Build and Boost Your Author Platform

An author platform is an online presence that helps you reach readers, build relationships with them and ultimately increase your book sales.

It consists of your presence and activity on various platforms such as Goodreads, YouTube, social media, author forums, personal blogs / author websites.

Why You Need An Author Platform

An author platform is an author’s online presence, which is used to showcase their writing to the world. It’s becoming increasingly important for authors to develop an online presence so they can effectively market their work and build an audience.

Having an author platform helps to build trust between potential readers and the author and can provide a way for people to easily find and access the author’s content. With an author platform, authors can easily communicate with their readers and provide them with updates and promotions.

Your author platform can also help you as an author to expand into other areas beyond writing, such as speaking engagements or book signings. Having an author platform can be vital in helping authors to establish a successful career.

“An effective author platform provides a foundation to promote your books, brand you as an author, build relationships with readers, publishers, media and partners. It’s a powerful tool to reach potential readers, engage them and turn them into paying customers.”

BookBub Blog

“An author platform helps you stand out above other authors, build credibility and get noticed by prospective readers, publishers and agents”

Reedsy

“An author platform makes it easier for readers to find your books and build a connection to them”

Self-Publishing School

An author platform should provide authors with a direct way to connect with their audience and potential readers, helping build relationships, promote their books, and expand their reach. It is a powerful tool for any author who is serious about their career and provides many benefits, including:

• Growing and engaging an audience
• Establishing credibility and expertise
• Increasing visibility for their work
• Allowing for more targeted book marketing
• Generating more book sales
• Opening up opportunities for speaking engagements and other projects

How to Build an Author Platform

Cultivate an online presence: Joining social media networks, engaging with your followers, and creating a website or blog where you can post your most recent writing, engage with your readers or share interesting articles or updates or even photos of your pets or holiday adventures!

Submit a guest post to boost your author platform

Build an audience: This can be done through connecting with influential people or social media influencers, creating content on your website, attending events, book readings, #booktok videos on TikTok, author podcasts, joining writers’ associations or guilds and workshops.

Participating in interviews either online, live event and zoom calls. Visit the link below for further information on setting up an author interview.

Connect with readers: Utilize your platform to build relationships with your readers by encouraging engagement through your website or social media.

Host competitions, book giveaways and signings, launch parties.

Tips to Build Your Author Platform

“The key to success is consistency. Regularly producing content to nurture and engage an audience will not only result in improved reach but increased sales.”

Forbes

“Having a strong online presence is vital. Make sure to establish yourself on social media and maximize the impact of your content by sharing it across multiple networks.”

Entrepreneur

“Create content that is original and interesting. Unique content not only sets you apart from other authors, it will also mean readers are more likely to come back to your site.”

Digital Marketer

“Talk to influencers in your field and develop relationships. Their social reach can help to bring traction to your content and potentially drive sales.”

Huffington Post

“Develop an email list. This will help you to stay in contact with readers and customers, plus enable you to continue to drive marketing goals and book sales.”

Writer’s Digest

Many authors also use beta readers to get feedback on their novels or nonfiction books to garner valuable opinions from readers of the particular genre or field you write in such as characters that don’t work, plot holes, lack of engagement and so on.

Click Here to Hire a Beta Reader

Author Platform Examples

J.K. Rowling: Popular for creating the beloved “Harry Potter” series, Rowling has leveraged her fan base to form a vast platform. She’s active on social media and has connected directly with her readers through her website, book signings, and special events.

Rupi Kaur: Kaur is a poet, author, and performer who has used social media to build her platform. She has more than 1 million Instagram followers and uses the platform to engage her readers on an intimate level.

Stephen King: King has been writing for decades and has a large, dedicated fan base. He’s used a combination of book signings, social media, film adaptations, and merchandise to create his platform.

Popular writers who have successfully leveraged their author platforms to engage with their readers.

Neil Gaiman – Author Website and Facebook Page

James Patterson – Personal Website and YouTube Channel

John Grisham – Author Website and Book Club

Dean Koontz – Author Website, Podcast and Newsletter

Margaret Atwood – Twitter, YouTube and Personal Website

Haruki Murakami – Official Website and Instagram

Dan Brown – Facebook page and Official Website

George R.R. Martin – Official Website and Blog

Recommended: The Benefits of Guest Posting for Authors

Submit a Guest Post!