Marketing Your Book When Your Platform Is Young

Growing a platform requires your patience, energy, and consistent care. A platform is made up of the things that put you in the spotlight: your website, social media accounts, your blog (or vlog, podcast, or newsletter), and whatever else you do to garner attention in this noisy world.
 
Your platform is the thing that grows your following. That is, the people who know you and follow you. Those who take an interest in you and your books. As indie authors, we hope to grow a large platform. The larger, the better.
 
But how do you go about doing it?
 
First things first. Build your home or hub, whatever you want to call it—the place where people can meet you and learn about you and your books. For most, it’s a website. But it can be a Facebook page or something else, such as a blog spot. It’s wherever the people who are interested in you can meet you virtually, subscribe to your email list, and/or write to you.
 
Do you know that your email subscribers list is your most precious resource?
 
You may have Friends and Followers on various applications, but your subscribers list is the only thing you have control of—because it’s your list and it doesn’t rely on Facebook or Instagram or Medium, or any other website that you do not own. It’s yours, so it won’t disappear if, say, Facebook crashes and burns one day.
 
When you first decide that you need a platform, you start at ground zero. Your following will likely consist of people you know personally: family, friends, maybe those you work with, and acquaintances.
 
Little by little you will do the things necessary to become known as an author—publishing books, posting on social media, attending in-person events, and possibly providing useful content in the form of a blog, vlog, or podcast.
 
After you’ve been out there for a while, your group of followers (aka fanbase) will naturally grow.
 
Think of the task of building a platform as you would a boulder you’re pushing uphill. It’s very hard to move a boulder at first, but once you get it rolling, the job becomes a lot easier. Momentum comes into play, and at a certain point, the heavy mound reaches a precipice and spills over the side, moving all on its own (or at least with a lot less effort on your part).

Best Ways to Market
While you’re putting your effort into growing a platform, you’re writing books and launching them. Your reach is small (or perhaps middling) but you, of course, still need to market your new book. What are the best ways to do so when you’re still a relative unknown?
 
1) Create an e-book. Many authors don’t make a digital version of their book, but they should. Most self-publishers make more money from e-books than they do from paperbacks. I would go further to say that creating an e-book is a necessity for those who want to grow their platform.
 
Think about it: for readers who are willing to take a chance on a little-known author who has few reviews and a small fan base, it costs a lot more money to invest in a paper book than it does a digital one.
 
The reader’s risk can be measured in both time and money. They’re usually willing to risk the time it takes to download a free book (who wouldn’t?). Some will even be willing to put out 99 cents to purchase the book (though a lot fewer than those who will take a freebie).
 
The question is, will they ever open the book and read a few pages?
 
The majority who download a free or inexpensive book will not actually get around to reading it. But if they never download the book, there’s zero chance they’ll open it. We give the book away for the chance to hook the reader.
 
2) Use Free Book Days and purchase email blasts to increase downloads. You have to spend money to make money. Email-blasting companies send out emails presenting the discounted books of the day to subscribers that number in the thousands. Each email represents a specific genre, making the audience that receives it relatively targeted.
 
Try Written Word Media (of Freebooksy and Bargain Booksy fame), eReaderIQ, BookSends, Bookbub (the leader, though only a 20% chance your book will be selected), and many others.
 
3) Obtain purchased and not-purchased professional reviews. Kirkus, BlueInk, and Foreword/Clarion are respected leaders in the book review world, but they cost in the $350+ price range. On the plus side, if you receive a very favorable (starred) review from any of them, the review may appear in their print version (Kirkus) or Booklist Magazine (Blueink) or Foreword magazine, and this will likely result in book sales.
 
There are many other review providers (lesser known and/or not as respected) to choose from, which are great for obtaining quotes to use for marketing purposes.
 
You can also list your Advance Reader Copy on NetGalley, and self-professed reviewers and bloggers can pick up free digital downloads. Some will read and review, giving their uncensored opinions.

Be prepared: if they hate the book, they’ll let you know in no uncertain terms (speaking from experience here, NetGalley reviewers can be brutal). On the other hand, the ones who love the book are worth the risk (my opinion).
 
4) Solicit customer reviews. In the early days of a book’s life, it can be difficult to obtain customer reviews on Amazon and elsewhere quickly. Websites like BookSirens can help. The cost is affordable ($10 up front, then $2 for each person who downloads a copy). The readers are not paid to read, so this is legitimate in the eyes of Amazon.

Do not pay for services that do not abide by the rules of KDP-Select (if your book is in that program—that is, in the Kindle Unlimited library). That said, uploading an ARC to sites like these is fair game. Once the book has been published, they are not.

5) Create a subscribers list. As I mentioned before, this is the most important thing you can do to build a platform, so why isn’t it number one on this list? Because you can’t entice a lot of subscribers until readers have read and reviewed your book.
 
Leave an Author’s Note at the end of every book you publish inviting readers to visit and subscribe to your website and various social accounts. Ask them for a review as well.

6) Provide helpful information to others via a blog, vlog, newsletter, etc. Writers and readers benefit from free info! If you don’t have your own blog, vlog, or podcast, you can appear as a guest on one that’s already established (you'll have to pitch them a topic you'd like to discuss).

You can also collaborate with authors in your genre by having them post to their subscribers about your book while you post your subscribers about theirs.

7) Partake in social media. Get out there and post to your heart’s content, but don’t forget to converse with and respond to the posts of the people who make up your community. Comment on their photos and captions, ask questions, provide answers to their Question of the Day (QOTD), and in general be present.
 
Very important: put your efforts into attracting the followers who will be interested in your books, those who read and write in your genre. The point is not to gain every follower possible, just those who enjoy books like yours. And make sure your profile mentions your website (or page) where interested people can subscribe to your email list.

8) Set up your Amazon/Goodreads/Bookbub book and author pages. If someone looks for you on Bookbub, for instance, you want to be found there. You also want that lead to make it to your subscriber’s sign-up page. Your author pages on these websites can point the way via a direct link.
 
It takes a lot of time and effort to build a following and a platform, but if you start working on it now, in a couple of years—or maybe even sooner—you might push that boulder over the precipice. Then you can sit back and watch the subscribers roll in.

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