35 Comments

Thank you for this! Sorry I'm late seeing, as I'm catching up on emails. As a newbie, a lot out there is daunting. Your nuggets of wisdom help me with bite sized reassurance. Thank you!

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Learning all about this new world. Thank you for the suggestions

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Crying a little on the inside (just kidding… maybe) but thank you for these reminders, they’ve strengthened my resolve

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Writers must be considered for their hard work.

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Thank you for this! It made me feel reassured about building a website/starting a newsletter while working on my novel. I've found that it takes time to build up a platform--it does not happen overnight.

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Helpful perspective - especially in making time for social media in small bites. Thanks!

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This was really helpful. Thank you!

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Thank you for the gentle reminder ( ok, more like a punch in the arm). I also find working on my website is a good way to shakes the imposter syndrome blues.

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Thank you! Very informative and helpful as I get ready to launch my book this fall. My platform growth has been sluggish but I’m working on being more consistent in my online conversations. Great advice!

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Glad it helped!

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So helpful! I’ve always been pretty much myself on social media because I am in my writing, but it’s still challenging. This is a great reminder about why it’s important, beyond just racking up numbers to toss into a book proposal. I especially loved this: “You are responsible for caring for your brand, expanding it, and maintaining it. This is not your publisher’s job.”

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Thank you!

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Excellent work. It's vital we alert authors to the necessity of a platform for most books. It's essential writers grasp that they cannot just write and expect an effective publicity and marketing campaign to be magically created around them and their book. When it still occasionally happens, it's for outlier reasons to do with the book's subject drawing attention to itself or the publisher's advance being so huge, the publisher will do anything to secure attention for that title (even then their desperate efforts often fail to move the sales numbers). As you say too, the author must engage with others via their platform. These socials are not a broadcast medium. They're for interaction.

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This was extremely helpful! I know I need to up my platform game.

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I really enjoyed this post! Thanks for sharing and reminding us just how valuable it is to actually engage with people, especially as an introvert!

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I know this all too well. I’m a total introvert.

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Love.Love.Love

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Great insight! Thank you so much. This is extremely helpful.😁😁

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I agree! “Guardrails” are especially important. Always appreciate your authentic takes.

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