This blog was featured on 08/30/2016
Build Your Platform Through Community
Contributor

When I coach writers about how to create a compelling book proposal, one of the first things I focus on is the fact that it’s a selling tool, and that its specific job is to showcase what you’re doing and will do to market yourself and eventually your book. I also like to remind any writer who wants to publish, whether they’re pursuing traditional or self-publishing, that a thorough marketing plan is something to start putting together very early on. Especially because it often involves a lot of action steps that you can be working on while you’re writing your book.

Some aspiring authors’ idea of a marketing plan is a two-page synopsis explaining that they “will get” a website and “will do” social media. They may, if they’re wise, list organizations they belong to and speaking opportunities that may arise once the book is published.

Sometimes compiling two pages of ideas about marketing can feel like a lot, which is why many authors’ response, when I tell them their marketing plan should in fact be closer to 10, if not 15, pages, is more like: Say what?!

The best word to describe what a marketing plan should be is “robust.” Anything less than robust isn’t going to cut it. I’ve been posting about platform lately (here and here), and anything and everything you do to build your platform is what justifies the notion that there’s a readership for your book. You have undoubtedly heard all about social media and know how important it is, but one area you may want to spend a little more time contemplating is community.

A lot of authors overlook the ways in which they’re connected, or don’t think about how their communities can and will play a part in the marketing of their book. Savvy authors know that community is everything. Consider the kinds of venues you’ll be speaking at once your book comes out: Your local library? A JCC? Book club meetings? BlogHer? Community drives the connections, the invitations, the book sales. Note that She Writes itself is a huge community of women writers, and there are opportunities here to connect, increase visibility, build platform, and eventually promote your book.

For most of us, community is a value, but as authors it’s an asset. As an exercise, list all the communities you’re part of and see what results. If you’re working on a book, keep this as a work-in-progress list on your desktop and add to it. It’s not always easy to remember all the communities we’re a part of. And then there’s the good work of building community while you write—here on She Writes and elsewhere.

I was recently reminded of just how valuable all these community connections are in working with Norine Dworkin-McDaniel, founder of Science of Parenthood, who’s been enlightening me on some of the specific ways she’s been able to build community.

Here are just a few smart ideas Norine shared with me that you can use to parlay your community-building practices into a platform:

1.    Comment on other people’s posts

There are all kinds of ways to comment on people’s posts—directly on their blog posts, on their Facebook fan pages (here's a plug for Norine's because what she's doing is awesome), on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr sites, etc. When you comment regularly, the person you are hoping to build community with will eventually take notice. You want to identify people with whom you’d like to associate. If you’re a Mommy blogger, like Norine, you want to be plugged into the high-profile bloggers in that community. If you’re a genre fiction writer, you want to associate with those writers who are already doing what you aspire to do, or just doing what you’re doing at a higher level. Building community is a lot about letting a person know you respect their work and engaging in conversations and hopefully getting a “follow-back” from them on some of your social media.

2.    Participate in link-ups

Link-ups happen when someone hosts a place where your URL or your Facebook page or Twitter handle are featured. Online link-ups are sometimes referred to as link-up parties. When you participate, it’s expected that you’ll link back to the person hosting the party (generally a specific post), and basically it’s a win-win for all parties involved, driving traffic to all the sites participating. If you’re looking for a way to get involved in a link-up party, a good place to start is by Googling “link-up party” in your genre, and checking Pinterest. Consider hosting one, too. All you need to do is reach out to other people who write in your areas of interest or genre. Remember, this doesn’t only have to be for bloggers. You can do it with social media, too. And while its purpose is to build your audience, it’s fundamentally a community-building activity whose outcome can be deep connections with like-minded people.

3.    Join Facebook groups

If you poke around enough, you’ll eventually hear about groups on Facebook that are by invite-only, where people in your genre are helping one another by posting information, blog links, events, and all kinds of other things that help to promote the people in the group. If you hear about these kinds of communities, find out who runs the group and ask for an invitation. If you don’t know about these kinds of groups, start someplace like here on She Writes by asking people to tell you about groups that focus on your genre. (Heck, ask for info in the comments section.) Sometimes these groups are exclusive, so finding an in may take some time. Other times they’re more open and only require asking for permission to join. Get active in one or two groups and support the other members by posting about their stuff and what they’re up to—and then watch how they reciprocate.

I believe that most writers are looking to support other writers. Norine told me that she had never been supported by another online community like she has been in the Mommy blogosphere community. And she’s not the first to tell me that. She pointed me to Jill Smokler, aka Scary Mommy, who makes this point in a recent video post. The gist of her message is this: We all have to support each other. Together we all rise.

Norine was also stunned by the attitude she found online. It wasn’t “I figured all this out on my own, so you should figure it out too,” she said, but rather “I’ve gone through this so let me help you so you don’t waste time.”

One valuable tip she got from her fellow bloggers had to do with blog buttons on Pinterest. Not only did people turn her onto them, they also showed her exactly how to create them. They then invited her to group boards on Pinterest, which are sort of like a Facebook group except that you can pin to these boards once you get invited to do so. This is another great way to get exposure for your stuff. And it’s not just about Pinterest. It drives people back to your blog or your website, and can help with discoverability.

Norine’s advice now that she’s hanging out with all these awesome women who felt completely inaccessible to her a few short months ago: “Be a little bit ballsy.” A lot of this stuff is like showing up at a party and walking up to someone you admire and telling them about your work (and how much you love theirs). It is scary, but building community in the writing world has a lot to do with reframing the competition.  You don’t want to think of your fellow writers as better than you, bigger than you, or not interested in what you’re doing. Instead you want to identify who your competition is and then align yourself with them. Become friends, if only online. I assure you that the majority of these people are approachable. We’re writers, after all. Mostly this is not a Hollywood scene, but a scene of people who love words and really want other writers to succeed. 

Seth Godin wrote a whole book about the value of finding your tribe. Norine told me that she got lucky--she got invited to become part of a tribe, an experience that’s been both touching and expansive. You may have to work a little harder to find your tribe, but the effort will pay off.

These community efforts matter as much as they do because in many cases they’re replacing the importance of having traditional media contacts. When you pitch yourself to an agent or editor, having connections to high-profile bloggers and movers and shakers in the online world can be as powerful as connections to major media. Successful writers and authors are typically more accessible than major media as well, and yet they can help you get connected (and sell books) in ways that used to be reserved to traditional media. This is a big deal.

The rules are changing all the time, but the number one thing to remember when trying to sell a book to an agent or editor, or working to do all the preliminary work you need to do if you’re intending to self-publish, is that selling books is all about getting yourself out there. So figure out who you want to know and introduce yourself. And pretty soon those people you once felt intimidated by will be part of your tribe.

 

What kinds of community-building efforts have worked for you? Please share your ideas to help other She Writers figure out where to get started, or how to do something fun and totally outside the box.

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Comments
  • Brooke Warner Outlining

    I appreciate the comment, Tammy. Whenever something is relevant it's right! :)

  • Tammy Flanders Hetrick

    Though I'm untimely in reading this, it is timely for me! I'm preparing to launch a movement around best-friendship among women and am actively seeking my tribe. The suggestion to list my existing communities is particularly helpful. We are often involved in more communities than we think! 

  • Kathy Brunner

    Brooke,

    This is an excellent article on not only marketing your writing but staying Top of Mind for all your social media activities.Thanks for posting some wonderful info for your colleagues!

  • Miranda Innaimo

    This is a wonderful article. I found it very useful and quite applicable. Well done.

  • Thanks so much, Stephanie. This is valuable info. I hope it helps you, Aline!

  • Stephanie Barko

    As a literary publicist Brooke refers to, specializing in historical fiction & nonfiction, Brooke asked me to name communities where historical novelists can network.  The international professional association for historical novelists is Historical Novel Society.  HNS holds conferences every year, alternating in the US on odd years and in London on even years.  I presented at the US North American Conference this year, which drew 300 attendees, and can say that it was superbly run.  Their review service is one that I use routinely for clients.  

    On Facebook, GoodReads, LinkedIn and Library Thing you will find a number of historical groups, some of which cater to the various historical subgenres. And then there's all the historical bloggers out there who keep the genre topical on a regular basis.  

    For more ideas on platform building, you might try my blog's subject index.  Two of the interviews on my blog are with HNS Review Editors, in which they share how HNS selects titles for review.

     

  • Renate Stendhal

    The question of tribes is such a tricky one, or a magical one. For more introverted or outsider spirits it can be the hardest thing to find even if you work hard at it. Like finding a soulmate... For Gertrude Stein I created a She Writes blog to share my passion and some marvels of what I learned from her. That was and is often very fun, as was teaching and speaking about Stein, and the lovely individual  contacts that came out of it are, I guess, part of my tribe. A very dispersed tribe, maybe all in some kind of diaspora! I need to create a database to be more aware of who is there there, or potentially there...  I am wondering: WHERE are the lesbian tribes on She Writes?

  • Good question, Aline. I'm not super familiar with your genre, but one of our publicists specializes in historical fiction so let me see what I can find. If you are starting to scratch the surface on all of this, the easiest and best thing to do is to start following people on FB and Twitter. You can post questions like these on FB pages and see what turns up. I also wonder if there are any groups here on SW you might join. You can peruse the list. I know there are lit fiction writers (a lot!) and I imagine historical as well. Contact published authors you admire and ask them for advice/suggestions. Like Norine said, you have to be a little ballsy and poke around a bit. I'll see what I can find out...

  • Aline Ohanesian

    I have been searching for a tribe for months with no luck. My debut novel will be released by Algonquin next year and I though I am active on twitter and Facebook, I still don't feel like I have a community of writers I can turn to for support or help, or even comraderie.( I write literary fiction and historical fiction.) I would specially like to join a Facebook group for published or soon to be published authors. I found one, but they were exclusive to Women's lit.
    Any advice?

  • With my book, A Bushel's Worth: An Ecobiography, coming out in August from Torrey House Press, this is a great reminder of the power of the very kind of community I write about. It's not always easy to ask favors of one's friends--and even harder to ask acquaintances--but I feel very lucky to have lots of people's helping me on my way to publication. I'm looking forward to many of their smiling faces at my book launch at the Boulder Bookstore on August 20! If anyone is in the area, come on by!

  • Billie Criswell

    This came at a good time for me...I recently got great feedback from an agent who said that my work was great but that I needed a bigger platform. On to it, then! 

  • Thanks, Brooke! I have found that cultivating community has also helped our group find our audience. Reaching out gives you a sense of who is interested in reaching back. 

    And you are also a great model for nurturing community! Thanks for giving us the space here at SheWrites to talk to each other and meet other writers.

  • Excellent post, Brooke. Thanks!

  • Yes, you guys are such a good model for what's possible with a writing group, Janine!

  • You've met my tribe, Brooke! We meet monthly (in person!) to write and chat and listen to a guest speaker talk to us about writing and writing life. We promote each other's writing and blogs. We share and re-tweet. We're mostly a group of Bay Area moms who write (and one dad) but really just strive to be a supportive community for writers!

  • Kerry Ann Morgan

    Thank you! Perfect timing, as I'm working on a proposal today. I wondered how much I should include about my social media presence.

  • E. B. Purtill

    Thanks for this post Brooke. It was a great read.

  • @Suzi. This is awesome. Thanks for sharing, and enjoy your time at BlogHer. I'm looking forward to reading all about it. I'm sad I can't attend. @Renate, good for you for seeing where you need support. I think hiring a platform coach makes good sense when you're in overwhelm, to help you sequence and stay the course!

  • Renate Stendhal

    As an old-style publishing writer I usually feel both the gratitude about such excellent advice, Brooke, and the woozy angst of overwhelm. I realize the work is learning just enough about these new platforms and online connections -- enough to feel out where I might be comfortable and belong, or where my desire guides me. I also realize I don't have enough time, capacity and patience to figure everything out myself -- so, my answer of the moment is working with a platform coach. It gives me just the right amount of hope, for now...

  • suzi banks baum

    These are great ways to connect with other women Brooke. Attending She Writes conferences has helped me so much. I am heading off to Blog Her tomorrow, and have packed plenty of business cards with my website on them to hand to people I hear that I am interested in linking up with. One of the main things I have learned though, before I head off to a conference, is to cultivate my local community by hosting readings, supporting local authors, offering reviews to my indie book store's Face book page, and letting myself be seen as a writer in my home community. I have made many amazing connections that way. And of course, this website is a great way to meet and greet. My book, An Anthology of Babes: 36 Women Give Motherhood a Voice is now available on Amazon by the way. Just had to add that! Thank you for offering us such good content. Best, Suzi

  • Kirsten Weiss

    I have slowly (very slowly) been finding writers in my tribe via Twitter, but these are some excellent ideas to expand my efforts. Thanks for the ideas and the reminder!

  • Hi ladies. Thanks for the comments. Big love ripples.

  • Thanks @KathyRadigan! I am constantly amazed at the community and support I've found among my women blogger friends. If you want to see what woman can do together, look no farther than the blogging community. "Awesome" in all respects of the word. 

  • Kathy Radigan

    Great post! I have found the community that I have found among other bloggers to be amazing. It really is the way that I have gone from a woman who didn't even have an email address two years ago to being a full fledged blogger. I love Norine from Science of Parenthood. She is a great blogging friend who really practices what she preaches. Thanks again for the great tips!

  • Thanks, Tracey. :)