The 30 Day Author Platform Challenge: A Companion Workbook: Non-Fiction @ Ronel the Mythmaker, #3
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About this ebook
Not sure how to get started on building your author platform? Not sure what an author platform is? Then this is the book for you.
Includes:
- How tos on the various social media networks.
- A list of resources.
- Writing tips.
- Help to define your writing goals and who you are as a writer.
- Help with community building and getting your name on the map.
- Worksheets and homework to get the most out of the lessons.
- Downloadable, customisable PDF to-do lists to help you keep track of your various platforms and what you have to do every week.
Some parts of the book can be found on the author's website, but this is a complete, updated version for 2019 and beyond.
The author originally ran a 20 day Basics of Author Online Presence Challenge on Writer to Writers in 2017 – this is the superpower version of that challenge with loads more information and tasks.
By the end of 30 days, you will no longer be invisible online.
Get your copy today to start you journey to greatness.
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The 30 Day Author Platform Challenge - Ronel Janse van Vuuren
Copyright © 2019 Ronel Janse van Vuuren
All rights reserved.
A print copy of this book is available from online retailers.
DEDICATION
To all my great author friends. You know who you are.
Introduction
AUTHORS KNOW THAT THEY need a proper online presence: their author platform. (See the social media section below.)
Yet, not everyone knows how to go about setting up a proper online presence. That’s why this challenge was created.
The Point of this Challenge
This challenge will help writers at all levels to get a better grip on their author platform. Each task will come with tips and advice to improve your platform.
Getting it Right
Follow the thirty tasks and you will be well on your way to having a proper online presence as an author.
Don’t feel discouraged if you cannot complete the challenge right now: sometimes it takes time to master a social media network before one feels comfortable with taking on another.
And don’t feel pressured to sign up for every social media network: it’s better to have three great ones than ten where you’re struggling to keep your head above water. Unused social media networks will still show up when people search for you and it doesn’t look good if they’re stagnant. Rather sign up for those you feel comfortable using – they will show up in search results and will do your author platform a lot of good.
Homework
In each section I’ll pose a question (or several) for you to answer about your own views on the matter. You can also download printable pages here: https://www.ronelthemythmaker.com/my-books/the-30-day-author-platform-challenge/30-author-platform-challenge-downloads/
Why Authors Should Use Social Media
YOU’RE A WRITER, AN artist, and thus should only be concerned with creating, right?
Unfortunately, that is not the case. More and more the opportunity to publish in ezines, guest blogs and other online media (and some print outlets too) expect writers to have a social media following. A healthy online following means that people will buy your work.
Not interested in the online world?
Publishers expect authors to do their own marketing. The days of publishing houses doing everything have long passed: authors have to work at generating buzz over their newest book release because the budgets for marketing their books aren’t huge (and sometimes non-existent).
Having a social media following means that you have people to tell about your new product (story/poem/article/book) and thus you can raise interest.
Social media is free to use, global and can be focused on your target market. Sure, figuring out which networks to use and how to use them is rather time consuming (so, too, is building a following), but in a world where you can let everyone know that your short story was published in an ezine without having to do much more than tweet it (Twitter consists of short messages of 280 characters and hashtags – included in character count – help to zone in on your target audience), using this advancement in communication makes absolute sense.
As a bonus, you can network with other writers and publishing professionals online and build friendships and connections that can help you. A lot of anthologies are only open to writers who know the organisation/publisher/group involved in putting the book together – sometimes writers collaborate on projects like that to raise awareness of their work in a new reader demographic. It’s easier to work with people you know...
So how do you figure out how to use a social media network? Trial and error. Okay, so you can check out various author blogs to see which networks they use and how they use it.
As a rule, authors should have a blog (it’s the place people can always find you and your work), Twitter (the writing community there is awesome), Google+ (because it’s great for your blog’s SEO to have your blog posts publicised there) and something to do with images like Instagram or Pinterest (the latter is great for referring traffic to your blog). This is called your author platform.
People like Facebook too, though it can become a place where you forget that you’re a professional and start spewing personal feelings about politics/religion/whatever other hot topic can blow your top – the internet is forever and people don’t want to work with hotheads who aren’t professional.
Still not convinced?
Let me put it like this: you grow tomatoes and you want to sell those tomatoes. But if no-one knows about you, how can they buy your tomatoes?
Exactly.
In this book we’ll look at these social media networks and how they can advance your author career – keep what works for you and discard the rest. In the end, your author platform should work for you.
Here’s a blog post I did a while back concerning author platforms:
Why Authors should have a Writing Platform
I RECENTLY READ A VERY silly argument on a writing platform I use. I’m not going to link back to it, but it did get me thinking about the misconceptions writers have of writing platforms.
The gist of the argument was that authors should be paid to publish their work on a free (or almost free) writing platform.
Silly. The only time an author gets paid is when they submit their work to a journal/magazine/publishing house. And sometimes those publishers don’t pay either... So what’s the point?
Exposure.
Getting your name out there.
Building your brand.
Name recognition.
Garnering fans across platforms.
I guess there are several points to submitting to journals and magazines, guest blogging and using writing platforms. And I didn’t even mention all the practice you get at writing beautifully... though, I did do an entire post about why writing platforms are good for your writing. (See the Wattpad section in this book.)
The silliest part of the other writer’s argument about wanting to get paid wasn’t even mentioned: there’s no gatekeeper for publishing on a writing platform. Meaning, you can publish just what you like and how you like it. (Though, if the platform has rules about profanity and blasphemy you’d better adhere or they’ll remove your work.)
I get that at a certain point in your writing career you’d like to be paid for your work, but don’t expect writing platforms (where readers read for free) to magically have the money to do so.
So how to get paid for your work:
Send your work to magazines/journals. https://ronelthemythmaker.wordpress.com/2016/06/12/get-published-in-2016/
If you write poetry, select your best (unpublished) ones and publish an anthology. If traditional publishers don’t want it, self-publish.
If you write flash fiction/short stories, select your best (unpublished) ones and send it off to an agent/publisher. Again, if no-one’s interested (as in more than 100 rejections), send it to a structural editor and then self-publish.
If you write novels... Well, you know then the hours that go into writing, rewriting, editing, submitting to agents, crying over rejections, editing, submitting, the whole cycle over and over again until you finally succeed.
And for those who still think that all the work they put into their writing platforms must equate money... If your story is published online – no matter the platform – it is considered published and most (if not all) magazines, journals and publishers won’t accept it for publication. (Though there are a few agents and editors who don’t consider Wattpad as being published
and find new clients there. Check out the success stories. https://www.wattpad.com/story/68123285-introducing-the-class-of-2017 )
Please don’t cry/scream/throw your computer.
Think about it from a reader’s perspective: if you’ve already read the Great Adventures of Amy Ant for free on Amy’s blog, why would you pay a lot of money to read it in a different format (ebook/paperback/interactive whatever)?
If you self-publish, though, you can rewrite the Great Adventures of Amy Ant to add missing pieces and remove redundant chapters before publishing. Publishing your first draft as you go doesn’t have to end in disaster. That book might even become a bestseller. Especially if you already have a loyal following...
But where do you get your loyal followers?
Social Media (Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest to name my favourites).
Your blog (it’s important for authors to have a home
where their followers can easily find them).
Guest posts on other blogs.
Anthologies.
Publishing in magazines/journals (most of the time they allow an author bio along with links to your blog/social media with your story).
Competitions.
Awards (being named Fiction Writer of the Year sounds awesome no matter how many times you say it).
Writing Platforms (like Wattpad).
A lot of the time I’ll meet someone on one platform and interact with them on several others too. Blindly following someone on a social network doesn’t create a true following of readers who’ll buy your work. Interacting with them, sharing their stuff and being more than a mindless bot will help you achieve a lot more.
I’ve said before that having a writing platform is like having an online portfolio. Readers get an idea of your writing style and what to expect story-wise. Which means they won’t feel like they’re gambling when buying your novel (books are expensive). Which leads to better sales. Which means that you’re finally getting paid for your writing.
My advice to the writers who argued over getting paid for publishing on an online writing platform: stop arguing and start writing.
Or switch to a platform like Patreon https://ronelthemythmaker.wordpress.com/2017/02/01/perks-of-patreon-iwsg/ where only patrons get to read your work... Oh, and don’t keep all your writing-eggs in one basket. We all know how easily a platform can disappear without warning. It’s devastating when all your hard work disappears into the abyss and you have nothing to show for it.
Homework:
What are your thoughts about writing platforms? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Do you think writers should be paid for publishing barely polished first drafts? Why/why not? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Do you think writers should publish those first drafts or should they keep working on it to traditionally publish? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Which social media platforms do you currently use? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Are there any social media platforms that you think are better than others – and why? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Day 1: Define Yourself as a Writer
THE POINT OF BUILDING your online author presence is to share your brand with the world.
And what is your author brand? You.
Define Yourself as a Writer
SO FOR THE SECOND DAY of the challenge, take a step back and take a good look at yourself. Don’t worry about the future right now, only think about what you’ve done, what you’re doing and who you are.
Below I’ll define myself as a writer (answering the questions of who I am, what I’ve done and what I’m currently doing).