Building your Author platform is an essential part of an author’s career these days, and I’m beginning to believe that it will always be a work in progress. It’s not something you “set and forget”, is it? Social media accounts must be tended, followers cultivated, and your website must be managed. And don’t forget to blog regularly, promote your next book, and then send out a dazzling newsletter! No one tells you when you are starting out how many tasks you’ll have to juggle on a regular basis, and it’s always evolving.
Building Your Platform
There are many websites, blogs, and online courses with helpful instruction on how to perform many of these tasks, but there is no one way or perfect method to handle the various duties that come with being an author in today’s world. We each have to find our own path. I have found networking with other authors to be the best source of information on how to find the right vendors and to learn what the best practices are for building and managing an author platform. If you see something that’s working for someone else, you can ask questions before you try it.
But even with all that advice available, it sometimes comes down to trial and error, and that’s where the growing pains may be. You may find, as I did, there are trade-offs, times when you have to compromise in order to make things work the way you want them to.
Making All It Work…Somehow
I recently set up my author website, and I’m happy with it. But my trade off was having to move my blog, and in the process I lost a few followers. So if you followed Renee Regent’s Blog on Wordpress, you can still see my posts at http://reneeregent.com. Click the Blog tab, then the Archived Blog Posts tab to see my previous posts. Or get to them directly by https://reneeregent.wordpress.com. The Current Blog tab will take you to my most recent post, and there is a place to sign up so you can get my posts by email, if you like. I have some exciting posts coming up, even a guest poster or two, so stay tuned!
The good news is my new website has much better Search Engine Optimization, and I’m gaining new followers as a result.
My point is this─you have to be flexible sometimes. My new website has a newsletter, my blog, and a place to advertise my upcoming books. For me, the price was right and it came with assistance I needed to set up and maintain it. I was reluctant to change from the blogging platform I had, but was unable to find a way to make it work the way I wanted it to.
Juggling Act
As I progress toward my first book launch, I’m learning other things, too. Like how to use Canva for promotional material; how to set up an author page and put my books on Goodreads; and what happens on promotional blog tours. I‘ve set up my Author page on Facebook, and even started using Instagram.
So. Many. Things!
And likely it will never end. That’s a lot to juggle, and I hear it gets worse (busier) after you’re published. Yikes! But I wouldn’t miss it for the world. How about you?
How are you getting it all done?
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