Identifying Your Target Audience: The Top 8 Mistakes Writers Make

May 23, 2015 by Kimberley Grabas

(Want to avoid making costly mistakes when identifying your target audience? Scroll down to grab the FREE cheatsheet!)

Defining your target audience is much easier said than done.

Many writers end up skipping this step because they fail to recognize its importance in their book marketing plans.

But the truth is, identifying and understanding the wants, needs and desires of your ideal readership can “make or break” your marketing strategy.

Without a solid grasp of what makes your readers tick – and what they are really searching for – you will waste a considerable amount of time and energy promoting your work to an indifferent market.

Or worse, you’ll begin to receive pushback or negative reviews from people that your book was never written for.

But here’s the good news…

There is a wealth of information at your fingertips, about every audience and sub-genre imaginable.

From basic demographics like age, gender, location, income, occupation or ethnicity, to audience psychographics, like personality, attitudes, values, interests, hobbies, lifestyle and even behaviour.

The roadblock? [Read more…]

Are You Building Your Writer Platform at Gunpoint?

July 25, 2014 by Kimberley Grabas

The pressure is constant.

Everywhere you turn these days, you hear the word.

Platform.

It’s a must have, a deal breaker.

And you’re told that if you expect any success at all as a writer, you should have started building yours three years ago.

You hope for an out, but it appears that nobody can escape its reach.

Whether an Indie or traditional author, a writer of fiction or nonfiction, published or still grinding through your debut novel – the robustness of your platform is continually questioned.

So you’ve tried.

You’ve tinkered with a free blog, only to have it succumb to a quiet and anonymous death.

You’ve dipped your toe into the social media whirlpool and found yourself repeatedly dragged under.

Branding, guest posting, speaking engagements, blogging, media kits, email marketing, blog tours, networking, interviews, conferences, webinars… seriously?!

Oh, and don’t forget that you also have to write a book worth reading. Even the sturdiest of platforms won’t support a book that’s garbage. [Read more…]

Your Path to Influence: 17 Simple Ways to Make an Impact

April 23, 2014 by Kimberley Grabas

Languishing in obscurity?

Things pretty quiet on the visibility front?

You’ve tried to follow advice from the “guru de jour” to get your writing career on the map, but despite your best efforts, your ideal audience remains surprisingly resistant to your appeal.

What’s worse, is that you know it’s possible to build a loyal, invested community, because the evidence is all around you.

Somehow, both new and experienced writers are finding ways to stand out and get their work noticed.

But here you are, playing patty-cake with the crickets, debating if it would hurt to just let one of those spam comments through (it’s about time your blog got a little love, right?):

“am to a great extent impressed with the article I have just read. There is not much to say except the following universal truth: You never know where to look when eating a banana. I will be back.”

Okay, maybe not.

(Desperate chic is not the look that bestselling authors are wearing this season.)

So what does it really take to get noticed?

Let’s be honest. Some of the top-selling authors and über successful Indie-entrepreneurs are pretty impressive.

There’s no doubt they have that it factor that compels us to listen (or to act).

But are they six figures a year more charismatic than you? 65,000 plus Twitter followers wittier than you? Sell a million copies and get a sparkly-vampire-movie-deal more talented than you?

What is it that they have that you don’t?

Deep pockets? A better agent?

Nope. [Read more…]

101 Quick Actions You Can Take Today to Build the Writer Platform of Your Dreams

June 19, 2013 by Kimberley Grabas

What does it really take to build a writer or author platform?

Money?

Connections?

An intimate knowledge of vampires, wizardry or erotic romance?

Actually, the most important aspect to building an author platform is understanding that it’s about engagement; about connecting and interacting with people who are aligned with your message and affected by your story.

Your platform is a web of intertwined beliefs, values, emotions, thoughts, stories, images and ideas that stem from your own core philosophy and are ultimately shared by your fans.

The tricky part is finding ways to effectively share your message with an audience that is yet unknown to you, and you to them.

Establishing and maintaining a link to your potential ‘tribe’ is both the challenge and the reward of building your writer platform.

What can you do today to craft a powerful writer platform?

By understanding that your ultimate goals when creating a writer platform are to find, engage and cherish your audience, it makes the application of the tools much more effective.

But remember: insight is useless if you don’t take action. So, go through the list of tools and strategies below and choose those things that you can easily do today.

By starting with what you can easily accomplish you will a) be more likely to complete the tasks, and b) gain the confidence to start implementing some of the more challenging items on the list. [Read more…]

The Writer’s Weekly Wrap-Up

April 27, 2013 by Kimberley Grabas

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.

So you’ve tried.

What can you do today to craft a powerful writer platform?

[Read more…]

Authors with Platforms Sell Books.