Your Writer Platform

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

The Writer’s Weekly Wrap-Up (Issue #13)

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The Writer's Weekly Wrap-Up (Issue #13)This 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!)

Don’t Waste! Recycle Your Content

You’re convinced that building your writer platform is a necessary evil, and you’ve even managed to set up your author headquarters and create content for your website with some regularity.

But seriously!

Who has the time to continually produce ‘epic’ content for a website, rock several social media platforms with brilliant wit and casual banter AND knock out a respectable daily writing quota?

Not me, and I’m betting not you either!

So here’s a short checklist of ways you can repurpose the great content you already have, as well as get extra mileage out of your future posts:

  • build on a theme or idea that you’ve already written about; go deeper or try approaching the topic from a different angle.
  • turn an in-depth post into a video series, discussing each point separately in 5 minute mini-productions.
  • transcribe an interview or podcast, tweak it and turn it into a blog post.
  • take a pillar post and create a slideshow presentation for Slideshare.
  • mine your blog post or interview for great quotes that you can turn into Tweets, Facebook conversation starters or beautiful text-on-image graphics for Pinterest.
  • use an older, but evergreen post, to develop a PDF download or email opt-in series to give away as your ‘ethical bribe’ to incentivize new subscribers to sign up to your email list.

Now that you’ve got some ideas for making your content work harder for you, take a breather and enjoy this week’s wrap-up of featured articles and resources! [Read more…]

The Writer’s Weekly Wrap-Up (Issue #12)

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Writer's Weekly Wrap-Up (Issue #12)This 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!)

Don’t Sell; Engage

What do your readers want?

What do you want as an author?

What can you share that your audience desires, and what will you receive in return?

Engagement develops from finding the common ground, the similar interests and the mutual needs between you and your readers.

This shouldn’t be difficult, forced or phoney–but real and genuine.

“Effective engagement is inspired by the empathy that develops simply by being human.”

– Brian Solis

So strive to include this simple premise of engagement in your efforts to build your writer platform.

Commit to your readers not only by developing yourself as a writer, but by sharing the most important and relevant parts of your growth with them.

Ensure that those that should be aware of your work, are.

Listen to–and acknowledge–their compliments, criticisms and interpretations.

Include your readers in the process of your artistic expression, and let them share the journey with you.

If you do this well, you will never have to ‘sell’ another book. [Read more…]

The Writer’s Weekly Wrap-Up (Issue #11)

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The Writer's Weekly Wrap-Up #11This 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!)

Give More Than You Get

Some authors equate book marketing with dodgy used car sales techniques and not only refuse to take part, but feel dirty just thinking about it.

Others wholly embrace aggressive, guerrilla-style marketing, and feel that the more noise and blinking neon signs the better.

Still others recognize that there may be a third option, but are overwhelmed at the time, effort and attention that may be required to build a quality ‘platform’ while trying to squeeze precious writing time into an already packed schedule.

So here’s what you need to do:

  • Don’t fear marketing; if it feels bad, you’re not doing it right.
  • Pull, don’t push. Draw people to you; don’t pop out of the bushes and hit them over the head with a club (a.k.a your book).
  • Stay calm and ease into it. Building your writing career isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme, so expect to put in a lot of work before you reap the benefits.

The best tip is to spend your time giving, long before you begin to ask for something in return. Give more than you get, add unmistakeable value and develop relationships that are as advantageous to the other person as they are to you.

Marketing is really just creating an environment that makes you, and what you have to offer, irresistible to those who won’t resist. [Read more…]

The Writer’s Weekly Wrap-Up (Issue #10)

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The Writer's Weekly Wrap-Up (Issue #10)This 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!)

Grab a Beverage!

Drastic climate changes are common for those of us who are native Albertans, which means that despite “summer-time” on the calendar, you may still find a few of us (ok, me) hugging a steaming cup of latte or Chai Tea.

But, whatever the weather where you are, choose your beverage of choice–either cold and frosty or hot and frothy–and settle in for the tenth issue of The Writer’s Weekly Wrap-Up!

Featured Articles

The One Factor that Will Determine Your Creative Success by Bryan Hutchinson at The Positive Writer

Bryan reveals the one thing that separates true greatness from the ordinary. Find out what’s required so you can begin working toward creating something extraordinary.

How To Target an Audience (And Avoid Book Launch Flop) by Kimberley Grabas at Your Writer Platform

In case you missed the article this week, I discuss the importance of discovering your target audience and how to do it: “the key is to identify and research what your true target audience craves, recognize the unique and meaningful aspects of what you have to offer, and align the two to benefit your ideal reader in an exceptional way.” [Read more…]

The Writer’s Weekly Wrap-Up (Issue #9)

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Writer's Weekly Wrap-Up #9This 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!)

SEO and Social Media: Making it Work For You

Changing things up a little this week in the Writer’s Weekly Wrap-Up, I’m sharing a portion of an email that I received from Brad–a new subscriber–regarding his struggles with SEO and social media.

Although a writer and marketer for almost 40 years, Brad says there are still aspects he finds “unfathomable” about applying the principles of SEO, and wonders whether social media (Facebook in particular), has any real ‘social’ or book marketing value:

“…what I struggle with most: how to use SEO principles to draw people to my site (and buy my books and such) AND how to understand, value, and control most social media, especially Facebook.”

Hopefully my response to Brad’s email will help clarify some of your own questions about tackling SEO and social media in your book marketing strategy. [Read more…]

Authors with Platforms Sell Books.

It’s that simple.

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