Building an Author Platform to Connect Readers and Writers

By Iola Goulton | @IolaGoulton

Connecting readers and writers around the world. That's the International Christian Fiction Writers tagline. Our mission, if you prefer.

The contributors to International Christian Fiction Writers are all Christians. We live over the world, so we're definitely international. We're all writers, but we don't all write fiction. Some write non-fiction: book reviews, devotionals, articles, blog posts, books.

More important, we're all readers. I think it's fair to say we're all fiction readers, and we love novels with international settings. For some of us (like me), Hometown, USA is an international setting. For most of you, my home—New Zealand—is an international setting.

Contributing to a blog like this is one way of connecting with current and potential readers. It's part of our author platform. If you're a writer looking to get published, that's probably a term you've heard before. If you're a fiction fan, it might be new to you.

What is an author platform?

An author platform is any means by which authors connect with readers and sell books. An author platform typically includes:

• A website (which may or may not include a blog)
• Social media (especially Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter)

A platform may also include:

• An email list
• Contributing to group blogs (like ICFW or ACW or Inspy Romance or Suspense Sisters)

While an author platform is important for traditionally published authors, it's vital for self-published authors. Self-published authors don't have the marketing power or distribution networks of the big traditional publishers, which means there is no one to help. Self-published authors have to connect with readers and sell their books themselves.

And that's where having an author platform is important for authors.

A good author platform will achieve three aims:

1. Attract potential customers
2. Engage with potential customers
3. Convert potential customers into actual customers

Platform is not about selling—at least, it shouldn't be. 

It's about connecting and engaging. (The readers among you will be breathing a sigh of relief at that! Who wants to be sold to?)

I hear three common questions from writers about building an author platform:

1. When should I start building my platform?
2. What is considered a "good" platform?
3. How do I build my platform?

Let's look at each question in turn.

1. When should I start building my platform?

It's like planting a tree: the best time was twenty years ago. The second-best time is today. My view is authors should start building their platform as soon as they decide they are serious about writing and want to publish.

This is especially true for Christians, who are often writing as a ministry rather than as a profession. Building an author platform is a low-cost way of spreading the message God has given us. We don't need to publish the next Christian bestseller for our writing to be used by God. It could be enough to start a blog.

2. What is considered a "good" platform?

That depends on who you are asking. Some people look purely at numbers, but having 10,000 people on an email list that no one opens isn't as good as an email list of 1,000 (or even 100) if those people are connected, engaged, and ready to buy.

There is no straight answer. My best answer is that a "good" platform is one that helps you achieve your writing, publishing, and marketing objectives.

3. How do I build my platform?

This is the hardest question. Google "how to build an author platform" and you'll get thousands of answers. Some advice is free, some will cost you hundreds of dollars. A lot of the information assumes you already have a website,social media accounts,and that magic 10,000 people on your email list.

Very little information is aimed at the new writer who has nothing and doesn't know where to start.

That's why I developed my March Marketing Challenge: Kick-Start Your Author Platform.

It's a 40-day email challenge that takes participants through:

• The Marketing Mix
• What is Brand?
• Know Your Genre
• Know Your Target Reader
• Design Your Visual Brand: fonts, colours, author photo, website logo
• Create and Brand Social Media: Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest
• Create a Social Media Plan
• To Blog or Not to Blog?
• Create a Mailing List
• Website setup, configuration, design, and content

The Kick-Start Your Author Platform Challenge could be for you ...

• If you know you need to start building your author platform but have no idea where to start.
• If you have a blog and a couple of social media accounts but don't know what to do next. 
• If you have a website, but aren't sure if you're on the right track.

Each weekday will have an email explaining some aspect of building a platform, and up to three tasks. Some tasks are quick and easy, while others are ... less quick. Saturday will be a catch-up day, and Sunday is a day of rest and contemplation.

There is also a private Facebook group where participants can ask questions, share their successes, and encourage each other.

If you'd like to find out more, visit www.christianediting.co.nz/kick-start and sign up. We're starting on Monday 5 March!

About Iola Goulton

Iola Goulton is a New Zealand book reviewer, freelance editor, and author, writing contemporary Christian romance with a Kiwi twist. She is a member of the Sisterhood of Unpronounceable Names (Iola is pronounced yo-la, not eye-ola and definitely not Lola).

Iola holds a degree in marketing, has a background in human resource consulting, and currently works as a freelance editor. When she’s not working, Iola is usually reading or writing her next book review. Iola lives in the beautiful Bay of Plenty in New Zealand (not far from Hobbiton) with her husband, two teenagers and one cat. She is currently working on her first novel.

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter

You Love Your Facebook Page—Let Your Fans Love It, Too: Boost That Post ~ by Patricia Beal

So much has changed in my life since my last post. My husband retired from the U.S. Army, and I have a day job for the first time in 10 years. I'm back in civil service, writing and editing for the Army like I used to (before my very long baby break). Because that wasn't enough change, we also moved to a different house, a house with trees—a luxury in the El Paso desert. And my car of 16 years gave up on me, so I have a new car, too.

What does any of that have to do with Facebook? One thing: If I'm busy writing about Facebook, I'm not thinking about how scared I am about all that's changing and about my struggle to cope with it. If you're someplace similar, here's a precious sermon my pastor preached in mid-February and that's been a life saver for me: The Survivor's Guide to the Wilderness (the first sermon in this Numbers series, at the bottom of the page).

Enough front matter. Here we go. A bona fide Facebook post.
If you want to see a lot of activity on your Facebook author page, post often, boost your posts, and make sure your posts are uniquely yours (brand) and fun to share.

Post often.
I schedule a post for each day. It goes live at 3 a.m. El Paso time because it catches Brazil waking up (most of my fans are from Brazil, where people love ballet, travel, and Jesus—my brand in a nutshell). You can get away with a post every other day, but don't drop below that. 

Don't stress about Facebook posts constantly either. Schedule dozens of posts in one sitting and then just show up once or twice a day to like comments and show people you appreciate them. I don't have to produce a new post until July. June is already created, scheduled, and boosted.

Boost your posts.
The vast majority (95%+) of the people who've liked your page are not seeing your posts. Unfair? Totally. Can you change that? Not really. Not significantly. No amount of hashtags or targeted images will get the average page user beyond 10% reach.  

You have to boost your posts. With a $3 boost, I can reach between 1,500 and 3,000 of my fans (out of the 7,623 I have), depending on how well the post performs. I also spend $1 a day promoting the page and get about 100 new fans a week. 

Why bother? Why spend? I do it because I love the people and love the interaction. I have fans from almost 50 countries following me, and I love them all. I gave up gourmet coffee and brew something simple at home instead, so I can reach as many fans as possible with my posts. 

But don't spam when you boost. I made that mistake in the beginning. When you click on the boost rectangle, select "people who've liked your page" only. If you're creating an ad for a book you're promoting, then it's okay to target beyond your page fans.

Make sure your posts are uniquely yours (brand) and fun to share.
Sometimes I think that too many Christian author pages look the same, sound the same, and feel the same. Don't be afraid to brand yourself and be different.

Explore what's uniquely yours. I have the ballet thing going. Candee Fick and Kelli Hughett have football. Candee is now getting her fans into tap dancing, too. K.S. Moore has NASCAR. Have fun with it. 

And when people share your awesome posts, you often get new fans, so make sure you keep that in mind when creating content. Feel free to poke around my page. On Sunday I had 24 shares + 12 on Monday + 19 on Tuesday: www.facebook.com/patricia.beal.author 

These are my main ideas, but there's so much about Facebook that I don't know. How do you manage your page? What are your tricks?

Patricia Beal writes contemporary Christian fiction and is represented by Leslie Stobbe of the Leslie H. Stobbe Literary Agency. Her debut novel, A Season to Dance, comes out in May of 2017 (Bling! / Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas). 

She’s a 2015 Genesis semi-finalist and First Impressions finalist. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Cincinnati in 1998 with a B.A. in English Literature and then worked as a public affairs officer for the U.S. Army for seven years. She and her husband live in El Paso, Texas, with their two children. 


Patricia is very active online and loves to connect with readers. 

Goodreads - www.goodreads.com/bealpat 
Facebook - www.facebook.com/patricia.beal.author 
Pinterest - www.pinterest.com/patriciasbeal 
Twitter - www.twitter.com/bealpat 
Web - www.patriciabeal.com

How Ripe are You?

Not in the sense of ever being over-
ripe. Forget that! We writers can go on forever can't we?

When I first began writing a novel - after writing lyrics for songs and scripts for five-minute Christian radio programs- I was bright green.

I had no idea so much help was out there. I just wrote my story. THEN, and only then, I discovered I needed a lot more "how-to's" just to hone the craft. And online courses with ACFW was an eye-opener.

I began to color up to a nice pinkish shade. Then came the advice on how to write a book proposal, plus more guidance on the dreaded marketing side of things. Well, I suppose after I'd worked on these necessary skills I'd ripened to a decent light red.

Now on to cutting scenes not needed and editing unnecessary verbiage.  By now hopefully I'm a nice ripe story-teller of a luscious purple hue. But what's that? I need a big dish called Platform to be acceptable to US publishers? Huh? Doesn't matter how well I sell my books here Down Under, I can't do book signing or take speaking engagements in the US.

Never mind. I gather my ripe berries and cook up a nice pie called INDY PUBLISHING! Sure, it costs at first, but it's working. I choose my covers, my titles, my formatting and my paper.  All my profits go to Christian work in various countries of S.E. Asia to smaller organizations needing help. So I see the Lord's Hand in all this and I am blessed.

These are books I and II of the Victoriana trilogy. As they're identical twins separated at birth from their mother and each other, I needed the same model. Although a stand-alone novel, A Parcel of Promises ties up any loose ends. Roseanna M White designed both covers  and I am delighted with the feedback.

PayPal is a great help and early next year my print books will also be available as e-books.

To find out if they appeal to you, early next year, check   www.ritastellapress.com/read-more

Are there some ripe berries out there wondering how to take the next step toward publishing?