How To Build An Author Platform And Write Your First Book At The Same Time
It's easier than you think I have I have been doing it since the very beginning.
“I need to build my platform before I can write my first book.”
I used to think this was a valid concern for aspiring authors when it came to writing and publishing books. I thought this was true with the first three of our four books.
But I have learned that you don't have to have 10,000 email subscribers or Instagram followers. You only need a place to capture emails and followers and point people.
After all, if you haven’t built your author platform first, who will read your book if you write it and publish it?
The problem is that we are stuck in the “either/or” mentality. We cannot write and publish our book without the author's platform. But this is the wrong mentality. Many people write and publish books without a big platform.
And the truth is, you build while you write.
Building Your Author Platform and Writing Your Book
Writing your book and building your platform go hand in hand. You don’t have to wait on one before doing the other because your work in writing the book can help build the platform as you go.
Here’s what I mean:
You start writing your book and put a section of your introduction in your Substack or on a Medium post.
Then, as a call to action, you tell people this is the beginning of your book, and you will share more as you write it, so be sure to follow along and subscribe.
As you work on each chapter, you share a little of each as you go. This will help you gain followers and subscribers. It will also promote your book before it is complete.
You share a little about what is going on with the book at the end of each phase of the writing and production process.
When it is finally time to publish, you can recruit a short stack of advanced reader copy people to read your book before you publish and get them to leave reviews.
Then, you publish and share it with your readers. Chances are, they will jump on board and pick up a copy because they want to see the final product.
This is a simple outlook, but it isn’t complicated. I have perfected this framework as a minimalist author because this is how I drum up excitement for each book. And it works.
Next Steps
Now that we have debunked the idea that you need to create an author platform let’s discuss your next steps.
First, you need to solidify and validate your book idea. Once you have it sorted out, you can start mapping and outlining to write the book.
But, you need to nail your idea first.
In the comments on this post, share your book idea. How have you validated it so far?
My name is J.R. Heimbigner, and I am a #1 Bestselling Author on Amazon with 15 self-published books. And I want to help you write and publish your bestseller.
I have three non-fiction books in my mind. One is even in draft as a series of weekly articles I wrote for a FB group during lockdown. Unfortunately it doesn’t fit with the audience I am now building but I am already planning a set of posts and articles that will work as a book
I had a built-in market for my memoir as a famous biker bar owner. I published that book over ten years ago and sold thousands of copies. I sold the bar and am now retired. I wrote a work of fiction six years ago and never did a second draft. I plan on finishing it, and I think your suggestions will work to get myself back out there again. Will implementing your plan work for fiction?