Building an Author Platform Wore Me Out

Four score and seven years...

Wait. How long have I been building that imaginary plywood stage called an author platform?

A long, long time! And you know what? It wore me out.

Yeah. It just tuckered this girl out.

You see, this is post 782. I've been blogging since 2008. Facebook? Yep. Twitter? Uh-huh. Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Goodreads? Absolutely.

I've been writing full time for seven years, studying, getting critiques, critiquing, honing my skills, attending conferences, pitching to editors, studying the industry. A girl can learn a lot about writing and the publishing industry in seven years.

But last fall I read Wendy Lawton's fabulous post, "The Trouble with Tribes" over at  Books and Such Literary Blog, and I sensed something needed to change. Wendy discusses the problem many authors have--their Tribe (and platform) consists of peers instead of readers.

Personally, I think aspiring fiction writers are smart to connect with peers. These are the people who will shout out your news and recommend your books to friends. Unpublished fiction authors have a tough time finding readers. After all, we don't have a book to sell.

But much of Wendy's advice rang true. We need to continue leaving our comfort zone to attract an audience. And that is what I've struggled with when the initial excitement of building a platform wore off. I settled for comfortable because I was too discouraged and tired to put myself out there.

I've been blessed. My platform has continued to grow on every site without tons of effort on my part. But I could do a better job of engaging readers.

The bottom line?

I'm pushing myself to make more of an effort on my social media sites. Brainstorming ways to kick-start my platform.

Why?

Because I'm persistent, and I believe in my books. I love writing. Writing isn't my hobby. Getting published isn't something that would be nice. It's my big dream, and I've sacrificed a lot to make it happen. I'm willing to sacrifice more.

If becoming a published author is important to you, you'll pick up the hammer and nails and build your platform, even when you're worn out.

How?

* Put small efforts in every day.
* Don't let your platform languish.
* Be generous.
* Nurture relationships.
* Freshen the look of your site every so often.
* And don't count on your platform to give you an edge with editors. It might, but it might not.

When the time comes to market your books, you'll need a web presence to do it. Think of building your platform as investing in your business. You can "save"  now by having your own system in place or "borrow" later by hiring web designers, paying for blog tours, or hiring a publicist. You might want to do both. It's good to have options.

If you're an aspiring author (or a published author), how do you stay motivated to build your platform?

Have a terrific day!

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When Software Slows Your Progress

For years I've loved Microsoft's OneNote. It's a brilliant software program for note-taking, organizing, lists, research, and oodles more. (You can read about my love of OneNote in "My Secret: Organizing Book Notes.") I keep ALL of  my research for each project there. I also track my writing progress, plotting dates, revising sessions, and business activity (submissions, etc..).

Early last year, though, I started having problems with OneNote. Every time I opened the program, it would go into a frozen cycle with the message "Not responding." After about two minutes of this, it would unlock, immediately "not respond" again, then in a little while it would allow me to work. It also would "not respond," if I let it sit idle too long.

Two minutes doesn't sound like a big deal, but anything more than five seconds is crazy to me. I just want to copy/paste a link, update my writing log, or check on some research. Is that too much to ask?

Well, I Googled the issue. Went on forums. Saw that some other people had the same problem. Tried their advice. Closed most of my notebooks. Deleted all but 2-3 pictures for each notebook.

Nothing worked.

I started relying on OneNote less. Tinkered with Evernote (a great program, but not as simple to use, plus I'm not sure it has the same functionality with tables). Bookmarked research sites instead of linking them. But I've had to come to a sobering truth.

My software is slowing my daily writing progress. I find that unacceptable. 

It's one thing when I procrastinate or spend too much time with my thesaurus, but it's another matter entirely when I'm desperate to stay in my groove and have to wait for a little circle to spin for two minutes before I can access my notes!

I do not have a solution at this point. Friends use Scrivener and love it. It looks ideal for me. Tons of organization, ways to incorporate pictures for research, index card scene breakdown--you name it. Everything for the book in one place. It's pretty reasonable, too, at only $40.00.

My writing budget has been depleted, but I plan on purchasing Scrivener as soon as my budget allows. It just doesn't make sense to get frustrated and lose precious minutes each writing session.

In the meantime, I'm researching Evernote more to see if I can easily make tables to chart my progress.

What do you use for organizing your research, notes, and all things book related?

Have a terrific day!

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