BY VEENA KASHYAP
Last week, I discussed what an author platform is and isn’t and why it is important every author build a solid platform.
As a refresher, an author platform is about how you connect with and create buzz about your work.
The key components of a solid author platform include the following:
- Sound writing and valuable content (books, blog posts, newsletters)
- Social media
- Website
- Frequent publication
- Membership and participation in networks
- Event appearances, interviews and speaking engagements
- Connections to other authors
In Post Two of this series, I’ll spotlight the first component of the author platform, “Sound Writing and Valuable Content.”
Let’s break this down. Sound writing refers to the technical aspect of writing. Sound writing can be characterized as:
- Having a purpose
- Having clarity; conciseness
- Is organized and structured (beginning, middle and ending)
- Follows the rules of grammar, spelling and punctuation
Simple, right? Not really. Trust me, I know how hard it is to ensure my own writing is technically sound writing and when in doubt, I seek out an expert to help me nail the mechanics of my writing before I put it out into the world.
For example, I employ a line editor to ensure purpose, clarity, structure and grammar are spot on—especially where my novel writing is concerned. For blog posts, articles and newsletters, I run it by my friends (who happen to be writers or editors) for feedback.
No matter the medium, you owe it to yourself to ensure your writing is a positive reflection of who you are as a writer. Nothing turns off readers more than poor writing. You’ll lose your audience within the first few sentences. Diligence is key!
Sound writing is the building block for creating valuable and quality content. Valuable content is the hallmark of your platform. Specifically, any content you post in relation to you and your work must have draw; that is, it brings your readership back for more each time you post.
How do you do that? You create content that piques interest. I read somewhere that content you post should follow the 80/20 rule where 20% of your content should be about you and your work and 80% content should be about the interests and needs of your platform audience.
When I refer to content, I’m mainly thinking about blog posts or articles. However, the same rules apply for newsletters or any other social media outlet where you post content.
Here is a list of eight ways to create valuable and quality content for readers:
- Instructional: tell readers how to do something such as “tips on how to . . .”
- Informational: provide information on a specific topic
- Reviews: as an author, this is by far one of the best ways to grow your platform and build relationships with other authors. Hey, it’s also great karma!
- Lists: readers love lists. I create “top ten favorite” lists for music, books, authors, restaurants, plugins, etc.
- Interviews: another great way to build relationships. Interview other authors, editors, experts, etc.
- Rants: great for starting conversations or creating a bit of controversy but beware, don’t stake your reputation on something you’ll regret saying later.
- Inspirational: take a success story, good news, anything positive and share. Everybody loves feel good content!
- Memes: I love memes. A meme is a repeatable topic with new content that you post on weekly or monthly intervals. I run a weekly meme on my site, The Author Visits, titled #WW Wisdom Wednesday – A Dose of Wisdom for Your Writing Soul, and feature content on topics that help authors in some way or other.
Sound writing and creating valuable content requires effort but in the end, will pay dividends and that’s the goal of a solid author platform.
Veena’s love affair with reading began in the fifth grade when she read The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Somewhere around that time, she started writing stories that transported her to worlds created by her vivid imagination and knew one day, she wanted nothing more than to write for a living.
Veena continues to read, the owner of way too many e-readers and is notorious for having shelves imploding with books and has resorted to lining her bedroom floor with even more. Currently, she is working on a YA paranormal romance series in between her day job as a geek managing tech projects while running an author publicity site and helping out Xchyler as a book reviewer and blogger specialist
