Guest Post: Building Your Writer Platform Online by Jennifer Mattern
February 9, 2009 by Lillie
Help me welcome freelance business writer and blogger Jennifer Mattern. I think you’ll find her guest post on building a writer platform helpful. At the end of the post, you will find a discount code to save $10 on her latest e-book.
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5 Ways to Build Your Writer Platform Online
Whether you’re an author with an upcoming book to promote or a freelance writer needing to attract a constant stream of clients, it’s in your best interest to start developing your writer platform as early as possible. The Web makes building a writing platform (sometimes called an author platform) easier than you might think.
What is a Writer Platform?
A writer platform is simply the existing demand for your book, articles, or other forms of writing, before they’re produced. Let’s look at an author for example:
If they had no writer platform, there would be no existing demand for their book—very few people would know anything about it to anticipate its launch. If that author had developed an author platform, however, that demand would exist. Potential buyers would already know the author’s name, know what they write, and they would have that anticipation to buy (in the case of freelancers and nonfiction authors, that platform also builds trust in the writer’s expertise).
In other words, building a writer platform is a matter of promoting yourself as a writer, so people know, trust, and like you enough to want to buy what you sell later on.
Here are five things you can do to start building your own writer platform on the Web.
How to Build a Writing Platform Online
- Start a Blog—A blog is an excellent way to build an audience with a direct interest in your niche. For example, a freelance copywriter might start a blog evaluating advertising from others (commercials, print ads, slogans, etc.). For a blog to have real value in your writer platform, it needs to have a relatively large following. Because of this, you should start your blog well in advance of when you hope to reap the promotional benefits. Don’t have the time? Consider blogging as a guest blogger or staff blogger for a large blog in your niche (one where you’ll have access to subscribers to mention your book launch, services, etc. for promotional purposes if at all possible).
- Get Interviewed—A big part of building a writer platform is being publicly treated as an expert in your niche by others. One of the best, and easiest, ways to do this online is to secure interviews. Get bloggers to interview you, or consider audio interviews by pitching yourself and story ideas to relevant podcasts or Internet radio shows (try services like BlogTalkRadio to find audio interview opportunities). Want something steadier? Consider hosting your own radio show or podcast.
- Start an Email Newsletter—Newsletters are a wonderful online addition to your writer platform. Why? Because you get to build a regular subscriber list—people who follow what you say and who are potential buyers for any future products or services you may release. A newsletter has value as a part of an author platform, though, only if the subscriber base is significant. Another option is to advertise in, or write for, another newsletter in the niche.
- Use the Web as a Teaching Tool—Teaching others is a good way to demonstrate your knowledge and build trust and interest in your work. You can do this online by setting up email courses (such as through a simple autoresponder), by offering online coaching sessions, or even running webinars in your area of expertise.
- Get Published Online—Whether you traditionally write online or not, you can use Web-based publishing credits to build more exposure for your own name, therefore increasing interest in future projects. This can be especially important for print writers who have no existing search engine presence. For example, if you earn your living ghostwriting finance articles, having bylined credits on large finance and business websites can be attractive to your potential clients. Another option is to publish e-books or reports distributed online to promote the later release of a traditional book in the niche.
Opportunities to build and grow your writer or author platform on the Web are practically endless. Online publishing, social media (microblogging, social networking, etc.), and the rise of audio-visual promotional tools make the Web an ideal place to reach out to members of your target market, no matter what kind of writer you are.
About the Author
Jennifer Mattern is a freelance business writer and blogger behind AllFreelanceWriting.com and AllBookMarketing.com. She is also the author of the Web Writer’s Guide e-book, designed to help freelance writers launch a successful Web writing career.
Save $10 on the Web Writer’s Guide e-book by entering discount code “lillie” (without the quotes) during the next 30 days!
Hi,
Very nice introduction about the author. I think she is pretty good and have a bright future.
- Kate.
Kate,
Jennifer is an excellent writer and quite successful. In her book, she helps other writers succeed as well.
That was my motivation for starting a podcast. It gets a lot more exposure for the author.
Speaking of which I interviewed an author amaking her debut-Anne Cordwainer.
Bluestocking´s last blog post..Bluestocking presents Anne Cordwainer
Bluestocking,
I always enjoy your podcasts. You are an excellent interviewer.
I haven’t had a chance to listen to the latest yet. That’s the only downside—for listeners to find the time to devote to listening to the podcast. I often read blogs by keeping my reader open while I’m working on other things. I’ll read a post or a few paragraphs while I’m waiting for a file to download or a page to come up. But I need to have an uninterrupted block of time to listen to a podcast so it’s a little harder to fit in my schedule.
Great advice. I need to work on the getting published online part.
Morgan Mandel
Morgan,
That’s something I haven’t done, either, Morgan. It’s a little harder for fiction writers to find the right venues, I think, than for nonfiction writers who write on specific subjects.
[...] 5 Ways to Build Your Writer Platform Online addthis_url = [...]
[...] Monday: 5 Ways to Build Your Writer Platform Online [...]
Morgan – Keep in mind that being published online doesn’t have to mean actually publishing fiction. Instead, consider nonfiction articles on the art of fiction writing (or better yet, articles directly related to your niche). They can be equally effective in building an audience–by demonstrating you know your genre and what that audience wants inside and out, you can make them curious about (and willing to buy) your next project.
Bluestocking – Running your own podcast is an excellent way to build a writer platform. I used to host a BlogTalkRadio show (not related specifically to writing), and have considered launching a more traditional podcast in the future. If you’d ever be up for an email interview to talk about either running a podcast or how authors can secure interviews with podcasters, let me know. I think readers of my blogs would probably love to hear from someone active in that area.
Jennifer Mattern´s last blog post..New Web Writer’s Guide E-book Launched TODAY!
And Lillie – Thank you so much for agreeing to be the first host blog on my blog tour!
Jennifer Mattern´s last blog post..New Web Writer’s Guide E-book Launched TODAY!
Jennifer,
I’m delighted to have you here! I know my readers will benefit from your post.
[...] 5 Ways to Build Your Writer Platform Online Spread the [...]
I’m starting to have a little bit more of an online presence. One thing I need to do is go back and find the direct links to my online appearances, like the podcast I did with Brooke and other interviews at blogs and put them in the sidebar of my blog and my website. I’m realizing I should have done that at the time these things occurred.
Helen Ginger´s last blog post..Scrabble Tag
Hindsight is always better, isn’t it, Helen? At least you’ve been building up your online presence and just have to consolidate the information.
Lillie’s right. It’s definitely good that you’re already out there doing these things. I have to admit, I’m not great about promoting all of my interviews and such either other than their lead-up or shortly after they occur. Ideally, these are the kinds of things that you’d include in a media kit on your site (unfortunately in my case, my primary site needs to undergo a major overhaul – moving from a PR firm to full-time writing – so for now it’s just the blogs – but thanks for the reminder that there’s no good excuse for me not to use them!).
Jennifer Mattern´s last blog post..New Web Writer’s Guide E-book Launched TODAY!
Wonderful, thanks Jennifer for the great guest post, it was very insightful and informative.
Brad´s last blog post..Tips About Acne Treatment
Brad,
I’m glad you found the article informative, and I’m glad Jennifer wrote this guest post.
I’m glad you found it useful! Hopefully a few people will show us how they’re building and maintaining their own writer platforms, to give examples to those not already doing it.
These are all good thoughts! I think it’s also important to network with others in you niche – via their blogs, social networking sites or whatever. In my experience, many opportunities in this industry come via peers: the “someone who knows someone” effect.
Free creative writing course´s last blog post..Slumdog Millionaire: screenwriting masterclass
Free (if you wrote YourName@Keywords, I could address you as a real person, and you would still get your keyword link),
Very good point. Networking is all important.
My apologies, Lillie – it’s Rod.
Rod´s last blog post..Slumdog Millionaire: screenwriting masterclass
Thanks, Rod. It’s weird—but it’s much nicer to talk to Rod than to talk to Free …
Networking is a bit of a different topic from writer platforms, but yes, networking is absolutely vital in any writing field–especially freelancing where it can make the difference between having to constantly search for gigs, or having those gigs come directly to you.
Jennifer Mattern´s last blog post..New Web Writer’s Guide E-book Launched TODAY!
Congratulation,
today you won a new reader
streaming (if you typed YourName@Keyword, I could address you as a real person, and you would still get your keyword link),
I’m not sure whether this is addressed to Jennifer or to me. I hope it’s to both of us and that you will read my blog and hers too.
WoW, a very nice and interesting post, Jennifer. By the way, I have a question here…
As a blogger, do we need to create a forum that based on the niches we’re blogging about?
wilson´s last blog post..Your Body Type Determine Your Healthy Condition
If by forum you’re asking if I think you should keep it open for public response to essentially build a community, I would say yes. There are very few exceptions where I’d say that isn’t the case (such as a blog being so popular it would literally be impossible for the blogger to stay on top of comments, or closing comments after a blog is abandoned or closed where you won’t be checking in on them to respond anymore).
If by forum, you mean physically setting up forum software tied to the domain of your blog, no, that really isn’t necessary (and from experience I can tell you they can take more time to manage than you might initially think).
Jennifer Mattern´s last blog post..New Web Writer’s Guide E-book Launched TODAY!
wilson,
I’m glad you found Jennifer’s post helpful. I’m sure she’ll be around to answer your question.
[...] her recent guest post, Jennifer Mattern shared five ways to build a writer platform online. She gave an excellent overview, but many authors need more help. They know they need to start a [...]
These are excellent tips that I have taken advantage of myself. Take what Lillie has to say to heart, it works.
Scott,
They are excellent tips, but I can’t claim the credit. Note the title and About the Author at the end. The writer is Jennifer Mattern, also author of the Web Writer’s Guide.
Thanks for the detailed explanation, Jennifer (A big hug for you!)
Lillie, thanks for invited Jennifer to your site, as she has helped me to clear my doubts away…
wilson´s last blog post..Your Body Type Determine Your Healthy Condition
wilson,
Jennifer wrote a helpful post and also was great to follow it up with responding to comments. I appreciate both her post and the responses.
And I hope some of my readers will take advantage of the discount to order her Web Writer’s Guide. I’m sure anyone wanting to write for the Web will find it helpful.
Glad to be of help.
Jennifer Mattern´s last blog post..New Web Writer’s Guide E-book Launched TODAY!
This is a great list of tips. As you said, building a writer platform can be a matter of how to promoting yourself as a writer. You gave us many ways. Thanks.
Jasmin Wilson´s last blog post..Stock market today
Jasmin,
Jennifer did share some excellent tips. I’m glad she visited my blog.
And the best thing you can do is to approach your writing platform using multiple ideas. Just like I’m always telling writers to diversify their income sources, you should diversify your outreach when building a platform. That’s probably the best way to reach out to the largest possible group of your audience. So don’t just blog – also take part in interviews, guest blog for someone else, and simply keep all options open.
Jennifer Mattern´s last blog post..New Web Writer’s Guide E-book Launched TODAY!
sounds hard for me. what if you don’t have any idea on writing good articles? maybe this platform is just a dream for me.
Rye´s last blog post..Pimple Definition: What is a Pimple?
Rye,
The first step is to do the writing so you have something to build the platform for. Actually, you can be building the platform at the same time as you are building up a body of work, but you don’t want to build a platform with no work.
I wrote a guest post at eWritings awhile back about generating ideas: Where Did That Idea Come From? Perhaps you will find that helpful.
It depends on the type of writer a little bit, but actually ALL writers can start building a platform long before looking for clients / publishers.
In fact, I’d say there’s no good excuse for potential authors to be working on it before they start writing a book at all! Building a platform is about building visibility and a potential audience. Those two things will go a long way to making you more attractive to publishers (OR freelance clients).
For example, if you’d like to publish a book on parenting, I’d suggest first starting your own site or blog on the issue. Build authority in the niche, and do it through a public face. Start a podcast or video series. Try to secure interviews on other parenting sites. Then, when already HAVE an audience just dying to hear what more you have to say on the topic, that’s a great time to start on a print book to pitch to publishers.
Jennifer Mattern´s last blog post..Freelance Friday – October 17, 2008
Jennifer,
I wasn’t disagreeing with the idea of building a platform before or while writing a book or building a freelance career.
However, I was trying to encourage Rye, who seemed overwhelmed with the idea of building a platform when she didn’t even have any ideas to write about. It seems that it would be beneficial to develop an idea of what she wants to write about before she tries to build a platform. As soon as she gains a little confidence in her writing, she can expand her focus.
I don’t see why it should be a dream, Rye. If you’re a writer, you can write. Or maybe you’re putting the cart before the horse. I think Jennifer aimed this post at people who are already writers. If you haven’t started writing for publication, then you should focus on that before worrying about your platform. Develop your craft first then turn your attention to the business side of things.
Fiona´s last blog post..Writing history for the commercial market – 1
Thanks for the input, Fiona, and the good advice for Rye.
[...] 5 Ways to Build Your Writer Platform Online (Hosted by: Lillie Ammann) [...]
I just wanted to post a quick reminder for those interested in the $10 discount on the Web Writer’s Guide e-book. The code given in this post will only be valid through this Wednesday (March 11th).
Jennifer Mattern´s last blog post..Freelance Friday – October 17, 2008
Thanks for the reminder, Jennifer.
I hope any of my readers interested in writing for the Web will take advantage of the discount to get a jump start on their career.
[...] those referrals? You work your butt off building visibility and a solid professional network. You build a writer platform. Those who do that successfully are the ones who enjoy work coming to them. (I can’t tell you [...]
this is nice, especially for newbies like me. In the blogging world, one really does need to know how to write his own articles… he needs to express his views about different things.
.-= Bailey@get rid of pimples´s last blog ..Herbal Pimple Remedies =-.
Bailey,
Jennifer was talking primarily about building a platform for freelance writers and book authors, but I’m glad you found it helpful for blogging.
Dear Jennifer, thank you so much for this interesting and helpful post. You are giving us an idea about complex approach to writing and making other people familiar with the writing. Internet opens great opportunities for all freelance writers, therefore, I think that your article is interesting to many readers of yours! Thank you and good luck!
.-= Carla Fiscina@Herbal Remedies´s last blog ..Eggplant, A Gift From China =-.
Carla,
I’m glad you found Jennifer’s article helpful. It was a delight to host her.
Tank you Jennifer for this posting this article, it has been really useful to me.
.-= John@Guest Blog´s last blog ..Ed Hardy Fashion Trendsetter =-.
John,
I’m glad you found Jennifer’s post helpful. I was pleased to host her guest post here.
Thanks for the awesome article. I have always loved writing and have slowly been trying to build up my credibility and portfolio. It takes time but I have found that it is worth it, especially if you truly enjoy writing.
.-= Justin@Learn WordPress´s last blog ..A Few Upcoming WordCamps =-.
Justin,
Jennifer gave great advice in this guest post. Good luck with your writing career. It does take time to build.
Thanks jennifer. Your books seems to be highly inspirational for folks who wanted to get start with their writing. This post is the testimonial for it. I am gonna catch up with it sooner. Thanks Lillie for introducing us to Jennifer through this post.
.-= Alan@Tulsa Homes´s last blog ..Feng Shui Tips for buying a home =-.
Alan,
I enjoyed having Jennifer as a guest and encourage anyone wanting to get started as an online writer to buy and read her book.
Jennifer Mattern is a very brilliant person she have a intelligent mind to think what she want to write it. I like the way she post her article it written clearly. Thank you for your article.
Cherry,
Jennifer is a smart lady, indeed. I’m glad you enjoyed her post.
[...] Building Your Writer Platform Online You have Jennifer Mattern’s big list above, but I wanted to include her short list of just five techniques (taken from Lillie Ammann’s blog A Writer’s Words, An Editor’s Eye) because I want to draw your attention to Number Four, “Use the Web as a Teaching Tool.” There is so much you can do using your expertise. You are, after all, an expert…you wrote the book. You can create videos, coach, put out newsletters, run teleseminars, create a podcast series and much more. Not only does Google love the various digital formats (especially video) but these are all inexpensive to distribute online. That means that you can put out a lot of content and get wide visibility without much cost. You’re going to need a microphone, maybe a Flip Video, and some sort of screen-capture and video-editing software, which I’ve written about before, and then it’s just a matter of time and your own creativity. This is a wonderful way to build a platform. [...]
[...] wait, they [...]
Your writing platform is a tool you use to promote yourself and sell your writing. To build a strong writing platform, you need to be an entrepreneur and marketing guru with established followers. It’s a tall order – but take heart! In our modern technological age, it’s possible and not too difficult to do. It also proves your ability as a writer to promote and sell your book on a national or international level, which drives book sales. It provides a measure of security to the publisher and acts as a vehicle to promote your book and you, the writer.
pat,
Thank you for your comment.
Find people who reach a similar target audience, and look for ways to team up and promote each other. You can publish articles on each other’s websites or newsletters, host an event or contest together or even share a blog. Be creative and pool your resources.
Steve,
Thanks for the comment and the good advice.
Thank you Jennifer. Your analysis has essentially exposed my own approach to blogging as ineffective. Hardly any wonder I have been unsuccessful.
I guess its all one big learning process so thank you for your efforts in writing this blog.
Steve
Steve,
I’m glad Jennifer’s post gave you some insights to help you in your own blogging.
This is great advice. I would add to the list Kindle publishing. Amazon make it so easy, with their Kindle publishing platform, for writers to publish their own work. And one of the great things about Kindle publishing is the fact that Amazon will promote your eBook for you.
cj,
I’m not sure that I would consider Kindle publishing part of your author platform. It’s a way to publish–just like print or Smashwords or other publishing methods. Amazon does some marketing for Kindle books and all books on the site, things like “people who bought this also bought that,” but authors still have do a lot more promotion of their own.