Don’t Have a Writer Platform Yet? Here’s How to Build One

5 ways to make sure people know who you are and read your stuff

Image by MorningbirdPhoto from Pixabay

Hey, writers. Listen up. Publishers aren’t going to market for you much. In a cruel Catch-22, now they’ll even reject you for not having enough followers or fans.

So the deal is, you have to build a platform for yourself. This is just whatever channels you use to interact with your audience. The more channels you use and the more people you engage with regularly, the bigger your platform is. So as a writer, you want to create a platform that is as large as possible so you have a great reach to lots of readers. To build that platform, here’s what to do:

1. Create your author website/blog.

This gives you a place to drop pieces of your writing so you can direct people to a portfolio. It also offers the opportunity to interact with readers through comments, polls, giveaways, or other fun events. Just about every publisher, agent, or editor will want you to have a website if you start pitching, so you might as well get it established early so you can show good history and activity.

But one of the most important parts of having your site/blog is the ability to build an email list. Putting a simple subscribe button on the…