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This week on Literary Lark, I discuss two separate avenues that allow authors to increase their exposure and grow their platform. If you spend any time on popular bloggers’ sites, you may already be familiar with the strategy of guest blogging (which I also touched on in this post). The value of being a guest on someone else’s blog is two-fold: traffic and exposure. By posting valuable content on a blog or news site that has a much larger audience, you expand the reach of your message, your writing, and your platform. This brings more traffic to your website and–if done correctly–more exposure to your books. Danny Iny has some wonderful insight on this form of marketing, which is basically an audience-first approach. By not focusing your marketing efforts exclusively on a product (your book), authors can really connect with their audience more and worry less about sales. This is an approach that many successful influencers like Jeff Goins, Seth Godin, and Michael Hyatt have utilized to built their businesses and platforms. So it’s pretty effective!
In the second part of the podcast, I discuss book fairs, events, and conventions. As an indie author, most of my networking and marketing is focused online, but this week I’ll be going to the AWP 2015 Conference in Minneapolis. This is like the San Diego Comic Con of the literary industry, so I’m both stoked and anxious to be there! Regardless of what future event you have planned to promote your book and platform, always remember that it’s not about making a sale. Events like this are an opportunity to make connections with other authors, agents, publishers, and–most important of all–readers. I’m an introvert by nature, so this event is going to challenge me, but I think it’ll be a great opportunity to branch out and widen my reach.
Please leave a comment below if you have any insights on guest blogging or author events!
