Building a Foundation of Super Fans (aka platform)

KathrynLang

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www.SnarkyRainbows.com
Platform, platform, platform.

If you attend a writing event, you are going to hear something about platform.

I've been investing in growing up a solid platform built on relationships and engagement more than on numbers.

My question for you is how are you growing your platform - and where are you focused?

Because of the issues on Social Media over the last couple of years, I'm trying to focus my attention on growing my email and organic visits to my website. Any tips on how to grow even more?

Thanks,

Kathryn
 

cool pop

It's Cool, Miss Pop if You're Nasty
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My strategy to continue growing my platform is first and foremost I believe in diversification. I am a big believer in not depending on one company or one entity for my career goals. That is why I am not in KDP Select and I have my books on as many retailers as possible. I wouldn't be growing on just one retailer. I don't care if it's the biggest bookseller (in the US, not internationally), I'd be missing out on other readers and fans on the other platforms and all over the world as well as putting my entire career and income in Amazon's hands. If you're in Select, they practically own you. They could change Kindle Unlimited tomorrow and you'd be stuck out if you're in the program. Not to mention how downright awful Amazon has treated authors lately. Uh, no thanks. I've seen Amazon enough to know how they work and how they've done many things that screwed authors so I definitely wouldn't put my fate in their hands. I keep my fate in MY hands. I don't depend on any one thing for my career. I feel like to truly grow a brand and have loyal readers you need to be selling in multiple places as well as internationally. Being wide helps me achieve that.

I also don't depend on one thing to promote. Many authors depend on either FB or Twitter and that's it. But what happens if something goes wrong and you can't use those services for an extended amount of time? If you have based all your marketing and promotion on one thing, you are stuck out if something goes wrong. When the FB outage happened, many authors said their release days were ruined. They had no backup plan, just had everything dependent on FB. That's not a good idea. You should always give yourself options.

I don't understand how authors expect to grow a brand if they don't have an email list or a website. It boggles my mind. These services are free and you can set them up yourself yet many authors have nothing. They seem to forget not everyone is on social media. How would a reader find out more about you or your books if you don't even have a website? That's the least an author can have. They use Amazon pages or FB pages as their only means of readers finding out more about them. Huh? That's lazy. The first thing a serious author should do is have a website at least. Your email list and your website is extremely important to building a brand. Your email list is your own space with your most loyal fans. A way you will always be able to contact them so if say, FB, Twitter or whatever else you use goes haywire one day, you can still spread the word through your list. Your website is what shows you are serious about your profession and again it's your own space where you sell your books and connect with readers.

There are many ways an author can grow a brand but I stress diversification. It is not wise to depend on just FB and Amazon for everything. You want to build a brand of your own not a brand based off another company.

A tool I am using more these days is Bookbub. Not only do I submit to the Featured Deals but I also use Bookbub tools like their Pre-Order Release Alert where they will send an email about your book to all your followers. You have to have at least 1,000. They also have it where you can submit your book for a Featured New Release. You can also run ads through Bookbub. I've been working on building my followers there because I've gained many new readers from Bookbub and the site has become a wonderful tool to promote. You can also do cross promotion with other authors and book recommendations.
 
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