Every successful author needs a platform (aka a soapbox from which to promote your books and other products and services). Whether you intend to be published by a publishing house or want to self-publish, having a following is critical. Most publishing houses won’t even look at publishing your book unless you have a significant social media following and/or email list. And if you’re self-publishing and want to sell books, you need the same.
The internet and social media has drastically changed the way books are published … and publicized. When you’re trying to market your book, it helps to make sure you’re covering all your bases. That’s why I’ve used my experience in publishing and marketing 25 books and put together my Author Platform Building Service.
When I work with authors, I focus on creating massive visibility and presence through your web site and social media. I work on a retainer where each month I manage the various aspects of your marketing and advertising. This is a sample of a few months of what this might look like.
Let’s talk and we can customize a plan specifically for you and your books.
Month 1
- Initial phone consult to discuss your overall plan
- Assess your current social media and site stats. Add Google Analytics to your site (will use the same google login you use for Youtube if you aren’t already using another account for Analytics).
- Upload 1-2 Kindle Books and check all book descriptions for existing Kindle books, optimize everything
- Set up Author Central Profile
- Set up Goodreads Author Profile
- Set up Facebook Page
- Setup a Pinterest Account and board for your books (if you don’t have one)
- Put Facebook Tracking Codes on your web site
- Create a Custom Facebook Audience to gather site visitors for later remarketing
- Create Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram friendly images for 1-4 of your books
- Schedule 2-3 posts to your Facebook Business Page per week
Month 2
- Monthly Phone Consult to Review Progress and adjust game plan.
- Optimize Twitter Profile (if needed)
- Review site stats/social media stats to see what is working best.
- Search Engine Optimize your blog
- Post at least 1 blog a week to your site including SEO, a photo, and optimized for best sharing on Facebook (These can be derived from your videos or ideas from your books, etc). I’ll create the blog for you if you wish.
- Social media share your blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn
- Schedule 2-3 posts to your Facebook Business Page per week
- Share at least one of your business page posts each week to my personal Facebook page, Twitter
- Setup a 5-6 day Facebook Ad Campaign to split test books to an audience who is interested in your subject matter. If it works well, we’ll discuss your budget and how you would like to proceed with ads. (Budget for a 6 day test would be $30 paid directly to Facebook)
Month 3
- Monthly Consult to Review Progress and Adjust Game Plan
- Review site / social media stats to see what is working best
- Assess what types of videos, content, posts are getting the best results on Facebook and formulate a two-pronged Facebook ad campaign to gather new people into your audiences AND retarget the current audiences we’ve been gathering with book promotions (and other offerings you may have).
- Post at least 1 blog a week to your site including SEO, a photo, and optimized for best sharing on Facebook (These can be derived from your videos or ideas from your books, etc). I’ll create the blog for you if you wish.
- Social media share your blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn.
- Schedule 2-3 posts to your Facebook Business Page per week
- Share some of your better posts over to your personal Facebook wall.
- Share at least one of your business page posts each week to my personal Facebook page (4800 followers), my Twitter (4800 Followers)
- Create, manage and monitor 1-2 Facebook ad campaigns
Month 3 is a good guide for how future months will go. We’ll map the next months based on how things are going and what’s working best.
Monthly Retainer: $500