing book or watched a captivating speaker.

They’ve drawn you in, and you want to learn more about them.

So, with high hopes and anticipation of more great content, you go to their website. [Read more…]

Build Your Writer Platform: Create a Strategic Plan to Grow Your Writing Career

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Create a Strategic Plan to Grow Your Writing Career _ YourWriterPlatform.com

If you’ve been trying to build your writer platform, grow your author biz AND still find time to write (and failing miserably), make sure to read this entire post because I may have the answer…

I’ve spent over two years developing and testing Believe, Plan, Act: A Platform + Productivity Planner for Writers, spurred on by the frustration and overwhelm of writers just like you, struggling to gain traction and build a career around their work.

I knew there had to be a way to streamline the process, improve focus and efficiency and empower writers to take an active role in both the creative and business aspects of their writing career.

So I created a complete author business planning system, designed to specifically address the needs of writers, and to help you build the FOUNDATIONAL elements of your platform and author business – everything from clarifying your creative and career goals, to strategic marketing, launch planning, and developing your author brand. [Read more…]

Authors with Platforms Sell Books.

It’s that simple.

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