Good Resources for Building an Author Platform

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After I wrote my recent blog on Self-publishing, I got a offer from Diane Krause of http://www.thewritingrange.com/ to provide some of the resources that she has compiled on building an author program.  Diane has provided an outstanding list of resources which I have posted below.  I highly recommend her blog as well.  Thanks Diane!

Good Resources for Building an Author Platform

I’m a huge proponent of learning from those who are smarter, wiser, and more experienced than me. I’ve learned a lot about author platform from the resources I’ve listed here, and I’m happy to share them, with the hope that you’ll find something useful to help you build your platform.

Articles

A good starter article on author platform.

How to Build (Or Improve) Your Writer Platform in 30 Days
http://robertleebrewer.blogspot.com/2012/05/how-to-build-or-improve-your-writer.html

This is one of the best articles I’ve seen on defining your target customer – or reader. It’s written by Sonia Simone, who is the chief marketing officer at Copyblogger Media. If you’ve never spent any time on Copyblogger, you should. http://www.copyblogger.com. When you get there, scroll down the page to the most recent article, click on it, then follow the trail to more great stuff!

Connect With One Person
http://www.remarkable-communication.com/relationship-marketing-series-6-connect-with-one-person/

Dan Blank is the founder of We Grow Media, helping authors build their platforms and publishers grow their online communities.

Actually Caring About People Will Always Matter
http://wegrowmedia.com/actually-caring-about-people-will-always-matter/

Start Small and Personal: How to Approach Any New Project
http://wegrowmedia.com/start-small-and-personal-how-to-approach-any-new-project/

It’s Easy to Ask for a Click/Like/Pin, But It’s Hard to Make a Sale
http://wegrowmedia.com/its-easy-to-ask-for-a-clicklikepin-hard-to-make-a-sale/

When Everyone Has a Platform, Your Job Is To Create Meaning
http://wegrowmedia.com/when-everyone-has-a-platform-your-job-is-to-create-meaning/

What Is An Author Brand?
http://wegrowmedia.com/what-is-an-author-brand/

It’s Not About Getting a Bigger Audience, It’s About the Quality of the Connection
http://wegrowmedia.com/its-not-about-getting-a-bigger-audience-its-about-the-quality-of-connection/

Three Author Platform Tips: An Interview with Jane Friedman
http://wegrowmedia.com/3-author-platform-tips-from-jane-friedman/

The First 3 Things to Consider When Developing Your Author Platform
http://wegrowmedia.com/the-first-3-things-to-consider-when-developing-your-author-platform/

Jane Friedman is a former publisher of Writer’s Digest magazine, and for the past several years has been a full-time assistant professor of e-media at the University of Cincinnati. In June 2012, she is transitioning to a new role as online editor for the Virginia Quarterly Review.

A Definition of Author Platform
http://janefriedman.com/2012/03/13/author-platform-definition/

Draft Your Platform Action Plan: 5 Worksheets (downloadable)
http://janefriedman.com/2011/08/02/platform-worksheets/

How Long Does it Take to Get Blog Readers?
http://janefriedman.com/2012/06/06/getting-blog-readers/

Three Numbers That Matter to Your Platform.
http://janefriedman.com/2012/01/31/3-numbers-that-matter-to-your-platform/

A couple of good articles from Christina Katz, published in Writer’s Digest magazine.

50 Simple Ways to Build Your Author Platform in 5 Minutes a Day
http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/50-simple-ways-to-build-your-platform-in-5-minutes-a-day

Elements of a Successful Fiction Platform
http://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/by-writing-goal/get-published-sell-my-work/elements-of-a-successful-fiction-platform

Joanna Penn is an author of both fiction and non-fiction books, and a very savvy internet marketer. She runs a very popular blog, The Creative Penn (http://www.thecreativepenn.com) and has books and courses on writing and publishing.

Marketing Non-Fiction vs. Fiction with Johnny B. Truant
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2012/05/25/non-fiction-to-fiction-johnny-b-truant/

Branding for Writers: An Essential Step in Building Your Author Platform
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2012/03/20/branding-author-platform/

Success in Writing, Publishing, and Marketing Takes Time: An Interview with Jane Friedman
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2012/03/18/publishing-marketing-success-jane-friedman/

The Five Biggest Mistakes Writers Make on Their Websites
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2011/07/25/writers-website-mistakes/

The Writer’s Knowledge Base (WKB) is a searchable collection of articles that are highly relevant to writers. The articles are diverse and cover such topics as the craft of writing, getting published, promotion, etc. Articles in the knowledge base come from the Twitterfeed of cozy mystery writer Elizabeth Spann Craig. Elizabeth monitors about 1500 sites for great articles on writing, and passes them along via Twitter. Every Sunday, she does a “Twitterific” post on her blog, which is a compilation of all the articles she’s shared through the week. All of these go into the Writer’s Knowledge Base. It’s a gold mine of writing articles!

http://hiveword.com/wkb/about

 

Books

Get Known Before the Book Deal by Christina Katz http://christinakatz.com/read/read/
You’ll find info on this book, as well as Christina’s other books and her online courses by following the link above.

Titles from The Digital Writer (http://thedigitalwriter.net)
(I work as an editor at Sterling & Stone, a digital publishing company. Our first book series, The Digital Writer, has some very helpful books on social media and internet marketing. You can find all the titles by following the link above, or find them on Amazon.)

·       The Beginner’s Guide to Building a Powerful Website

·       Marketing Basics for the Digital Writer

·       How to Build a Blog

·       The Digital Writer’s Guide to Blogging

·       The Digital Writer’s Guide to Twitter

·       The Digital Writer’s Guide to Social Media in 15 Minutes a Day

·       and more….

 

Favorites to Follow – Twitter

@elizabethscraig

@thecreativepenn

@JaneFriedman

@JFBookman

@MichaelHyatt

@jamesscottbell

@dirtywhitecandy

Favorites to Follow – Blogs
These are the sites I go to most regularly, but I keep a list of other good resources on my site, www.thewritingrange.com/resources/

Joanna Penn, The Creative Penn
http://thecreativepenn.com

Elizabeth Craig, Mystery Writing is Murder
http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/

Jane Friedman
http://janefriedman.com

Chuck Sambuchino’s Blog, Guide to Literary Agents
http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents

Joel Friedlander, The Book Designer
http://www.thebookdesigner.com/

The Digital Writer
http://thedigitalwriter.net

Dan Blank, We Grow Media
http://wegrowmedia.com