Fringe Fiction Unlimited discussion

Many people give the advice of, build an author's platform! I have no problems with that and I'm quite eager to build an author's platform. I honestly can't wait.

I've done the mailing list thing. That failed. I've made the rounds with all social media. I have about 50 people I can say would probably buy my next published book, whenever it happens. I've been maintaining an online presence since 2008. I actively seek out both readers and authors interested in the kind of thing I write. And still, no author's platform.

Here's where I'm stuck. How is it possible to build an author's platform when you're unknown and don't have a bunch of published books? There's no platform to be had...

I'm still building mine. I've been online since 2000 in a fanfiction/fandom community, run a fanworks website and have a decent following for my niche fanfiction. I also belong to another online community, as well as being active in a few Goodreads groups, and on Facebook and Google+, hosting blog tours, participating in release party giveaways and blog hops, etc. With all that, I still don't have more than a handful or two of reliable readers (certainly not 50!) But it's building a little bit at a time. I would say be patient and let it build organically, through word of mouth and people seeing your name and books around.

Maybe buy a couple books on the subject and follow through on a couple approaches. I'm sure some of the info is common sense but there could be a few things worth knowing with an outline to guide you.

Lily, I'm in the same boat. I'm doing my best to try and be a part of multiple communities at once (I've changed my notices for all the groups I'm a part of to notify me every time something new is posted). I am trying to maintain a weekly blog and I update my FB page every other day.

I have paid for some advertising, both with GR and FB and while it has equaled to some new likes and adds, it is slow going with building up and hasn't resulted in any sales. My offer of the first 50 pages (first chapter) of my book has only resulted in about 30 views.

When I hit some jackpot golden goose method I will make sure to share it with you! :)

Courtney, I've read everything I could get my hands on. :(

Kyra, interesting advice. It might be impatience on my part, and maybe I'm being a bit ungrateful. I do apperciate all my followers and I'll post thank you notes every so often, which I do mean sincerely.

Perhaps it's the term "author platform" that baffles me a bit. Do I already have a platform and I don't even know it?

Thomas, you've got yourself a deal!

I've been grinding away since 2005. I had blogs in various iteriations (on blogger, wordpress, and live journal), been on various sites (booksie, writer's cafe, etc) even sank 2500 in marketing and advertising, even hiring a out a company to push my books. In total, I made maybe 60 bucks in return from total book sales. 60 FRIGGIN DOLLARS. IN 9 YEARS. >_< I swear, I'm banging my head against the wall. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong.

Wow. Now I feel really bad. Like, really really bad. Maybe I shouldn't be complaining, huh?

*slinks away*

aw, don't feel bad. We're always trying to do better, and when you see authors with hundreds of readers just waiting to throw money at them when their new book comes out, you have to wonder, How did they get there?

I like participating in giveaways for book launches/release parties on Facebook for other authors' books. If you're on Facebook, look for authors who write similar things to you and if someone's looking for stuff for a giveaway, donate something, and then make sure you participate in the event a bit. This gets you some exposure to readers who are already looking for the kind of thing you write. Blog hops are also fun if you can find some in your genre. There again, you get some exposure to readers who are already interested in books like yours.

Creating the platform does take money. I know I probably sound like a broken record from other topics, but building that author platform, you have to get out and do some in-person events.

Sometimes those events have a little overhead for space rental but that visual exposure is fundamental to growth. You have to spend some to make some and all that.

Hopefully K.P. you start making some return on that investment. You should at least take a look at the Pay it forward challenge we have going and maybe throw in one of your books. It's a little bit of exposure to build that author platform up. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Edit: I think what we're doing here in Fringe Fiction is helpful for this very topic. The pay it forward is a great idea for building individual platforms and as we continue to gain members, more exposure is gained.

Kyra, I've also run some contests on my blog. That did help some, at the very least, got my name out there. But I'm beginning to think that maybe I had the wrong idea of what an author platform is suppose to be. I kinda assumed it meant thousands of dedicated book buyers, minimum, anything less didn't count. It didn't occur to me to consider that it's still a platform, just smaller by comparison.

Thomas, I admit I have a personal bias against paying for advertising. Bear in mind, this is just me! Having worked in advertising, marketing, and publishing, I can design just about anything myself. I'm not bragging, just stating facts. Finding outlets or venues on the other hand, isn't always obvious.

I get an average of 500 unique visitors to my website a month. Does that sound reasonable? Should I have more?

thanks. I know my total hangup is speaking to others in public. I have a stutter and without a tonne of caffeine or a few tom collins in my system, it's hard to talk to folks. I tried to hire a 'face' for the book selling and whatnot, but that didn't pan out, as they were clueless about the book.

Believe it or not, I would not recommend Facebook Advertising. I'm not a fan of how their system works and I don't fully know that the extra 'likes' aren't just fake accounts to scam money from users. That may not be the case at all and they may be genuine likes, but because I don't know the full ins and outs of FB's marketing program I'm hesitant to dump any more money into it.

Goodreads is different. I loaded $56 on here on 4/14/14 and I've only used $3.40, despite my ad having been loaded 37000 times (you only pay per click and you get to set the bid of how much is paid per click).

500 is more than I get! How long has your site been up? I anticipate that the longer it's up and the longer you promote yourself, the more you'll see.

KP, truth be told, I've yet to really go out there and talk to people. The opportunity just hasn't come up yet for me. I've done everything online only. So I don't believe being unable to talk to people should hold you back.

Thomas, I've always been weary of FB advertising. I looked into it once, and didn't like what I saw. For starters, the fine print pretty much says you give up all rights to privacy by paying for advertising on that website. And, really, don't we already see WAY too much advertising as it is?

I've been tempted to try GR advertising, still iffy about it though. It's that privacy fine print...

My website has been up since 2008. I started with nothing, heh. When my website first went live, I was so excited to see 10 visitors in my stats. Now here I am, wondering if 500 is enough lol Oye, numbers.

I've found that keeping my social media accounts active is the only way to generate visitors to my website.

Sarah wrote: "Don't feel bad. I have a free autographed paperback giveaway going on my site and no one has even put their name in the hat. I certainly give credit to those of you who have persevered for years."

Well, I'm in this for the long haul, I figure I have nothing to lose.

Autographed copies, I haven't drummed up any interest in that. Free giveaway, sure. Running contests with prizes of an autographed copy seemed to work. But I noticed only those interested in collecting autographed books entered the contests. They weren't consumers, they were collectors.

I took a class over at Savvy Authors on this, but it was more about author branding. Giving yourself a tagline, even a font that you use on your name/title on the books.

Certainly, getting yourself out there is a great idea.

I have two twitter accounts. 3 FB pages. 2 blogs/websites. I belong to online groups.

I've advertised on Goodreads. I don't know if it's helped sales or not. But it shows you the number of views and clicks.

I've honestly made a lot of contacts via Goodreads, through group participation. I'm a blog stalker, and I post comments on blogs. I think that's helped.

My NA book review blog has a lot of traffic, so that has helped get me out there.

I think the single best thing I've done is joining online groups and participating. Of course, if I'd write an amazing bestselling book, that would help better.

I would love to write an amazing best-seller, but then, don't we all love our babies? ;)

Sarah wrote: "Don't feel bad. I have a free autographed paperback giveaway going on my site and no one has even put their name in the hat. I certainly give credit to those of you who have persevered for years."

Did you try it on Goodreads. I had good luck with mine, lots of people entered, and best of all, two out of 3 winners even left a review. :)

Maybe release a few short stories, possibly tie ins to your other writing or a series like "phases of the moon" to encourage continuation?

I put a bunch of short stories and poetry to read for free on my website. That might account for the views. Sales? I have no idea. Because I'm published with an ebook company, I only find out once every four months if any sales were made and it's been impossible for me to tell what works and what doesn't.

So, keep the comments coming :)

I'm going to post this here and hope that all those following all the topics pertaining to marketing/platform building follow this thread so I don't have to repeat myself.
Marketing is not that hard in this day and age. You can invest money or you can find a ton of free ways to promote yourself. Especially as a pre-published author, it doesn't make sense to spend the money (yet).
Blogs are good and so are any of the social media formats (twitter, facebook, tumblr, etc). The key is to be real and consistent. If you have a blog - make a schedule and stick to it as close to 90% of the time as possible. Make it easy to subscribe to. Same goes for any other format you choose. Consistency is key.
Now with that - don't spend all your time promoting your book. You have one book and if that is all you are going to write - fine I can't argue with that. But if you plan on writing more books to sell, then you want to sell yourself. Well - in this case, you want to give yourself away. Make friends - you are not a salesman and you will lose your platform if all you focus on is your book and how it's for sale.
I'm sorry to say that several people here have shared their facebook pages that I will never like. The sole reason is that there's not a human being attached. People buy based on feelings. You have to connect with the audience as a person. Make them feel like you are friends.
With social media becoming huge and a lot of in person activities ceasing - there's not the expectation to do book tours like there used to be. Some have success doing events at libraries and some bookstores but it's going out of style so you don't have to count on that. In fact, I have a friend who is a fairly established YA writer. She does some schools and libraries but has found that many don't even want her bookmarks. It's not going to be like that every where but I see a trend starting. Funding is tight for a lot of places and they don't want to do book events like before (even if you are there for free, there are still expenses).
So to wrap this up - find your outlet, be consistent and be real. That's the way to go. Courtney - if you have a lot of friends on facebook, you have the base of a platform - go from there.

Sara, I agree, but this topic was posted to develop a better understanding of the definition of an author's platform, and I'm certainly glad I posted the topic. I've learned a lot.

So many terms are just thrown around like we should just get it. An author's platform is just the foundation for promotion (like a politicians platform). It's the connecting with others. So many author's forget that it's about connecting not selling. It's a topic that will probably be revisted over and over here. It's hard because sometimes it feels like we are talking to ourselves. It feels like we should have adoring fans. The reality is - we do, we just don't give them credit.
I'm picky when it comes to marketing that I read but one author who I think does an amazing job with her blog is http://www.lizaoconnor.com/ - she's consistent and posts a lot of things that "sell" her book but don't feel like a constant pitch. She also does a ton of book tours. I, personally, am not completely attached to her blog because I don't like blog tours and some of the cutesy things authors do to promote their books but they work for most of the population. She also gives insights to her life when she's not actively promoting a book.

There is a very good post in the thread titled "Marketing is a 4 letter word."

You should check it out and leave a comment.

I honestly found the term confusing. I hear it all the time and think, yes I want that! Annnnytime now... *clock ticks*

But now I'm realizing that an author's platform could be just about anything, no matter how big or how small.

Nathan wrote: "There is a very good post in the thread titled "Marketing is a 4 letter word."

You should check it out and leave a comment."

It has nothing to do with this post and if you look at views, people are checking it out. If they choose not to get involved with the topic, that's their choice.

I only check out threads that pop up in my notifications. Sometimes, I get on and there are 17. Sometimes, there are 3.

Just giving people another option so they don't fill this thread with "Unwanted" posts.

That's still off topic. I'll start deleting if this continues.

I think it's the self-promotion of a topic you started without contributing to this that's irksome, Nathan. It's just something we frown upon which is why we stress for people to keep on topic or start a new one.

Great topic with a lot of good advice. I'm just starting out - one book self-pub and another on the way. Thank you all for sharing. I always appreciate other authors posting info about how one marketing avenue vs another worked for them.

Thomas wrote: "Creating the platform does take money. I know I probably sound like a broken record from other topics, but building that author platform, you have to get out and do some in-person events.

Sometime..." This is a great idea.

Sara wrote: "I'm going to post this here and hope that all those following all the topics pertaining to marketing/platform building follow this thread so I don't have to repeat myself.
Marketing is not that har..."

Thank you Sara! This has been my strategy. Slow-going as it has been for me for building my platform as an unknown. :)
"But if you plan on writing more books to sell, then you want to sell yourself. Well - in this case, you want to give yourself away. Make friends - you are not a salesman and you will lose your platform if all you focus on is your book and how it's for sale."

What do you guys think about paying for advertising on GR? Do people actually look at the books being advertised and do you think it will help promote your book? I may consider this method to help build my platform.

ugh its been a bad, bad year. this quarter wasn't much activity and the next projected dismal . I'm still publishing books (lucky if I do 4 a year) and just stopped expecting any true returns in this venture. I have yet to find any other books similar in scope to how I write to even suggest if you like that one you might like this one. I just keep writing until I can't. I did everything "right" and it hasn't paid off. I don't know what I'm missing... I'm happy y'all are doing fine and making some bank . maybe if I wrote more mainstream schlock I might sell...

Doing the whole platform thing is ... rough, to put it mildly. A lot of people swear by things that don't seem to work, so maybe a lot of us are doing it wrong or they just had a great stroke of luck (or perhaps attributed their success to the wrong thing). I'd say cons (if you can find one that fits the work you're selling/audience you're selling to) are a good bet. And I do second the idea of "sell yourself, not the work" most of the time. People hate the hard sell, especially online. Providing insights, humor, etc. tends to garner a lot more affection. I do struggle with it, though.

This topic is outdated lol I started this topic because at the time, I was seriously questioning the whole insistence of author platform thing. I've since learned that "platform" in layman's terms just means a fanbase. I do have an author platform, I just hadn't thought of it that way before. I wouldn't say I have a fanbse, as in rabid fans making memes of my work all over social media or anything like that. Just a small platform that I've built up myself over the course of five years.

I actually disagree with the idea of "sell yourself, not your work," and feel that's where many go wrong. We're not prostitutes. At least I'm not lol If one sells themselves first and has nothing to show for it, then, in my honest opinion, you might as well be a prostitute. $5 blowjobs at the street corner and never sell any books.

Haha! True enough. If someone is working on promotion, they of course need a reason to be doing so. I just mean it's important not to be making every other post, etc., "Look at my book! It's here! Buy it already!"

Oh, that. Yeah, don't do that lol

The idea of selling yourself, not your work doesn't mean develop your base before you have something to sell them. It means not making everything you do about your book. Think of some of the best selling authors out there - they are a brand not a book. Those who are all about one book seem to rarely break out of that one book sale. Those are the ones I can tell you about their book but can't remember the author's name. If you want longevity - you have to sell yourself as the brand.

I've read several books on platform building and watched webinar's like Johanna Penn's. They all essentially tell you the same thing, which is to have a presence in many places you can but stick to a few over and over. Design a good book cover, write a good book and have it edited among other things. The other suggestions are to write one series or more but always keep writing. Personally, I have done most if not all of the ideas and over three years have found it hard to break in using all the suggestions. I do believe there is some luck involved in that if you can reach the top of Amazon's list and have them promote you, you will see more sales in that then most other ways. I have tried online book tours, responding to other's blogs, radio interviews, bulk emails, and nothing seems to work more than having a friend tell another then another about your book(s). It is a daily grind involving writing and marketing. It's a full time job and not an easy one. Most readers (cant blame them) have no clue how hard it is to write and promote a good book. I even had someone try to sell me their services this week to get me radio interviews and even he assumed the author kept 100% of the list price. This is coming from a person who should know better. You build your platform every time someone asks you what you do for a living. I love it. I love writing, I love finding that next reader and I read almost everything I can find to see if there is something I'm missing. I think it always comes back to the same thing, write another book, make it better than the last one and keep putting your name out there every chance you get. In my opinion, there is no one way to build a platform. You build it the best way you know how but do something every day. And for all those who think they haven't written a best seller yet, who is to say you haven't? If you find enough readers with what you have already written, then you have. Good luck building your platform and finding the readers who are out there looking for you as you are looking for them.

just put my collection of books in 3 local bookstores! wish me luck... i hope it sells well

I've been trying to do this for a while now but over the last few months I feel as though I'm searching for something, what? I don't know. I feel as though I've hit a snag and I've been looking for not only new ways to build a platform but going back to some old ones I may have forgotten. Everybody has something different that works for them. Some use e-mail, some use social media, some use their website and some use all of that which is what I do. I guess the key would be to be consistent and make sure you post frequently and what not.

I know Lily posted this because she wanted to know what more she could do or what new things she could do to try and build something and to be honest, it takes time. I've been in this 4 years and have three books. I do my best every single day to try and accomplish something to get the word out. It may not reach anyone sometimes but oh well, just gotta keep trying and try to get something going. Build on what has worked for you and look into seeing what you can build off of. If succeeding is selling books then I'm failing however if succeeding is enjoying what I do and giving it my all in hopes for achieving that spark of something big then I'd say I'm on the right path.

Meh, I started this topic a while ago and I decided not to worry about it. I'm just going to keep doing everything that I'm doing.

In light of some new found information and recent discoveries on this topic I am resurrecting it. I will be sharing my findings and hopefully it'll be some people talking again.