It's Necessary But NOT A Necessary "Evil"
You know what’s the easiest way to make an author wince? You know what I mean, that look of terror combined with the excruciating pain of someone stomping on your bare foot with high
heels?
Just mention the word “platform.”
See what I mean??
All of us wrestle with a sense of guilt when we think about building our platform. We know we should work on it, but most of us would rather eat a Carolina Reaper hot pepper, or shred our forearms with a potato peeler, or pour lemon juice in our eyes.
But what if there was a way to build your platform without losing your marbles?
Welcome to the Power Writers Report, our weekly update, packed full of powerful writing tips, productivity tools, platform-building strategies, author
best practices, resources, and free stuff.
If you find this useful, forward it to a friend.
Click here to subscribe to the weekly Power Writers
Report.
Click here to schedule an author strategy session with me.
Coming sooner than you think...
Illumify Media Global
Platform-Building Intensive
October 15 (NEW DATE!)
8:30 am - 5:00 pm
The Real Factory Events Center
10488 W. Centennial Rd
Littleton, CO 80127
https://publishingpossibilities.com/
October 1 prices go up!
Register NOW so you don’t miss
out!
Let's Transform Your Perception About Platform
To review, your platform can be defined as the people who view you as credible and would buy your book once it’s on the market.
Kind of like your fan base.
Your platform can be determined by your number of Facebook friends, Twitter followers, Tik Tok followers, Instagram followers, LinkedIn connections, blog subscribers, radio listeners, podcast
listeners, or television viewers.
Feeling overwhelmed?
So how do you build your platform without going nuts?
Focus on one thing. That’s it.
If you try to do everything, you’ll accomplish absolutely nothing.
Here’s what I focus on to build Illumify’s platform: The Power Writers Report.
That’s pretty much it. Not Facebook ads or Google ads. Our website is pretty static.
I also speak at a handful of writers conferences a year. Oh yeah, and our satisfied authors keep coming back to us for
additional books and refer us to their friends. But listen...
FOCUS. ON. ONE. THING.
That being said,
a few other qualities will help you in this pursuit.
Do it well. If you’re going to invest your time into your platform, then do it with excellence. Press on your audience’s pain points, then alleviate their pain. Tell a compelling story.
When I work on the Power Writers Report, I do my best to write something that actually interests you.
Be consistent. Writing a weekly blog post is easy at the beginning, but then life happens. You get distracted. You go on vacation. You run out of topics. I get it.
Working on your platform is a mindset. Every time I talk to an author, I listen to what they’re saying. What are their frustrations, pain points, stressors?
Most of my topics are the result of conversations with authors (including this one!).
In my files are a half-dozen partially written blog posts that I quickly jotted down after a conversation.
At some point, I'm going to use all of them.
But if you only promote your ONE platform-building activity when you feel like it, you'll never pick up any momentum.
Heck! I wrote last week's installment in a hotel room in Juba, South Sudan. I didn't feel like (I just wanted to sleep) but I wanted to remain consistent.
Don't give up. Persevere. Even when you don't feel like it.
Years ago, I started a blog that I contributed to six days a week (consistency). The first three or four months, I kept my nose to the grindstone and enjoyed the very small community of readers who appreciated my posts. Then, after about six months, when I felt like giving up…
BOOM!
Google found my blog and it took off. Suddenly, people around the world were reading my posts. Australia. New Zealand. Saudi
Arabia. Even upstate New York!
All too often, we work on our platform with excellence and consistency but give up just before we hit our stride.
Read that again.
The bottom line is this: you can write a transcendent book, but if you aren't willing to promote it, you're just wasting your time.
Click here to schedule a strategy session and take your first step in publishing your transcendent book. I'll give you a gentle but realistic assessment of your book idea.
The Illumify Platform-Building
Intensive is designed to give you an assortment of tools you can use to promote your book. But you only need to use one of them.
Register NOW so you don’t miss out:
Illumify Media Global
Platform-Building Intensive
October
15
8:30 am - 5:00
pm
The Real Factory
Events Center
10488 W.
Centennial Rd
Littleton,
CO 80127
FREE headshots
for every attender!
https://publishingpossibilities.com/
