Building your Author Platform

Image Source: Writer's Digest



In their current print issue (Mar/Apr 2011), Writer's Digest featured an article by Christina Katz entitled, "50 Simple Ways to Build Your Platform in 5 Minutes a Day." I highly recommend this article to every writer, especially those upcoming authors not yet published. So snag a copy of the magazine and learn simple steps every author can take to develop their personal brand and build a loyal following long before it is time to find an agent or publish that first manuscript.

A few of my favorite suggestions from the article include:

02 - Start Surveillance: As a writer/author it is important to connect with readers, reviewers, and fellow authors. The best way to know if others are aware of your existence, and perhaps even following your progress, is by setting up a Google Alert on yourself. After doing this, Google will notify you every time your name, article, blog, twitter handle, website, etc. is mentioned anywhere on the world wide web. When you are notified that someone else is promoting you, be sure to pop over and say thanks.

03 - Poll for Solutions: Use social media outlets to ask questions and get answers from others already in the business, or from potential readers. Twitter and Facebook are great for connecting with fellow authors and asking them questions. Most authors are very willing to help once they know you need it, and this also can be the start of a long-lasting friendship and can snowball into multiple new contacts.

15 - Review Worthy Writers: Anytime you come across an author or work that you feel was exceptional in some way, share it with others. You can mention them on your own blog or on review sites like Amazon.com, GoodReads, and Red Room. Not only are you helping to promote other authors, which will more than likely cause them to notice you and your work as well, but you are also helping to bring more attention to yourself and your own work.

17 - Take Time To Interact: With the multitude of blogs available on the web, it is sometimes a small miracle that your posts get read at all. Be sure to show your appreciation to those who have taken the time to read your posts and leave comments by commenting back and answering any questions that readers have. This is a great way to build a rapport with your readers and assure that they will continue to follow your posts.

20 - Create a Quickie Blogroll: Include writers and other blogs that you read regularly. This serves two purposes. First you are providing additional resources for your blog readers, and secondly, you are making other authors aware of your blog as well when they notice your link.

23 - Get Together: If you are participating in events, be sure to let people know where you will be and what you will be doing. Facebook has a great event application so you can also invite your friends/fans and get an RSVP. Also follow other author's events and support those whom you admire and respect by attending their events as well.

24 - Spark Conversations: With the infinite number of blogs, websites, social networks, forums, and chats out there today, find someone talking about a topic you are interested in and join the conversation! Not only can you learn something new, but you might also pick up a new fan or two, or find another networking partner.

25 - Friend and Follow Media Pros: Find out who the movers and shakers are in your genre (ie: well known authors/writers, literary agents, publishers, book reviewers, etc.) and interact with them (DON'T stalk them!!). They can be valuable resources and can help point you in the right direction.

30 - Shake Things Up: Don't be afraid to shake things up on hot button topics where you have a strong opion. If you disagree with something, tactfully rebut it. If you can think of a new and interesting angle about a topic, share it.

31: Capture Email Addresses: Start a newsletter to keep your fans informed of your progress, upcoming events, causes you support, book releases, and more. This is the easiest way to keep in contact with a multitude of people and keep them informed, and to market your books. There are several great services that make newletter production quick and easy and most have a free trial period: Mail Chimp, Constant Contact, Aweber, and Get Repsonse. Also be sure to include an RSS Feed on your blog so readers can get each and every post.

35 - Share This: Be sure to utilize social networking buttons from Facebook and Twitter on your posts so that your readers can share your content with others. Also if you come across some great content, be sure to share or tweet the post or article to your readers. I guarantee you will make lots of new friends who will appreciate you promoting their work.

37 - Grow Your List: Be sure to include an email sign up link on your site, in your Bio signature, your business cards, and anywhere else you have a media presence. Also make sure to take an email sign up sheet with you to each event you attend so that people can receive updated information from you on a regular basis. Remeber the people on your list are the most likely people to purchase your work when it is ready.

41 - Round Up Resources: Include a resource page for your readers or other authors and share helpful content with them that they can share with others. This will also help generate traffic back to your pages when your content is shared by others.



For more great ideas on ways to build your author platform, check out the full article in Writer's Digest or visit Christina's website. She has tons of helpful and free resource info there for you to peruse at your leisure.

She also has a great book available for purchase that gives lots more tips and tricks about how you can become a well known author way before you land that first book deal. Click the image to the left to find out more about Christina's book and begin building your platform right now!

Rechelle's Diary: 3/6/11 - Life Happens! Just go with it!



Image Source: fatboygetsfit.com



Is it just me or does life kinda rear it's ugly head at the most inopportune times?

A few months ago, I decided that I was finally at the point in my life where I am ready to actively pursue my life long dream of becoming a published best-selling author. I pulled out all of my old unfinished manuscripts, blew off the cobwebs, and thoughtfully reviewed each one. After several days of pensive review, I finally selected one of my older manuscripts to focus on, and began writing furiously. I discovered renewed inspiration and was actively writing again. It felt wonderful!

Additionally, I decided to establish a Facebook account and author page as well as a Twitter account, and began networking with other authors, agents, publishers and book reviewers. I established a blog where I could write about my journey and the authoring process, and share musings of the author within with anyone who cared to visit. It has been so wonderful meeting and chatting with other literary personas and I am so looking forward to continuing along this chosen path.

Unfortunately however, life happened and my writing come across a small temporary bump in the road that has managed to severely interfere with my writing, blogging, chatting, and tweeting for a few weeks.

My (real life) employer decided to send me to a very demanding three-week law enforcement training course in our lovely state capital. The days are long and grueling and the nights demand heavy studying as the content is testable for certification purposes. There has been very little time to write, blog, tweet or anything else during the last two weeks.

Fortunately, I am beginning the final week of training tomorrow, so hopefully, I will be able to easily transition back into a regular writing and blogging routine soon. My husband and I have rented a lake front villa for the following week and I am definitely taking my laptop along and am planning on doing some major catching up. I'm not certain whether or not the villa has wireless Internet, but I will be back bloging as soon as possible.

Rechelle's Diary: 2/22/11 - The Best Writing Advice Ever Given

There are approximately eight to ten incomplete manuscripts stored in a folder on my computer under the heading of "My Manuscripts". Some consist of only a few pages while others have several chapters completed. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I decided to choose one of these incomplete manuscripts to complete as my first novel rather than begin with a new idea from scratch.

While I was in the process of trying to choose the perfect manuscript, I began questioning the reasons why I had so many unfinished stories waiting to be completed. I remembered having all these wonderful ideas and stories floating around in my head when I began each manuscript, yet each time I had waned as each story progressed. Despite the incompleteness of my previous attempts, I knew that becoming an author was the right path for me so I began looking for answers and direction on how to keep myself in writing mode and how to stay motivated enough to actually complete my manuscripts.  

A few days later, I stumbled on this post by Clay Rivers and had a true aha moment when I read the following:

"The goal isn't to write it perfectly the first time. The goal is to get it committed to paper, be it real or virtual. Don't edit yourself on your first draft. There will be plenty of time to go back and edit your manuscript."

Although River's post is actually addressing the topic of writing a memoir, this is universal advice and it described my situation perfectly. I had been hindering my own progress by being too much of a perfectionist!

In the past, I would stop dead in my tracks, smack in the middle of an idea stream, to edit what I'd just written. Additionally, each time I would sit down to write, first I would read the previous pages I had written. Then, while reviewing them, I would notice a misspelling or inconsistency and immediately, the anal retentive side of me would kick into edit mode and rather than writing additional pages and getting my ideas onto paper, I would get stuck editing. The worst part of it is that until I read River's post, I really hadn't been cognizant of it.

From this moment on, I will not be going back and reading previous pages, nor will I begin editing until I have completed the entire rough draft. I really believe that this will benefit me greatly and that my manuscripts will no longer be "casualties of my perfection".

Metamorphosis: The Beginning

Artist: Emerald De Leeuw (epilogue.net)

 

Earlier today I sat down at my keyboard intent on selecting one of several "in-progress" manuscripts to concentrate on and complete as my first novel. As I was reviewing them, one particular story titled "Metamorphosis: the Beginning" resonated with me. A tale that recounts a young woman's transformation and spiritual rebirth matched exactly where I am currently on my own life path as I transition from life as a Crime Scene Investigator and Law Enforcement Officer to becoming an author.  
Here's a little sample from Chapter 1 for your review:

" Wringing her sweating hands together, Victoria Huntington continued running the details of her escape plan in her mind. She couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. The Sanguine moon of her twenty-first year was less than a week away and at that time, as the last living female descendant of the McKlaugh coven, she would receive an infusion of power and would assume her mother’s long vacant role as Berkshire’s Grand Sorceress. There was just one problem. As the Grand Sorceress she was bound by coven law to mate with and serve the coven's Grand Master, Mason Dechlan, who was also her legal protectorate. He had managed to manipulate the coven's tenants to gain full legal control over her in the years immediately following her parent's questionable deaths, and once he was able to tap into and manipulate her powers, he would become the most powerful warlock in history... unless... she stopped him."
I look forward to your feedback but please keep in mind that this is just a preliminary draft of a work in progress.   

Rechelle's Diary: 2/16/11 - A Long Time Coming

Image: Writingdesksonline.com

I am so excited that I have created a space, both in my home and on the web, where I can actively pursue long held dreams of becoming a published best-selling author. I remember days of recording what now seem like such insignificant happenings in my "journal". Writing provided me with the means to constructively release my bottled up emotions and was very therapeutic. It wasn't until I was in high school that my imagination really kicked into overdrive and I began crafting spell binding tales of intrigue and suspense. Unfortunately, most of my stories were locked inside my head and never managed to get transferred to paper. There was the occasional short-story that I had to write for English class, which seemed to impress my English teacher very much, but I was not in a place at that time where I had very much self esteem or faith in my own talents and abilities. It was much safer to keep the stories floating around in my imagination critique and ridicule free. Teenagers can be so unforgiving and insensitive.Throughout the years, I continued to journal my random thoughts and kept thinking to myself, "You should really write a book." Self-doubt and the fear of failure and rejection kept rearing their ugly heads however, and although I would start a manuscript, I could never seem to get past the first couple of chapters. I would talk myself out of the entire process by convincing myself that I was not lucky enough or talented enough to get anything published. This cycle of starting enthusiastically then quickly giving up became a routine for me.
 I did manage to author several blogs over the years, however, these were also short lived as I circumstances forced me to work multiple jobs in order to sufficiently support myself and my son. Let me be the first to tell you that law enforcement officers are so very underpaid, especially in comparison to the level of danger that we experience each and every day. The hours are long and the job is a thankless one that breeds indifference and threatens to eat away at the officer's spirit and humanity. Burn out is high in this profession and it's not hard to see why. I have been burnt out for years and the job no longer satisfies me the way it once did. So I think the universe sort of steered me towards the road I am on today, seeking a different career path, something rewarding  and fulfilling. I need that in my life.
Fortunately, through all these years, my mother always had faith in me and my writing talents and never stopped encouraging me to pursue a career a writing career. Thanks so much mom! I love you for that and for always seeing the possibilities and talents in me that I sometimes didn't recognize in myself.
It has taken a lot of soul searching and quite a few years (a couple of decades actually) to get to the point where I finally feel ready to become, and to live as, a writer. I have finally managed to put aside all of the insecurities of the past and devote myself to the pursuit of this revived dream. So, I have pulled out all those unfinished chapters and am seriously committed to turning those forgotten pages into tomorrow's best-sellers because I am a writer!

Rechelle's Diary: 2/11/11 - Finishing Touches

Well, I have spent another long day tweaking my blog, twitter, and facebook pages. I would just like to say thanks to all of you aspiring and published authors who have already visited and left feedback about the site and for the wonderful reception and encouragement that I have been shown so far by the RWA community.
I must confess, however, that I did take a rather long break this evening to curl up on the couch and watch two of my favorite movies (based on two of my favorite books of course), "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen, and "Gone with the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell.

Image: cinemasource.com

And aaahhh, Mr. Darcy....swoon, the absolute perfect romantic lead. He is stubborn, and a bit arrogant, yet still tender and vulnerable when it matters most.

Image: backseatcuddler.com

I think my favorite part of the entire movie (2005 version with Keira Knightley & Matthew McFadyen) is the scene depicted above towards the end of the movie. After Lady Catherine's visit Lizzie is standing outside in a field and then sees the sillouetted Mr. Darcy sauntering towards her out of the morning mist. There is just something so sexy and alluring about that scene. You can just feel your heart in your throat as you can see the trepidation and hope in Mr. Darcy's face.
And let's not leave out the crass Rhett Butler. It is fitting that only a fiery, independent, and determined woman like Scarlett O'Hara could capture his heart. He saw beyond her  haughty "Southern Belle" facade and identified with the real woman that lied underneath despite her many flaws. And in true romantic fervor, he was willing to go the distance in order to claim her affections. 

Image: Charlenefilmblog.com

I think tommorrow I will have to delve into the psyche of these two men a little deeper after I've actually slept and had time to reflect more on exactly what it is about each of these men that make them such attractive characters, and how I can incorporate some of these traits into my hero. For now though, I'm off to bed.

Blog Under Construction

Image: stampthat.com

I'm so glad that you found your way here. As a blogger, writer and aspiring author, I needed a place where I could share my thoughts and ideas as I embark on the journey towards fulfilling my life-long dream of becoming a best-selling author. It all begins here and I want to share it with you.
Please bear with me as I am still developing my site and will be making changes to the look, feel, and design of the site as this project progresses. I will be posting here regularly, so please pardon the mess while the site is undergoing its final constuction phase.
Ready...Set....Go!