What is an Author Platform and Why Do Writers Need One?
What is an author platform? Why do you need one? These are questions many authors have when starting out. It is a topic frequently discussed at writing conferences with varying definitions and opinions. When meeting with agents and editors they may ask you about your author platform. But what Is it exactly? In this article, we go over What is an Author Platform and Why Do Writers Need One?
What is an Author Platform?
When an editor or someone in the publishing industry asks you about your author platform, what they really want to know is “How are you going to reach your audience to sell books.”
Someone without an author platform is a riskier bet to take on because they are not well known and may not be able to sell enough books to cover publishing costs and still make a profit. After all, this is a business.
Aspiring Writer Academy's Definition of an Author Platform is: “Having a direct way to connect with your audience, allowing you to build a relationship with your fans so you can easily sell more books!"
An author platform includes everything that you do both online and offline to promote and create awareness about who you are, your brand, and your books. It is how you connect with and build your audience. That way, when it is time for you to announce that your next book is ready for pre-orders, you have raving fans who are excited and can't wait to purchase your novel.
Platform building is a complex process that looks different for every author. An author platform is not spamming the Internet and social media with promotional posts saying "buy my book, buy my book." It should be a more natural process of telling your story and genuinely connecting with your fan base. Your target readers should feel that they have found their tribe and be excited about the content you share because it is already what they love. You want your audience to enjoy getting to know you as an author and look forward to your posts, not be annoyed by them. Think about what you are giving your audience.
What's the Most Important Part of your Author Platform?
Your Hub/Author Platform Home Base!
Your author hub is the center or home base of your whole platform. Social media and other outlets all need to direct traffic to a home base you control. Control of your platform is crucial to any author because social media sites come and go. Just look at Myspace, which has lost popularity. Reaching your fans on Facebook organically is getting harder each year. Even organic reach on Instagram is shrinking while TikTok is becoming the new social media rage. A social media platform can delete your post or block you for any reason at any time. If that happens you can lose all your hard work. Social sites can crash on the day of your book launch. Having the ability to reach your audience despite the ever-changing social sites is critical for authors and that is why you should build a hub that you fully own.
Now you may be asking yourself okay, what is a hub that I can control? A home base for an author is most commonly their author blog/website and their email list.
By having a self-hosted website, you can switch website hosts and still have the front end of your site up and running at all times. An author can likewise take their email list and change email newsletter service providers anytime they wish and still have full control of their list. The email list is the most important part of your platform's home base. Without an email list, you cannot contact your readers. It is also important to have a blog that is built into your website so that you can bring people to your hub with every post that you write. This allows you to engage with your audience whenever you wish and there is no fear of your post being taken down or blocked, because you have full control.
Remember: Your Author Platform's home base is your Website/Blog, and your Email list. You have full control over these 3 elements.
Your Author Platform Funnel!
An author platform encompasses all social media, content media, offline marketing in addition to your blog, website, and email list. It is the collective of all these different outlets that create your author platform.
Social media, content media, and offline marketing all work together to create Brand Awareness about you and your books so that you can begin the process of building a connection with your fans. This brand awareness phase is where your audience is just starting to learn who you are and what kind of books you write. In time, your audience gets funneled to your website/blog and your email list where you further nurture those relationships with your audience.
When your audience is actively visiting your website/blog or reading your emails they enter the Interest/Consideration phase. Your audience is engaging with your content and they become interested in reading what you write.
Now when you announce your next book launch, you should have excited fans who will move into the Desire/Take-Action phase where they can't wait to purchase your books.
Social Media Examples:
- Goodreads
- TikTok
- Youtube
- Interactive Online Launch Party's
- Live Streams
Content Media Examples:
- Articles
- Guest Posts
- Blog Tours on Book Blogs
- Podcasts
- Blogging
- Press Releases
- Amazon Author Central Page
Offline Examples:
- Book Signings
- Book Readings
- Book Launch Party's
- In-person, telling people about your books
- Speaking Engagements
- Participating at Writing Conferences
- Make a Guest Appearance on podcasts, radio, or television
Your Home Base:
- Email List
- Website
- Blog
Every Writer's Author Platform Looks Different.
The content you create and share should be consistent with who you are as an author, what types of stories you write, and which ideas and themes you embrace. There is not a one-size-fits-all on what your platform will look like. Some authors have themes that become a part of their brand and it is up to you as an author to find your own niche. For example, an author who writes stories about heroic football players will create a lot of promotional content that has to do with sports. A fantasy writer may include pictures or make-believe facts about dragons, fairies, elves, or castles on their website. A thriller writer may enthrall their fanbase with darker, grittier color schemes on their blog and talk about different kinds of weapons.
Why Do Writers Need an Author Platform?
The primary purpose of an author platform is to increase book sales!
If you do not build an audience of loyal fans, then it is very likely that when you go to announce the launch of your next book, you will only hear crickets. Maybe you will get a few book sales from close family and friends but it will not be the dream launch you had envisioned with lots of pre-orders. After working for months at a time to create a book, it would be extremely disappointing if no one read it. If you do not wish to publish and are only writing as a fun hobby, then you do not need to create an author platform.
But for any writer who wants to grow readership, make money, and have a real writing career, building an author platform is a must!
In the end, the ultimate goal for your author platform is to stay in touch with your readers, build connections, and simply sell more books. By having a built-in author platform you can connect with your readers any time you wish with a home base over which you have full control, one that is not dependent on the ever-changing social sites.
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If you have any questions or would like to leave a comment below, we would love to hear from you!
Our Goal for Aspiring Writer Academy is to help people learn how to write quality fiction, teach them to publish and promote their work, and to give them the necessary tools to pursue a writing career.
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Samantha Panzera is an adventurous travel blogger, graphic designer, and multi-media business entrepreneur who uses the experience she’s gained over the years to teach aspiring writers the skills they need to build an author platform and take their careers to the next level.