Category: Platform and Branding

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Platform and Branding

Branding That Lasts

Platform and Branding

Creating a brand that lasts can be a bit of an intimidating process. As a writer/author, you want to reflect your writing well, while also doing so in such a way you can keep up with your brand.

Your brand likely encompasses some, if not all, of the following: Running multiple social media accounts, a website, writing books, public speaking at conferences, interviewing on podcasts and TV, attending writing conferences, updating followers with book promotions, talking with editors and publishers, engaging with fans, etc. Doing all of this well could easily become exhausting.

If you create a brand that does not reflect who you are naturally, but is more of a highlight reel or façade, you could easily burnout. Building a lifestyle brand can not only help you avoid burnout, but engage your fans more than other types of branding might.

Even if you are a credible professional but want to build a lifestyle brand, you can do so.

Think of a lifestyle brand as simply focusing more on your life than your products. Instagram doesn’t only need to be inspiring quotes from famous authors, going live about your creative process, and posting stories about your writing deadline. Those are all great to share, but what happens when you’re not on deadline or you don’t have anything writing related to post?

Enter, the lifestyle brand.

Fans love connecting with the person behind the brand. The humanity behind the celebrity. The personality behind the grid. So how do you build a brand you can maintain long term?

Base your brand on your personality.

Search through different social media platforms to find authors using their own personality as the platform for their brand. If you don’t have a specific author in mind, search hashtags such as #WritingCommunity or the genre you write to help you get started.

Once you find 10-15 authors, browse their social media sites, website, and Goodreads to see how they engage with their followers and what they post. Take note of what type of content they don’t post as well.

Then step back, assess your own writing goals, your personality, and what you feel excited to share. Choose different aspects from the different authors, add in your own, and do a trial run for two weeks. Assess your analytics on all social media platforms. Choose the platform that’s done the best and continue working on it. Consider trying new things on the platforms not doing as well.

As you grow, don’t worry if you need to fine tune your brand. This is healthy and allows your fans to grow with you.

Put the time and effort in, but don’t take yourself too seriously. Enjoy the process. You are a writer, and this is your journey.

Have fun with it!

Sarah Rexford

Sarah Rexford is a Marketing Content Creator and writer. She helps authors build their platform through branding and copywriting. With a BA in Strategic Communications, Sarah equips writers to learn how to communicate their message through personal branding. She writes fiction and nonfiction and offers writers behind-the-scenes tips on the publishing industry through her blog itssarahrexford.com. She is represented by the C.Y.L.E Young Agency.

Instagram: @sarahjrexford
Twitter: @sarahjrexford
Web: itssarahrexford.com

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Platform and Branding

How to Create Branding That Lasts

Platform and Branding

Creating a brand that lasts can be a bit of an intimidating process. As a writer/author, you want to reflect your writing well, while also doing so in such a way you can keep up with your brand.

Your brand likely encompasses some, if not all, of the following: Running multiple social media accounts, a website, writing books, public speaking at conferences, interviewing on podcasts and TV, attending writing conferences, updating followers with book promotions, talking with editors and publishers, engaging with fans, etc. Doing all of this well could easily become exhausting.

If you create a brand that does not reflect who you are naturally, but is more of a highlight reel or façade, you could easily burnout. Building a lifestyle brand can not only help you avoid burnout, but engage your fans more than other types of branding might.

Even if you are a credible professional but want to build a lifestyle brand, you can do so.

Think of a lifestyle brand as simply focusing more on your life than your products. Instagram doesn’t only need to be inspiring quotes from famous authors, going live about your creative process, and posting stories about your writing deadline. Those are all great to share, but what happens when you’re not on deadline or you don’t have anything writing related to post?

Enter, the lifestyle brand.

Fans love connecting with the person behind the brand. The humanity behind the celebrity. The personality behind the grid. So how do you build a brand you can maintain long term?

Base your brand on your personality.

Search through different social media platforms to find authors using their own personality as the platform for their brand. If you don’t have a specific author in mind, search hashtags such as #WritingCommunity or the genre you write to help you get started.

Once you find 10-15 authors, browse their social media sites, website, and Goodreads to see how they engage with their followers and what they post. Take note of what type of content they don’t post as well.

Then step back, assess your own writing goals, your personality, and what you feel excited to share. Choose different aspects from the different authors, add in your own, and do a trial run for two weeks. Assess your analytics on all social media platforms. Choose the platform that’s done the best and continue working on it. Consider trying new things on the platforms not doing as well.

As you grow, don’t worry if you need to fine tune your brand. This is healthy and allows your fans to grow with you.

Put the time and effort in, but don’t take yourself too seriously. Enjoy the process. You are a writer, and this is your journey.

Have fun with it!

Sarah Rexford

Sarah Rexford is a Marketing Content Creator and writer. She helps authors build their platform through branding and copywriting. With a BA in Strategic Communications, Sarah equips writers to learn how to communicate their message through personal branding. She writes fiction and nonfiction and offers writers behind-the-scenes tips on the publishing industry through her blog itssarahrexford.com. She is represented by the C.Y.L.E Young Agency.

Instagram: @sarahjrexford
Twitter: @sarahjrexford
Web: itssarahrexford.com

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Platform and Branding

Many Interests. One Brand.

Platform and Branding

As you dive further into platform and branding it may be difficult to determine exactly what you want your brand to be. For instance, if you’ve written fiction but now you want to write nonfiction, knowing exactly how to brand yourself can be difficult.

Thankfully, it’s not as hard as you may think. With some careful thought and planning you can be a writer with many interests and one brand. Follow the three steps below to learn how.

Who Is Your Audience?

Your audience is you unique followers: the people who follow you because they love your content and want more of it. If you’ve built an audience around one genre or one target audience, how do you rebrand yourself as your interests grow? This can get tricky when it comes to branding or rebranding, but simply do your research: Know who’s following you.

We are much more adaptable than we realize.

Life is a journey and just as everyone else grows and changes, so do writers. Know your audience enough to know which of your interests they will benefit from and which projects they’ll jump on board with.

How? Research. Or literally ask. Post a question box on Instagram and see what answers you get!

Lead Your Audience

Once you know who your audience is, their likes, dislikes, and why they’re following you, you are better equipped to know how to lead them.

If your audience is made up of a loyal fan base who fell in love with your first middle grade book, its sequel, and the third installment, and suddenly you want to transition to writing cookbooks, they might have a learning curve. Understand this, and move forward accordingly. It may take you a little more time, but move forward with purpose and lead them into your new interests.

Show Your Audience The Full Aspect Of Who You Are

Creatives often have diverse interests. Don’t allow your online presence to hold you back offline. Yes, your online presence is a powerful tool when used rightly, but don’t let a free app on your phone hinder your creative potential.

If you have a large following on your fashion blog and Pinterest but want to try your hand at writing a novel, go for it.

Life is short.

 It’s important to steward the talents we’ve been given and pursue excellence. While you may lose some of your audience, you will likely grow in other capacities (whether that’s your social media numbers, or as an individual).

As you move into the next stage of your personal branding journey, be cautious but be bold. The creative world is constantly evolving. Grow with it. Take your writing interests to the next level. Rebrand. Revamp. Present fresh content in a new way.

And remember, you’re more than a social media following or a singular interest. You are a person who grows and changes.

Enjoy the process!

Sarah Rexford

Sarah Rexford is a Marketing Content Creator and writer. She helps authors build their platform through branding and copywriting. With a BA in Strategic Communications, Sarah equips writers to learn how to communicate their message through personal branding. She writes fiction and nonfiction and offers writers behind-the-scenes tips on the publishing industry through her blog itssarahrexford.com. She is represented by the C.Y.L.E Young Agency.

Instagram: @sarahjrexford
Twitter: @sarahjrexford
Web: itssarahrexford.com

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Platform and Branding

What Do You Want to Say, and How?

Platform and Branding

There’s a reason that one day you sat down at an empty screen or in front of a blank sheet of paper, and started writing. Maybe you had a character’s story burning inside you and just had to write it down, or maybe you wanted to express your own story.

But for whatever reason, that one day when you sat down to write, you started an incredible journey. You had something to say, and you wrote it down.

Great branding is a huge part of platform, and for today’s writers, platform can make or break your writing journey.

You’re here because you love writing. You have something to say. Now it’s time to determine what exactly it is you want to say, and how you want to say it.

As a writer in 2021, you have multiple avenues for communicating via writing, and choosing the best one for you can help take your writing from your desk to hundreds, thousands, and even millions of readers.

So, what do you want to say?

When determining this, think big picture. If you write young adult books, there’s likely a theme you want to communicate. For example, let’s say your work-in-progress is about a teenage girl growing up during the California gold rush and the bravery she must learn traveling west with her family. You likely want to communicate the theme of bravery, resilience, teamwork, etc., to your readers.

Now, other than your book itself, how do you want to communicate these themes?

You may want to consider creating a Tik Tok account and using those short videos to continue communicating these characteristics. Maybe you love the outdoors and your Tik Tok is full of videos of your summer hikes and camping adventures. Perhaps revamp your Instagram and post photos of your camping trips with captions talking about these topics.

If you write adult Romance, the themes you communicate will likely be love and other similar topics such as sacrifice, service, loyalty, etc. You may want to continue communicating these themes through inspirational quotes posted on Twitter or paired with a graphic and posted to Instagram. You could refocus your Tik Tok or YouTube channel by creating video content that reinforces this theme.

Being a writer today doesn’t just mean sitting down at the keyboard and writing books. That’s a big part of it, but writing and communicating stretches to social media and public stages.

As you continue to pinpoint exactly what your brand is and grow your platform, focus on why exactly you are passionate about writing the genres and characters you write. Use these insights to help establish your online presence with clarity. Then post regular, quality content, and enjoy the process.

Building your platform is often a slow and steady grind, but the resulting ability to communicate your passions to your audience is worth it.

Best wishes out there!

Sarah Rexford is a Marketing Content Creator and writer. She helps authors build their platform through branding and copywriting. With a BA in Strategic Communications, Sarah equips writers to learn how to communicate their message through personal branding. She writes fiction and nonfiction and offers writers behind-the-scenes tips on the publishing industry through her blog itssarahrexford.com. She is represented by the C.Y.L.E Young Agency.

Instagram: @sarahjrexford
Twitter: @sarahjrexford
Web: itssarahrexford.com

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Platform and Branding

How to Speak…Before You Say a Word

Platform and Branding

At some point in your writing career you’ll probably step on a stage and be expected to speak. It can be an intimidating prospect.

Many writers prefer to sit behind the screen at the keyboard. But stories are meant to be told. Audiences love to hear from the writer, and sometimes being onstage is the best way to communicate your message.

But nerves are understandable! To help you get over those nerves, leverage your personal brand to help you communicate before you even say a word.

Published or not, you have a brand. What you wear is part of that brand. So yes, let’s talk fashion.

Your fashion is the first impression your audience receives as you step onstage. What you choose to wear speaks for you before you ever say those first words. It communicates something about you: Are you laid back, professional, artsy, creative, relaxed?

Here are a few tips to help communicate your brand, while making you feel more at ease in the process:

Wear Something You’re Comfortable In

This is not the time to follow the old adage, “no pain no gain.” You want to put your audience at ease and you can’t do that very effectively if you yourself aren’t comfortable. A few days (or weeks, if you’re type A!) before your speaking engagement, look through your closet and notice the types of styles you usually wear and feel most comfortable in. Base your outfit off these styles.

Reflect Your Writer Brand

If you write books on how to be a standout business leader, you probably don’t want to show up in a multi-colored sweater with a mismatched scarf. However, if you write fantasy, this isn’t the worst choice you could make. Take note of what you write and who your audience is, then choose your fashion accordingly.

If you write children’s books and are going to speak in a classroom, maybe pass on the business suit and choose the teddy bear sweater instead. But imagine showing up to a conference to talk to CEO’s wearing the same outfit. Choose your fashion based on what you write and who your audience is.

Don’t Leave Your Personality Behind

While your fashion should reflect your writer brand and enhance rather than detract from your message, at the end of the day your brand is based on you, the individual. At the risk of being cliché, there’s only one you. Don’t let assumptions or your own nervousness keep you from being yourself. This doesn’t stop at fashion. Wear something you’re comfortable in so you can set your audience at ease, let your clothing reinforce your brand, and choose something you simply like wearing.

And then enjoy!

Enjoy the opportunity to share your passion with a live audience. Enjoy capturing the room. And enjoy vocalizing what you’ve worked so hard to take from your head, to the page, to the stage.

Best wishes out there!

Sarah Rexford is a Marketing Content Creator and writer. She helps authors build their platform through branding and copywriting. With a BA in Strategic Communications, Sarah equips writers to learn how to communicate their message through personal branding. She writes fiction and nonfiction and offers writers behind-the-scenes tips on the publishing industry through her blog itssarahrexford.com. She is represented by the C.Y.L.E Young Agency.

Instagram: @sarahjrexford
Twitter: @sarahjrexford
Web: itssarahrexford.com

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Platform and Branding

Creating Your Launch Team: Tactics to Help You and Other Writers

Platform and Branding

Marketing your book can be as difficult as writing it, but equally as important. If you don’t write the book you won’t have readers, and if people don’t know about it, you won’t have readers. A book launch team is a great way to help get your book off the ground and also give back to the other writers helping you. Incorporating a few easy tactics can help your book succeed, while taking your launch team to a whole new level.

Invest in Social Media Ads

Create a short application process, target ads to those you want to help promote your book, and wait for the applications to come in. Side note, make joining your launch team free. You’re asking people to promote you, so it’s probably best not to ask them to pay to do so.

Offer Tiers of Investment

Tiers will help your members know what they’re signing up for as well as what they’ll get in return. For instance, if members join tier level one let’s say they commit to do seven activities to launch your book, and you give them the standard level of free content such as going live within the Facebook launch group, or sending them a free PDF of free book study questions.

Level two requires a bit more investment from members, but with their added investment, you provide additional free content: PDF’s that will help them on their own book, a workshop maybe you usually sell but provide for free, etc.

Tier three members get an all-access pass. Along with the benefits of tier one and two, tier three members could also benefit from special live Q&A sessions with you, exclusive content about your book, free gifts like t-shirts or bookmarks, and anything else you think would benefit them. But, to have this exclusive membership they also invest in you and your book with pre-orders, reviews, and social media promos. The more they help you, the more they get out of it.

Once your book is launched you can still use your launch group to give back to the writers within it:

  • Change the group description and create a writing community for these writers to connect, network, and perhaps promote their own books. (You can make it private or public, depending on the goals you have for the group. If you do decide to keep the group going, don’t forget to have someone monitor the page.)
  • Host monthly interviews with other writers through a giveaway that involves members following each other and posting about your book on their social media (you can track posts by asking them to use a specific hashtag).
  • Run a poll asking members what would be most helpful to them, and go from there.

Launch teams can help with presales and influence the success of your book. But they’re also a great way to invest in those who invest in you—have fun with it!

Sarah Rexford is a Marketing Content Creator and writer. She helps authors build their platform through branding and copywriting. With a BA in Strategic Communications, Sarah equips writers to learn how to communicate their message through personal branding. She writes fiction and nonfiction and offers writers behind-the-scenes tips on the publishing industry through her blog itssarahrexford.com. She is represented by the C.Y.L.E Young Agency.

Instagram: @sarahjrexford
Twitter: @sarahjrexford
Web: itssarahrexford.com

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Platform and Branding

The WHY Behind Building Your Platform

Platform and Branding

Have you lever listened to Simon Sinek’s TEDx Talk, Start With Why? If not, I’d highly recommend you do. Sinek explains the importance of understanding why you’re doing what you’re doing. And when it comes to platform building, your WHY is just as important.

I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: If you’re writing for the sake of great success and fame, I’d highly recommend that you pursue it through something other than writing. That said, from my interactions with writers, most of us write for love of writing. Assuming that’s the case with you, let’s continue.

Author platform is hugely important for writers today. It can also be hugely frustrating. You may be feeling like you’re trying to sell something that doesn’t even have a contract yet. Here’s the secret: Don’t build a platform to sell a book.

What?

Just as it’s important to think reader-first when writing, it’s essential to think reader-first when building your platform. People don’t like getting sold to. It strips individuals of their humanity and reduces them to a conduit for a cash flow that has nothing to do with them. So how do you build a platform? Share what’s important to you. Share your passion, specifically, the passion that has something to offer your reader—your book.

If you write nonfiction, sharing your book could look like sharing bullet points on social media that will directly help your reader’s pain point, whatever that is (baking, self-help, wellness, etc.). Maybe it’s creating a shortened work book eBook that readers get for free when subscribing to your email list. Maybe it’s a short video series of you talking through each chapter (I’d probably save this until the book is out).

If you write fiction, sharing your book could look like offering giveaways if readers subscribe to your email list or follow your other social media platforms. It could be going live on Instagram and talking about your process for writing your book, and giving away a free copy for whoever asks the most interesting question at the end.

In all of these instances, you’re giving readers free content, streamlined for their interests and needs, while engaging them as individuals and as a bonus, building your platform.

At the heart of writing is storytelling, not sales. If you want to make sales, there are many, many jobs out there that will help you succeed much faster. But if you want to bring helpful content to individuals, share your passion, and influence people for the better, an author platform is a great place to start.

Set aside the idea that building a platform is about self-promotion and making sales, and instead think reader first. You’ll be off to a great start. Just as your book isn’t about you but rather about your readers, so is your platform. Best wishes out there!

Sarah Rexford is a Marketing Content Creator and writer. She helps authors build their platform through branding and copywriting. With a BA in Strategic Communications, Sarah equips writers to learn how to communicate their message through personal branding. She writes fiction and nonfiction and offers writers behind-the-scenes tips on the publishing industry through her blog itssarahrexford.com. She is represented by the C.Y.L.E Young Agency.

Instagram: @sarahjrexford
Twitter: @sarahjrexford
Web: itssarahrexford.com

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Platform and Branding

Branding and Twitter

Platform and Branding

Raise your hand if you’re a writer on Twitter! Same. Twitter is a great place for building that writing community and growing your visibility. However, simply building your brand through a follow-for-follow plan can cheapen not just your brand, but your writing.

So how do you build your platform and build the credibility of your writing?

As I’ve mentioned before, personal brand is not just what you write. It’s who you are. Your public, personal brand is what you decide to portray of who you are to your audience. Who are you impacts what you do or don’t write, how you engage with others on social media, and what you do or don’t post.

If you scroll through writers on Twitter, you’ll quickly see users who are there to promote their work, gain followers, and call it a day. Other than linking their book or blog, they don’t appear to be there to bring you, their potential reader, quality content.

Then you’ll see the few diamonds in the rough. The users who post quality content over and over, engage with other users, and work at pouring into the writing community, not just build their platform.

The great thing is, when you post quality content and genuinely engage with other writers, they’re apt to follow you. Thus, you build your platform.

So how do you bring your brand to Twitter? Ask yourself some questions:

Are you on Twitter to share what you’re learning from a come-alongside perspective, or to give writing advice from the standpoint of an expert? If you choose the come-alongside approach, you can share anything writing-related that you’re learning. If you choose the expert approach, to maintain brand integrity, only share advice you are an expert in. Do you write YA fiction in a specific genre, and have you sold thousands of books? You’re probably on your way to becoming an expert. However, you probably want to steer clear of handing out nonfiction advice.

Next, there are countless ways to engage with the writing community on Twitter. Choose what group you want to invest in, and go all in. Retweet pinned tweets, offer retweets on pitch fest days, jump into the comments to offer your expert advice, or share your own tweets as you progress through the writing journey.

Twitter is a sea of advice, book and blog promotions, writers’ lifts, etc., so choose carefully where you want to invest.

If you choose the expert sharing advice approach, writers’ lifts probably aren’t the best place to jump in. Twitter users who almost only engage in writers’ lifts, follow-for-follow trains, and endless promotions of their work are going to be viewed differently than those who genuinely engage, share writing advice, and provide great content every day.

Yes, follow writers, tweet, retweet—do all the things! Just choose how you choose to engage. What does what you tweet, retweet, and promote say about your writing brand?

With that in mind, happy tweeting!

Sarah Rexford is a Marketing Content Creator and writer. She helps authors build their platform through branding and copywriting. With a BA in Strategic Communications, Sarah equips writers to learn how to communicate their message through personal branding. She writes fiction and nonfiction and offers writers behind-the-scenes tips on the publishing industry through her blog itssarahrexford.com. She is represented by the C.Y.L.E Young Agency.

Instagram: @sarahjrexford
Twitter: @sarahjrexford
Web: itssarahrexford.com

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Platform and Branding

Hey, Writer. Let’s Talk About Your Brand!

Platform and Branding

Now more than ever, personal branding is important. Whether you’re scrolling through Instagram looking at the latest influencers’ posts, or on Twitter engulfed in a sea of book promotions, it may seem like everyone is pushing their personal brand.

Maybe you attended a writing conference and were declined representation due to your lack of platform. Maybe your book made it through pitching and garnered the interest of a publisher, only to have the marketing team squash your hopes of landing a contract. I’ve been there too. If you’re only here for writing, that’s ok. We have numerous articles on the writing craft. If you want to write for yourself, you can skip this article and go read another. However, if you want to write and build a career then keep reading.

Branding is a cornerstone to a solid writing career. That’s why we need to talk about it.

Writers embody their writing. Think of J. K. Rowling—a giant in her genre. But she is both known for what she writes and also who she is. The character of Harry is so endearing partly because we know Rowling’s past. To be an author with a career is to open yourself up to the public and show who you are.

That’s where branding comes in.

We don’t need to share every detail of our lives to get published, but we do need to share select details.

Notice the word select there. Brand comes down to what you choose to share.

What are you passionate about? What colors do you love? How do you decorate? Believe it or not, this all influences your brand. As a writer you will likely do some speaking and promoting. What you talk about hopefully comes from what you’re passionate about. How you dress when you speak hopefully is inspired by the colors you love. How you decorate will likely influence the type of photos you post on Instagram or your author Facebook page, or what you pin on your author Pinterest board.

We’ll continue future, in-depth discussions of author branding (as well as platform) but for now, can I assign some homework?

Look up your favorite authors and notice what they’re posting, tweeting, and blogging about. Notice trends. Notice recurring themes. Colors. Topics. Questions. Ways they engage with their followers.

Then look at your own social media and writer website. Notice trends, recurring themes, colors, topics, questions, and how you engage. Take note if there are discrepancies between your social media bio and what you’re posting about.

For now, that’s all you need to do—notice. Next time we’ll take it a step further.

Until then, happy writing!

Sarah Rexford is a Marketing Content Creator and writer. She helps authors build their platform through branding and copywriting. With a BA in Strategic Communications, Sarah equips writers to learn how to communicate their message through personal branding. She writes fiction and nonfiction and offers writers behind-the-scenes tips on the publishing industry through her blog itssarahrexford.com. She is represented by the C.Y.L.E Young Agency.

Instagram: @sarahjrexford
Twitter: @sarahjrexford
Web: itssarahrexford.com

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Platform and Branding

Where You Are and Where You Want to Be

Platform and Branding

When it comes to building a platform, numbers fly around conversations like flies on leftovers. Some may say you need 50k followers on a single social media outlet to have a platform, others may say platform isn’t as important for fiction as it is for nonfiction. Others may say 30k on one platform is sufficient.

For a moment, set aside those numbers and listen to one freeing reality: Where you want to be is not where you need to be right now.

Yes, you need a platform, but if you write fiction crime novels your platform in this moment does not need to consist of fiction crime novel readers.

In some capacity, everyone is more talented in one area than another. When you’re looking to build your platform, start with where you are, not where you want to be.

Let’s say you are a stay-at-home mom and love cooking healthy dishes. Recently you’ve taken to learning the craft of writing—you’re working on your first romantic fiction and trying to build a platform.

You might think you need to start a blog on your romantic fiction, but I would urge you to think again. Instead, start using Pinterest to share your favorite recipes, or start a blog with a similar focus. As you naturally build a following around this passion, you’ll gain loyal fans.

How does that translate into a following for your book?

During the time it took you to write your manuscript and land your first contract, you’ve shared quality content on a regular basis for your followers. You’ve shared the best recipes you have and other than the usual requests of subscribing, sharing, and liking, you’ve never asked for a thing from your followers. You’ve provided free, quality content again and again.

They know all this time you’ve loyally provided what you said you would, and they’ve benefited. You’ve built a loyal following. At this point, they most likely won’t mind if you mention you’ve written a book and just signed your first contract. In fact, they’ll likely want to know!

And as an added bonus, maybe one of your characters loves cooking and you can mention he or she uses your most popular recipe as a second-date dinner in your romance novel. Now they’re really intrigued!

Whatever your current passion or talent, focus on building your following there. Once you have a loyal fan base and your book is about to be published, let them know. You’ll probably be surprised how many fans of your cooking blog turn into fans of your book.

With this type of platform, you don’t need to overmarket yourself or spam your followers with promotional material. They’re loyal to you, and if you have a new passion, they’ll likely want to support it as well.

Best wishes out there!

Sarah Rexford is a Marketing Content Creator and writer. She helps authors build their platform through branding and copywriting. With a BA in Strategic Communications, Sarah equips writers to learn how to communicate their message through personal branding. She writes fiction and nonfiction and offers writers behind-the-scenes tips on the publishing industry through her blog itssarahrexford.com. She is represented by the C.Y.L.E Young Agency.

Instagram: @sarahjrexford
Twitter: @sarahjrexford
Web: itssarahrexford.com

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Platform and Branding

How to Market Your Book in 2020

The difference between filing your carefully edited pages on your computer and readers reading those pages, is marketing.

Books come alive when readers read them, but in order to read them, they must know it exists. It’s the imagination that puts skin on characters and personalities in dialogue. Without readers, your book is a black and white stack of words.

One of my writing friends once said: “The brutal truth is you may have the greatest book ever written, but if you cannot pitch it, no one may ever know.”

Swap the word pitch with market, and you get a similar result.

So, how do you market your book, especially when life looks quite different now than it did a year ago?

Start with your pitch.

Online marketing can help you so much right now. You can do it from home, but still reach hundreds if not thousands of potential readers. However, just as every word counts in writing, every word counts in marketing. For someone to be willing to stop their scroll, it’s important to be succinct and catch their attention.

If you’re on Twitter, try formatting your pitch to target potential readers (and don’t forget to hashtag #WritingCommunity!). This will hopefully pique interest and if you leave it with a question, opens the door for comments.

Market your protagonist’s character arc.

Readers connect with the human side of characters, and often the humanity of characters means they have flaws. You want to keep the ending a surprise, but give enough to engage their desire to find out what happens. What’s your inciting incident, how does your protagonist respond, and what does this say about him? These can be good questions to ask when considering how to portray character arc.

Note: Keep your target audience in mind, because you want to remember not just what you’re pitching, but who you’re pitching to.

Shine a spotlight on your theme

              Your theme is what holds your book together. It’s the current that carries your protagonist, and your readers, from the first page to the last. It’s what makes them pick up your book instead of the one next to it on the shelf, or add your book to the cart instead of one in the customers-also-bought list on Amazon.

Let your passion for your book overflow as you market, but remember readers often purchase not just because of the genre, but because of the story in the genre. Your theme is what sets your story apart and your character arc helps hold up your theme, whatever it is.

Best wishes as you spread the word on your project!

Sarah Rexford is a Marketing Content Creator and writer. She helps authors build their platform through branding and copywriting. With a BA in Strategic Communications, Sarah equips writers to learn how to communicate their message through personal branding. She writes fiction and nonfiction and offers writers behind-the-scenes tips on the publishing industry through her blog itssarahrexford.com. She is represented by the C.Y.L.E Young Agency.

Instagram: @sarahjrexford
Twitter: @sarahjrexford
Web: itssarahrexford.com

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Platform and Branding

Author Brand Crash Course

Platform and Branding

Personal brand is a big factor for writers today. Do you have one? If so, what is it? And how do you, through your brand, portray yourself to the world? These are some questions to ask if you’re newer to this thing called writing or simply focusing on your platform for the first time.

First things first: Do you have a brand?

I put brand into two categories, active brand and passive brand. Passive brand is the brand you don’t think about. It’s what you wear to buy groceries, the posts you share without considering your writing platform, the people you follow because you just like seeing their posts. Active brand is much different. It’s what you choose to wear to the writers conference, it’s the blog you work on for a week before sharing on Twitter, it’s the people you follow on Instagram so you can work on your platform.

Whether you realize it or not, everything you say, share, do, wear (the list goes on) communicates something to your followers. When considering your brand, focus on a few key areas.

I can’t tell you what areas those should be for you, that’s up to you as the writer, but here are some bullet points to get you thinking:

  • Social Media — Are you always consuming or do you engage and give away good content? Neither is right or wrong, but one establishes you as more of a student in the industry while the other establishes you as an expert in your field.
  • Style — When people meet you for the first time, what does what you wear tell them about who you are? Are you a casual person? A professional? Again, neither is right or wrong but it is important to be aware of how you come across.
  • Website — Is your website about you or your reader? Are you inviting your target audience to read about the topics you enjoy, or are you bringing fresh content that will help them in whatever niche you’ve chosen to write in?
  • Writing — If people follow you on social media or subscribe to your site and then go read your books, they expect it to align with the rest of your brand. Ask, does my writing align with who I’m showing the world I am? (Imagine if Stephen King had a blog strictly focused on cat memes. As amazing as that would be, it would be rather confusing for the reader.)

If this feels like a lot, don’t be discouraged. Start small and grow from there. The good thing about a personal brand is it grows and changes as you do. Enjoy the journey of discovery and connecting with your readers along the way. If you’re a writer, you’re here for the long game. Personal brand is part of the process. And if you can write a book from scratch, you can definitely build your brand from what’s already started. You got this!

Sarah Rexford is a Marketing Content Creator and writer. She helps authors build their platform through branding and copywriting. With a BA in Strategic Communications, Sarah equips writers to learn how to communicate their message through personal branding. She writes fiction and nonfiction and offers writers behind-the-scenes tips on the publishing industry through her blog itssarahrexford.com. She is represented by the C.Y.L.E Young Agency.

Instagram: @sarahjrexford
Twitter: @sarahjrexford
Web: itssarahrexford.com

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Platform and Branding

Platform Starts with Your Mindset

When you hear the word platform what comes to mind? A mountain between you and getting published? One more thing to add to your to-do list? An elusive goal you’re not sure how to chase?

Thankfully, while platform is important for today’s writers, it’s not impossible to build. You probably have more of a platform than you realize.

Platform isn’t just social media followers.

Platform is potential readers.

Followers and reader are two very different things. Sometimes they’re the same, but often followers and readers are different. Put simply, the people you interact with, online or in person, who may purchase your book, that’s your platform.

This is where mindset comes in.

1. Share Your Passion

What we do with our lives often shows the areas we are interested in. You probably won’t write a how-to guide on rock climbing if you don’t love rock climbing. But if you love it, you’ll also probably join clubs or Facebook groups that focus on rock climbing. There’s an audience there.

To continue with this example, find people who reviewed movies on rock climbing (Free Solo, for instance) and find out what social media they like best, and what kind of content they engage with. These are the type of people you want to engage in your daily life because of shared interest. Naturally, they become potential readers.

2. Refuse the Scarcity Mindset

Platform is built off relationship, and relationship is born out of mindset.

Last year I attended a writing conference. I met a lot of great writers and made some great friends. Over lunch one day some of the writers started asking me questions about writing and platform. I could’ve answered vaguely and kept all my answers to myself. After all, the more writers working to build their platform the more competition, right?

Actually, not really. The world is full of readers, and there are plenty to go around.

Believing someone’s success lessens the possibility of your own is a scarcity mindset. Instead of choosing a scarcity mindset, I gave them my tips, helped them as much as I could, and then went on with the rest of the conference. Today, I keep up with some of them and we support each other in our writing.

3. Engage with Those Around You

If you can’t attend a conference this year, start small. Although writers are often viewed as introverts, even introverts talk about what excites them. When you’re in line at the coffee shop and the barista asks you what you’re working on today, tell them about your book. You just talked with a potential reader.

Remember, people talk about what excites them, and there are plenty of readers to go around. Share your passion, refuse the scarcity mindset, and engage with those around you. You’ll be surprised where it takes you!

Sarah Rexford is a Marketing Content Creator and writer. She helps authors build their platform through branding and copywriting. With a BA in Strategic Communications, Sarah equips writers to learn how to communicate their message through personal branding. She writes fiction and nonfiction and offers writers behind-the-scenes tips on the publishing industry through her blog itssarahrexford.com. She is represented by the C.Y.L.E Young Agency.

Instagram: @sarahjrexford
Twitter: @sarahjrexford
Web: itssarahrexford.com

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Platform and Branding

Amazon Advertisements: Essential

We all know how important Amazon when it comes to selling our books. Perhaps we don’t know just how important it is though.

This graph is from authorearnings.com, and is a bit outdated. Even a few years ago Amazon maintained roughly ¾ of US eBook sales, and its done nothing but grow since.

Kobo is still around. Apple is pushing to get back in the eBook market after their massive lawsuit for price-fixing a few years back. Nook is on its last leg, but might have a few tricks left up its sleeve.

All that said, Amazon is a behemoth. Books are sold on Amazon. And if we aren’t utilizing every resource at our disposal, our book sales will pay for it.

So how do we make our books succeed on Amazon then? Most authors measure the success or failure of their books by their Amazon sales, but yet we utilize ulterior sources for gaining sales. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Google… the list goes on. But Amazon has tools too. And they can’t be ignored any longer. And I’m about to make the case for why.

The Competitors

Google has been alone at the top of the advertising world since they beat out Yahoo a lifetime ago. Facebook was a fast riser and has stayed at the top for awhile now. Twitter is a newer player in the industry, but things can go viral on there. And fast. They say that video is the most powerful and relevant form of internet marketing, and many authors have employed YouTube to that end.

But there is a difference between using these otherwise effective marketing platforms than marketing on Amazon. Why? People on Twitter and Facebook are scrolling, not shopping. People on Youtube are consuming content, not making a purchase. Those on Google are looking for information, a website or an article. Their wallets might not be nearby.

On Amazon though, every person is shopping. They don’t have to be redirected from laughing at cat videos and catching up with their high-school friend Jim. They’re already hunting for the next great novel or the how-to book that will change their life. Amazon is a search engine just like Google or Bing, but users aren’t scrolling, they’re shopping. They don’t have to be interrupted. They want what you have, they just have to find it.

While all of these various platforms are excellent platform builders and need to be part of every author’s marketing portfolio, Amazon is where books are actually sold. And therefore advertising on there will produce the greatest return on investment nearly every time (if your goal is to sell books rather the gain fans).

Amazon’s Mission

Recent history tells us a little bit about Amazon’s mission. They started out as a bookseller, and now they’ve branched out into just about every major industry you can imagine. Clothes, groceries, online video… you name it. Amazon likes being the best at everything they do. And for a very long time, they’ve lagged behind Facebook and Google.

For that reason it should be no surprise that in the summer of 2018 Amazon announced that they would be revamping their advertising structure so that it would become a major part of what they do. What was once known as “Amazon Marketing Services” is now “Amazon Advertisements” and even over the last several months we’ve seen update after update that reveals Amazon is making big changes. What was once a great tool for selling books on Amazon has now become a complete necessity. And here’s why:

Also Bought’s

Most published authors are familiar with the “customers who bought this item also bought:” section on their Amazon book page. Here’s an example:

This is a major discovery tool for us. Once we achieve some sales, our book will start appearing on other book pages in this “also bought” section.

So what does this have to do with Amazon Advertisements? Because Amazon has played around with removing them altogether. What would they put in their place? More advertisements (you can already see the “sponsored products related to this item” below, but Amazon might just include two rows of these ads).

Just because Amazon has tested removing the also-boughts section on certain servers doesn’t mean they actually will. They’ve also tested moving the also-boughts to the bottom of the book page, just above the reviews (where there is currently another row of ads). That might not happen either. To be honest, we don’t really know what Amazon will do as they roll out more updates in 2019. What we can infer from these tests is that Amazon is determined to push their ads until their advertising platform is competing directly with Google and Facebook. And since Amazon is where books are sold, that is something to take note of.

I hope I’ve thoroughly convinced you of the importance of Amazon Advertisements. They’ve been a major part of what allowed me to go from first-time author with no platform and a small marketing budget to an International Best Seller. And Amazon doesn’t play favorites. That can happen for you too.

If you’re interest in my online course on Amazon ads, follow the link here. Be sure to use the code A3AMS for 50% off!

Be sure to come back next month, when we’re going to jump right in to the different types of ads, where they’ll appear, and which ones are right for you.

Vincent B. Davis II is an author, entrepreneur, speaker, and soldier. His first novel “The Man with Two Names” was published in July 2017, and has since become an Amazon International Best Seller. He is passionate about helping authors improve their brand and platform. He works with publishing companies and individual clients to help them sell more books in the modern publishing environment. Vincent created Warrior Book Marketing Group in 2018 and he and his team would love to help improve your digital sales. Email him at vincent@warriorbookmarketing.com with any questions.

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Platform and Branding

Amazon Advertising: Introduction

In October, we discussed keywords. There are two main goals when selecting your seven keywords: 1) to find words that are actually being searched for in high quantities and 2) words that aren’t so competitive that you can’t show up high in searches for.

When you only have seven keywords to choose from, you have to hit both of those metrics to remain relevant. But what if you could choose 1000?

With Amazon Advertising you can.

Essentially, Amazon Advertising works the same way as your keywords: you selected words or phrases that are related to your book, and when someone searches for them, they’ll see your book. What makes Amazon ads different is that you can select up to 1000 keywords (per campaign, and you can run as many campaigns as you like!).

Not only that, but you can target comparable authors and book titles in your genre. If you write Christian Living, how would you like to rank next to Max Lucado? Joyce Meyer? What about being the first result for “bible study” or “Christian living for women” in an Amazon search? You absolutely can with Amazon Advertising.

The only difference between Amazon ads and your seven keywords (despite the vastly greater number and the kinds of targeting you’re allowed to use) is the fact that you pay per click. You never pay when the ad is shown, but you’ll pay a marginal fee when a reader clicks on the advertisement and is directed straight to your book page.

The typical cost per click is around 10 – 20 cents, so depending on the price of your eBook/book, you can make a great return. If you make $2.00 per eBook, and your average cost per click is 20 cents, you can have ten clicks and only one sale to break even. If you covert more than that, the cup runneth over. Obviously the paperback or higher priced eBooks will give an even better return on investment.

But the real benefit of Amazon ads isn’t just making your money back. It’s about visibility. That’s the most difficult part about book sales right? We work our tails off planning for a book, writing it, editing, and then shell out money and time to get it prepared. And for what? Most of the time we launch our books not to applause but to crickets. Why? Because most people don’t know it exists.

Amazon advertisements solve that problem.

Whether you are a New York Times Best Seller or a first-time author with zero sales and zero reviews, you can be the first result in an Amazon search and appear on the book pages of your favorite authors and books. That’s how you get discovered: being visible to the right readers.

If you’re already sold on using Amazon Advertisements, feel free to follow this link and take a look at my comprehensive online course on Amazon ads: AMS (Amazon Marketing Services) Zero to Hero. As a special offer, use the code A3AMS for 50% off!

If not, stick around for next month, where we’ll dig into Amazon ads a little further, and gain a better understanding of not only why they work, but why they are crucial in the modern publishing environment.

Vincent B. Davis II is an author, entrepreneur, speaker, and soldier. His first novel “The Man with Two Names” was published in July 2017, and has since become an Amazon International Best Seller. He is passionate about helping authors improve their brand and platform. He works with publishing companies and individual clients to help them sell more books in the modern publishing environment. Vincent created Warrior Book Marketing Group in 2018 and he and his team would love to help improve your digital sales. Email him at vincent@warriorbookmarketing.com with any questions.

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Platform and Branding

Nailing Your Metadata: Keywords

Last month we talked about categories. Now we’re going to dig into the other side of the metadata equation: keywords.

Nailing your Keywords

Your keywords are the 7 (on Amazon) particular words/phrases that you’d like your book to come up under if someone searches for them. Most authors make the mistake of picking a few descriptive terms like “bible study” or “romantic comedy”. Unless you’re a NYT Bestseller, it’s unlikely that you’ll rank first on this page of results.

Alternatively, some people pick keywords that no one is interested in or actually typing in. If you are trying to rank in ultra-competitive keywords, you’re in shark-invested waters without a float. If no one is searching for the keywords you’re using, you’re in the desert.  So what’s the key? Picking keywords that are being searched for often, but don’t have much competition. There is a fine line, and it’s a tightrope to balance.

 There’s a statistic that says if your book ranks first overall for a search term, there is a 27% chance a shopper will click on your book. If your book is the second result, that number drops to 12%. The odds of someone clicking on your book if it ranks on the second page are only 7% (for all 10-15 results on the page).

So, you want to be on that first page, and you want to be that first result if possible. But you also want to make sure there are people actually interested in that keyword.

Your job is to research various terms related to your book and analyze the market for it. You need to break down the monthly traffic volume for each possible term, and then look at how fierce the competition is based on the highest-ranking titles’ sales rank. With these numbers in mind, you can choose the 7 most effective keywords to keep your book visible to the right audience.

Pro Tip: How do you analyze the traffic of each term? Well that’s a good question. I use a tool called KDP Rocket to analyze traffic data for all of my clients. It digs into the Amazon numbers to tell you just how often (per month) a term is being searched for, and how competitive that term is. You might be surprised by the results. This is the best tool I’ve found to help with keyword research.

Putting It All Together

Optimizing your metadata might not become a bestseller overnight. It doesn’t have the kind of immediate effect that ad campaigns or discount promotions have. But what it does give you is a competitive advantage and the ability to maintain long-term success from the short-term sales strategies. By updating your categories and keywords, you instantly become more discoverable to target readers, and that is always a good thing.

Vincent B. Davis II is an author, entrepreneur, speaker, and soldier. His first novel The Man with Two Names was published in July 2017 and has since become an Amazon International Best Seller. He is passionate about helping authors improve their brand and platform. He works with publishing companies and individual clients to help them sell more books in the modern publishing environment. Vincent is also the Senior Editor for blueridgeconference.com. If you are interested in contributing a blog for the site, or have any other queries, you can reach him at Vincent@thirteenthpress.com

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Platform and Branding

Nailing Your Metadata: Categories

What is Metadata?

Metadata is the information you give to Amazon (or other distributors) that instructs them on where your book should be located, and to whom it should be shown. Most readers will never know what your metadata entails, and just as few will care about it. Amazon’s algorithms, however, care about it deeply. If your metadata (namely, categories and keywords) aren’t correct and optimized, Amazon will not help readers find your book, and therefore it will drift into obscurity and be undiscoverable.

By adding the proper keywords and categories for your book, you help Amazon’s algorithms guide your target readers right to your book. If you have these elements in place, your book will be much more visible to shoppers, and you’ll begin to see an increase in sales.

Keywords and categories are very simple once you understand them, but they can be a bit more complex than most authors think. Let’s dig in to categories:

Nailing Your Category

Your category is not the same as your genre. They can be one in the same, but categories can also be much more complex.

For instance, I personally write in the genre of historical fiction. As far as I know, it’s the only genre my book fits in. However one of my categories looks like this: kindle ebooks -> literature and fiction -> historical fiction -> Italian. The other looks like this: kindle ebooks -> history -> ancient civilization -> Rome.

Whereas my chances of ranking high in the historical fiction category is very  improbable without a huge marketing budget and a well-established platform, I almost always rank within the top 20 of my first category, and top 10 of my second.

Why is that important?

Because people looking through the bestsellers list will see my book at the top of those charts.

It’s all about visibility. Allowing Amazon to do a little bit of visibility marketing for you can lead to a lot of book sales in the long run.

If I had stopped with the most obviously categories, such as historical fiction or historical thriller, I likely wouldn’t have that added visibility by being at the top of my category charts.

Your job as the author is to research your genre to figure out the most optimal categories for your book to be listed in. You do this by analyzing the competition and it’s difficulty, while also testing how popular the category is.

Through the KDP platform, you can select up to two categories for your book to be listed in. Your goal with each should be a book that your book can easily rank within the top 100 in (the bestsellers list for each category shows the top 100). After that box is checked, you want to find categories that you can confidently make a push into the top 20 (the first page of a bestsellers list shows the top 20). At last, if possible, it’s always good to shoot for a category that you have the ability to rank #1 in. You might not be able to stay there very long, but it is nice to know that if you focus your efforts and spend a little bit on marketing, you can make a push for #1.

If you do, you’ll end up with a nifty little status like this:

Bestseller in America

Bestseller in Canada!

Bestseller in Australia! Have you ever wanted to be an “international best seller”?

 How do you do this, one might ask? Well, it’s fairly simple. You need to spend a lot of time yourself digging into the many niche categories on Amazon to find one that your book can accurately fit into. Next, you’ll need to look at the ASBR (average best seller rank) of the #1, #20, and #100 book in that category. Once you have that number, head over to the KDP Calculator, and type those numbers in to see how many books per day that title is selling. If you feel confident in being able to sell that many books per day so that you can place within the top 100, top 20, or have a shot at number 1, than it is the category for you.

Pro Tip #1: If there is a category you find on Amazon that you cannot find within the KDP dashboard to add your book to, you can always email KDP support and ask them to add your book to a particular category. All you need to do is provide the book title, the ASIN number and the FULL category chain, and KDP will do the rest.

Pro Tip #2: If all of this sounds tedious to you, or your want to ensure you have the most accurate data, you can purchase the KDP Rocket software, which distills all of this information in a quick and easily digestible way. I use it personally for all of my clients, and for myself. I can’t recommend it enough, and it will make your category searches much more efficient.

Vincent B. Davis II is an author, entrepreneur, speaker, and soldier. His first novel The Man with Two Names was published in July 2017 and has since become an Amazon International Best Seller. He is passionate about helping authors improve their brand and platform. He works with publishing companies and individual clients to help them sell more books in the modern publishing environment. Vincent is also the Senior Editor for blueridgeconference.com. If you are interested in contributing a blog for the site, or have any other queries, you can reach him at Vincent@thirteenthpress.com

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Platform and Branding

SEO and Why It Matters by Vincent Davis

So you’ve published a book. You just launched it or you’re about to do so. What’s next? How do you get it in front of people?

It all comes down to the search engine.

If you aren’t familiar with the term SEO (it’s something drilled into your head in business school), it stands for Search Engine Optimization. To say that in English, it’s the process of understanding how to utilize search engines (Google or otherwise), so that your book comes up relatively high in the results. For example: I write historical fiction set in Ancient Rome. SEO is understanding the tools I can use to get my book to come up at the very top of a search for “book about Ancient Rome” or “Ancient Rome novel”.

Every search on every search engine results in primary results. These are the ones that show up at the very top, and are otherwise set apart from the rankings below them. All of this is ranked by what the search engine deems as the most relevant.

If all of this business talk confuses you, don’t worry. Just remember that every search engine ranks the results of a search by relevance. The most relevant to the search, the higher it will appear. And we all want our books to show up at the top, right? SEO is how we train the search engine to put our book first!

While it’s important to understand the fundamentals of SEO for any sales (including books), it doesn’t really matter on book selling platforms like Amazon. Or does it?

This is where many authors make a mistake. They misunderstand what Amazon is at its foundation. It is a search engine. Just like Google, Bing, or Yahoo, Amazon is a search engine. It ranks results based on relevance and which book (based on trends and insane amounts of data collection) Amazon believes the reader is most likely to purchase. Amazon is a search engine where viewers are shopping instead of scrolling. That alone should place it at the center of your marketing efforts. Your conversion of views-to-sales will be much higher than on any other search engine platform.

And Amazon is a cold and impartial judge of their results. They don’t care if your book is published by Harper Collins or by your mom and pop. It doesn’t consider whether the price of your book is .99c or $99. It will prioritize the books that readers are most likely to purchase.

SEO is how we get our book at the top. It is how we get our book in front of new readers. SEO on Amazon is the new and improved version of a front display at a bookstore- because it’s a bookstore for the readers who want your book and are most likely to buy it.

SEO plays a role in every marketing aspect of the author’s career. The marketing author must consider it in book descriptions, the 5-7 keywords you can select, in your pay-per-click campaigns (ppc), and even recently inside your book. But don’t worry about that. One step at a time.

Next month we’ll jump right in with book descriptions, and keep moving from there.

BIO

Vincent B. Davis II is an author, entrepreneur, speaker, and soldier. His first novel The Man with Two Names was published in July 2017 and has since become an Amazon International Best Seller. He is passionate about helping authors improve their brand and platform. He works with publishing companies and individual clients to help them sell more books in the modern publishing environment. Vincent is also the Senior Editor for blueridgeconference.com. If you are interested in contributing a blog for the site, or have any other queries, you can reach him at Vincent@thirteenthpress.com

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Platform and Branding

The Writer’s Many Hats by Vincent Davis

When you tell others that you are a writer, one image appears in their mind: you crowded over a dusty desk, scattered papers all around with empty cups of Starbucks coffee abounding, as you pound away on a old typewriter like a mad scientist.

If you’re lucky, you’ve experienced a few crazed moment of a creative rush like this. However, you likely also know that being a writer requires much more than crafting fancy sentences.

The modern writer, if she wants to be even marginally successful, must wear many different hats.

Here are a few hats the writer must wear:

  1. Social media expert
  2. Website designer
  3. SEO analyst
  4. E-mail marketing guru
  5. Graphic designer
  6. Copywriter
  7. Editor
  8. Launch and Campaign strategist
  9. Speaker
  10. Amazon specialist
  11. Boss (making sure you stick to deadlines)
  12. Manager (making sure you maintain your health and happiness)

These are just a few roles the author must play to be successful. This isn’t even covering the freelance aspect that many authors take on to supplement their writing income.

Whether you are self-published or traditionally published, you need to have a basic understanding of these aspects of the author’s life to optimize your book’s sales.

Who Am I? And Why Am I Talking To You About This?

 I’m just an author like you. With no team and little resources, I’ve researched all these various aspects of the author life, and have managed to push my first novel into the Amazon Bestsellers list. I’ve also been able to live off my book’s revenue, and if you focus on all these roles as well, I think you can too.

I want to help distill the things I’ve learned so that you can become an expert in some of these fields, or you can look to a freelancer like myself or the others on A3 to help you if your efforts are better used elsewhere.

Buckle up and dust off your favorite hats, cause we’re going to be trying them all on!

Vincent B. Davis II is an author, entrepreneur, speaker, and soldier. His first novel The Man with Two Names was published in July 2017 and has since become an Amazon International Best Seller. He is passionate about helping authors improve their brand and platform. He works with publishing companies and individual clients to help them sell more books in the modern publishing environment. Vincent is also the Senior Editor for blueridgeconference.com. If you are interested in contributing a blog for the site, or have any other queries, you can reach him at Vincent@thirteenthpress.com

 

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Platform and Branding

4 Must-Have Features For Your Blog

One of the cornerstones of your platform is your personal website or blog. Whether professionally designed or a DIY site, your site needs to include these essential features that introduce you to your followers.

1. Your Name

Your name should be visible somewhere in the “top of the fold” of your site, whether in the header or in the sidebar. (“Top of the fold” refers to the upper half of a newspaper, where the most important information is. It’s also the first part of page that’s loaded on your site.) Visitors to your site will become frustrated if they have to go on a “site safari” to find out who you are.

2. Your Photo

A good quality professional headshot should also be in the “top of the fold,” in either your header or your sidebar. It’s helpful if you use the same profile picture across all your social media accounts. It gives you a more uniform, professional social media presence.

3. Your Social Media Links

social media icons

WordPress and Blogger have a variety of plugins/gadgets that allow you to link to your social media accounts. There are also plugins/gadgets that share those feeds on your page, but be judicious about their use. You want your sidebar to be informative without being cluttered.

4. Follow by Email Option

Give your readers the option of subscribing to your blog. They’ll benefit in that they’ll get updates to your blog in a timely manner. The benefit for you is that you’ll have access to your followers when you want to contact them with information you may not want to post on your website.

Incorporating these simple elements into your site design will allow your readers to scan the page, find your essential information and begin recognizing your brand.

Shareables:

4 must-have features for website platform

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Platform and Branding

3 quick and easy steps to review and refresh your writer platform

by Susan Stilwell @susanrstilwell

Busy writers are often consumed with projects. We all have at least one WIP and if we’re disciplined (and sometimes downright lucky), we’re also creating content for our online presence. We rarely take the time to review the basic elements of our writer platform. In ignoring those elements, we miss the opportunity to put our best foot forward with new connections.

Review your writer platform

in 3 quick and easy steps!

Review your About page

Once it’s written, this page falls off the radar of most writers. Statistics show, however, it’s the second most popular page on your site. Be sure to address the 5 Questions Your About Page Must Answer, but also update the page with any new information that will interest your contacts or writing professionals.

Allow me to step out of my professional voice and rant for a minute:

One of my pet peeves is dated headshots. I can’t tell you how many conferences I’ve attended and had someone I don’t recognize come up and introduce themselves to me. There I stand, mentally flipping the fading rolodex in my aging memory. Embarrassed, I finally confess, “Have we met?”

“What?” they gasp, tilting their head like a confused puppy. “I’m SO-AND-SO! You know me!”

Well, yes, I DO know them, but the person in front of me looks nothing like the person on their website!

Ok, rant over. Thank you for your patience.

Don’t neglect your headshot. Is it current? Is the image good quality? Professional headshots are best but smartphone cameras and apps can also produce outstanding images. A few simple tips:

  • Have a friend take the picture and ask them to frame you from the waist up.
  • Wear solid colors,
  • find a simple background,
  • position your body at an angle, and
  • look friendly. Or goofy. SHOCK BROCA!

Find a teenager or a friend who knows a thing or two about image editing and ask them to clean it up for you. Remind them not to go crazy with filters and excessive processing; just make it natural and flattering.

Review your website sidebar

Take a quick look and check for broken links. Be sure these 4 Must-Have Features For Your Blog are in place, and consider adding widgets (WordPress) or gadgets (Blogger) for any awards you’ve won or conferences you’ve attended or plan to attend. If you’re a part of a writing community, add that graphic element as well to connect with other writers.

Review the profiles for your top 3 social media networks

Update your contact information, cover images, headshots, etc. Be sure you’re consistent with your personal branding: the same or similar verbiage, colors, images, calls to action, etc.

Taking a few minutes to review and refresh these areas will keep your platform current and help position you for success with your writing.

Shareables:

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Additional resources:

Hubspot – Professional Headshot Tips For a Budget

Almost An Author – Brand Basics – 2 Considerations For Writers

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Platform and Branding

5 Questions Writers Should Ask Before Joining a New Social Media Network

by Susan Stilwell @susanrstilwell

Social media is a part of life and savvy writers stay on top of the latest trends. Each year new social networks emerge, each promising to be the most engaging. Busy writers want to maintain a relevant and growing social media presence, and asking these five questions can help decide if a new network is worth pursuing.

social media icons

1. What do I have to offer there?

Do you have photography skills? An image-driven network like Instagram can give you an outlet for your hobby and also let your followers see some of the things that inspire you.

Do you enjoy creating or curating professional information? LinkedIn might be a good fit.

Are you an engaging public speaker? Live video will enhance your presence by letting your community see you in action. Video is one of the most engaging mediums and many networks are incorporating it in their platforms. The personal touch video provides can benefit any writer.

2. Is my audience engaged there?

All social media networks have a mobile app available, and many of them can access your personal contacts. Allow the app to access your address book and see who’s there. Check out a few profiles of your friends and influencers and take note of their followers, content, and strategies.

3. What is the learning curve? 

This can be difficult to gauge but notice what others are doing and see how your skills compare. Instagram followers appreciate artsy photographs or interesting graphics, so you’ll want to brush up on those skills. If you’re interested in live video streaming, then you’ll want to invest in a “selfie stick” or a portable tripod and practice delivering succinct messages. To create good instructional videos for YouTube or Vimeo you’ll need some basic video editing skills as well as an understanding of how to share or embed your content.

4. How will this grow my platform?

Social media can be used for a host of reasons:

  • building relationships,
  • driving traffic to your website,
  • growing your number of followers,
  • launching books,
  • increasing engagement,
  • sharing your message,
  • learning new skills,
  • introducing you to a new audience, etc.

Decide on your goal, do a little research and then develop a plan. Periodically evaluate your progress and make the necessary adjustments, including leaving the network if it’s not working for you.

5. How will one more network affect my life?

Joining a new network can be fun and exciting, but it can also become cumbersome if you don’t have the time and energy for it. Will another network add to your stress level, or will it energize and inspire you?

 

Social media is an important part of a writer’s platform, one that can also enrich your personal life. Answering these five questions will help clarify your goals and determine if joining a new network is right for you.

Shareables:

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Additional resources:

Hubspot – Visual Marketing Content Strategy

Lifewire – Joining A Social Network

Categories
Platform and Branding

3 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Help Your Writer Platform

When building a writer platform, few of us consider hiring a virtual assistant, or VA. Most of us are DIYers, learning the ropes so we can understand what’s happening in the online world.

Not everyone, however, has the desire, time or ability to continue doing it themselves. In those cases it’s wise to enlist the help of someone with experience. A virtual assistant can be a godsend for a busy writer struggling to grow their platform.

3 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Help Your Writer Platform

Saves time.

Creating social media content, formatting blog posts, responding to comments and messages, facilitating online discussions, etc. takes time and focus. A virtual assistant can perform many of these tasks for you, leaving you with time to write and engage in the places you enjoy.

Saves money.

Some content requires premium images and designer fonts, and that content often needs to be formatted for different social media networks. Many virtual assistants have access to these types of and can work with you to create a custom look that enhances your brand.

Some VAs are also savvy with WordPress and Blogger, and may be able to help with minor website modifications.

Saves sanity.

Sometimes you need a social media respite due to travel, health, family demands, or deadlines. A VA can help keep things moving forward when you need to take a break.

Other times you may need help because of changes in social media networks. Not only do the networks change, but your audience also changes. What works one year may not engage your audience the next. An experienced VA may also help you brainstorm new strategies.

virtual assistant

Where can I find a virtual assistant?

Finding a good virtual assistant can be challenging but it’s not impossible. Beware of economy sites as many of their sources live outside the US and may not have good English skills. Premium sites do a better job of pairing you with a VA who’s a good fit, but many require you to schedule interviews and pay fees.

A reliable way for a writer to find a VA is to crowdsource. Post the question in a Facebook or LinkedIn group. Ask your writer friends if they’ve worked with a VA or can recommend a VA.

Being able to outsource the things you dislike will not only reduce your frustration level but it will also give you margin. Hiring a virtual assistant can enable you to do what only you can do—write and share your message.

If you’re a writer who loves social media, has good content creation skills, and enjoys keeping up with trends, maybe YOU should be a VA! It’s a great way to hone your skills, help your fellow writers AND earn a little money!

Shareables:

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Categories
Platform and Branding

3 Tips to Grow Your Writer Platform When You Need a Break

Everyone needs a break from time to time. For a writer building a platform, taking a social media break might seem like you’re losing precious ground. If you’re willing to think outside the box and do a little planning, you can take a break and continue to grow your writer platform.

1. Recycle An Old Blog Post

In the spirit of “going green,” recycle an old post (or two or several). Go back in your archives and find an old post that didn’t get as much traffic as you hoped or one that wasn’t as well developed. Rewrite it and share some insights you’ve learned since the piece originally posted. You may even include some of your reader’s comments.

Be sure to optimize for SEO and include new shareable tweets and images.

2. Line Up Guest Posts

Ask writer friends if they’d like to write for you. If they’re busy or in need of a break themselves, look through their archives and find a post you liked, and ask if you can repost on your blog. (First be sure they’re not recycling it for their own site!)

Add click-to-tweets at the bottom of the post that mention the author. If you’re republishing an old posts, share an attribution such as, “This post first appeared on [friend’s site name with hyperlink to their site].”

Whether the post is new content or a republished post, always link back to the author’s site. Ask the author if there’s a particular page they’d like you to feature. They may ask you to direct readers to their About page. Another option is to link to their home page so your readers can see your friend’s most recent work.

3. Consider Hiring A Virtual Assistant

This may sound like a splurge, but VAs can help with many tasks. They can curate shareable content, research topics, or edit and schedule blog posts. They can respond to comments, coordinate editorial calendars, optimize posts for SEO, or even help with tips 1 & 2 – recycle old posts and line up guest posts!

VAs are unique and have different skill sets, so ask friends for recommendations. Some VAs prefer to work for a stretch of time (monthly or quarterly), but others are happy to do piecemeal work when needed.

Grow platform on break

Time away from writing and social media doesn’t necessarily mean your platform growth will suffer. With a little creative thinking and planning, you can enjoy a respite and still grow your writer platform when you need a break.

Anything to add to this list? Please share in the comments!

Shareables:

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Helpful A3 links:

3 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Help Your Writer Platform

3 Mistakes to Avoid With Your Social Media Strategy

4 Simple Rules For Guest Posting

Categories
Platform and Branding

3 Can’t-Miss Tips For Steady Platform Growth

Smart writers invest in workshops, courses, and conferences. Smart and savvy writers will also invest time in building their platforms. These three steps repeated weekly, monthly or quarterly will ensure your platform grows at a steady rate.

Review Your Strategies

Look back over your blog and social media analytics. What content performed best for you? What networks gave your best results? Build on those strengths while taking a critical look at what didn’t perform as well. Should you make tweaks and try to improve, or abandon a failing strategy?

Numbers don’t lie, especially analytics, and so you’ll discover which social media networks fit best in your platform. Where are your readers? Where and how are you getting the best engagement? If a network isn’t getting the engagement you expected, what tweaks do you need to make?

Set SMART goals

Peter Drucker’s SMART management tool works well when setting platform goals:

  • Specific – Determine how much and what you will write, how you will network, what skills you need to learn, etc.
  • Measurable – Set goals for word count, number of articles to submit, posts to publish, manuscript progress, etc.
  • Attainable – Decide what works for you and your schedule, being careful to strike a balance that’s ambitious but also realistic.
  • Relevant – Goals must be timely and meaningful, moving you toward an identified objective.
  • Time-bound – Give yourself deadlines: daily (if appropriate), weekly, monthly, quarterly.

Don’t Neglect Relationships

Writing requires a good bit of solitary confinement, and it can be easy to retreat into your writing shell and neglect relationships. I need a good balance of non-writing friends who I can relax with, but I also deliberately cultivate friendships with other writers who understand the struggles and challenges of writing.

Consider joining a writing group or getting a critique partner. Find writer friends who will understand your goals and hold you accountable. Connect regularly to check progress and encourage each other.

 

Steady platform growth

Building your platform requires an investment of time and energy, along with regular evaluations. Set goals, connect with others, and know where you want to go with your writing. If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.

Shareables:

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