You may have heard that it’s valuable to have a strong author platform — but what exactly does that mean, and why is it important? In this post, we’ll explain the concept of an author platform, why it’s a useful signal for agents and publishers, how it helps drive book sales, and how authors can strengthen their own platform, whether they’ve been writing for decades or just finished their first book.
What is an author platform?
An author platform represents the unique influence, reach, and attention an author can leverage to sell books. It includes:
- Your audience and online presence. The content you share online and the audience who follows you are key components of your platform. This includes social media pages, blogs, email newsletters, and YouTube channels.
- Your network. Connections you have to other authors, experts, influencers, or organizations represent opportunities to access new audiences and expand your reach.
- Your expertise. Whether you’re a leading researcher in your field, a New York Times bestseller, or a #booktok influencer, demonstrating skill or experience with your subject matter can establish authority in your genre and lend weight to your voice.
Why do you need an author platform?
If you want to publish traditionally, having a powerful platform is appealing to agents and editors because you offer not only a story to tell, but an audience who will want to read it. An author with a large social media following or a popular newsletter is a safer investment for a publisher because they already have the tools to generate enthusiasm and drive book sales. So a strong author platform is a signal of an author’s ability to stand out in an increasingly flooded publishing landscape — which is incredibly valuable to an agent or editor.
If you want to self-publish, your platform is an engine to sell your books and grow your audience. As a self-published author, you are wholly responsible for marketing your books and finding readers, so it’s just as important to invest in your author platform.
A platform can take time to develop, especially if you’re a first-time author! Most authors don’t start out with a built-in audience or relevant connections. So if you don’t already have a large online following or network of authors in your genre, how can you start to build one?
How to build an author platform
Determine your target audience
The first step to growing your platform is to figure out who you want to reach — in other words, who are you writing for?
The more detail you can answer this question with, the better. Are your ideal readers retired men who love spy thrillers? Women in their 30s who read romantasy novels with their book clubs? People who listen to self-help books on their commute to work? Once you know who your ideal audience is, you can start to figure out the best ways to reach them (more on this later!).
Learn more:
- 7 Clever Ways Authors Can Learn More About Readers Online
- Book Marketing 101: How (and Why!) to Reach the Right Readers
Establish your voice and brand
Your platform is all about what you have to offer readers, so finding your unique voice is a key part of building an author platform. You’ve likely already begun to define your author personality while writing — the content and tone of your books should reflect your voice and brand, too! As you start to develop a platform, you want to be intentional and consistent about how you communicate with your audience to build recognition and familiarity.
If you haven’t already, try writing your author bio in a few different styles to find a voice that feels right. If you’re feeling stuck or don’t know where to start, ask yourself the following questions to home in on an authentic voice:
- What are three adjectives you would use to describe your author personality?
- What personal details, interests, or hobbies are relevant to your books or your author persona?
- How can you demonstrate your distinct perspective and expertise in your genre?
- What do other authors in your genre include in their bios, and how can you set yourself apart?
Beyond your author bio, these questions can also help guide the content you share in social media posts, a newsletter, or a blog. Once you know who your target audience is and what topics are interesting to them, knowing who you are and what you bring to the table as an author is the next step to building connections and relationships that will grow your author platform.
Learn more:
- Writing Your Author Bio? Here Are 20 Great Examples. (Plus a Checklist!)
- How to Write a Book Description: Tips from BookBub Editors
Create a website for your books
An author website is your home base online, which makes it a foundational piece of your author platform. Unlike social media profiles, you can completely customize and control your website presence to fully communicate your author brand and engage readers.
Your website should achieve the following:
- Communicate your author personality with the font, colors, images, and content
- Share information about your books, such as where to purchase them or what order to read them in
- Share your author bio and other information about your background
- If you write nonfiction, showcase publications, essays, or interviews that establish you as an authority on your topic or niche
- Tell fans how to find and follow you on other platforms where you’re active
- Offer readers a way to hear more from you — encourage them to sign up for your newsletter or blog
This last function — collecting email addresses — is one of the most important features a website can offer to help you build your author platform. Email is one of the best and most reliable ways to stay in touch with your audience.
In addition to a website you own, it’s also important to have a presence where readers are: don’t forget to claim your BookBub, Amazon, and Goodreads author profiles too! Include a link to your website in your profile or author bio on each platform you use to connect with readers.
Learn more:
Choose marketing channels to grow your audience
Next, to start growing your audience, you need to get your books and your brand in front of readers. As an author, you want to go where your readers go. Start by doing research to understand where your ideal readers spend time online or in person, and how they discover new books to read. Then, decide how you’re going to reach them: which of those places and which marketing strategies are the best fit for you?
To build a strong platform and sustainable author career, you should invest in marketing channels that you feel comfortable with. For instance, if you hate video editing, you’ll never want to post on TikTok or Instagram Reels. So pick platforms that you enjoy using, content styles that you enjoy creating, and schedules that you can stick to.
When choosing book marketing channels to connect with readers or grow your audience, consider:
- Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or X (formerly known as Twitter). These social platforms favor different types of media (text, photos, and videos) in different ways, but each one provides opportunities to share content with followers and get exposure to users who aren’t familiar with you yet. Check out creative ways authors have used social media to promote their books.
- Video platforms like TikTok or YouTube. Video sharing platforms provide an excellent opportunity to get discovered by new audiences, either via search or the platforms’ recommendation algorithms. Get inspired by authors on TikTok or discover a variety of ways authors use video to engage with readers.
- An email newsletter to share regular news or updates with fans. A newsletter is intended for an audience who is already familiar with and enthusiastic about your work. It’s the most direct way to communicate with your biggest fans without relying on social media algorithms to surface your posts. See what authors include in their newsletters and how often they send them.
- A blog to share written content such as personal stories or research notes. Blog posts are a type of content marketing often distributed to subscribers via email, but can also help grow your audience via search. Read our author’s guide to content marketing.
- In-person events like local festivals, fairs, or conventions. If you’re an extrovert or love meeting fans in person, hosting a table for your books at live events can be a great way to build meaningful connections with potential readers. Learn how one author sells books at events, including tips on how to identify which events are the best fit for you and your books.
- Marketing services like BookBub Featured Deals and other book promotion newsletters. If you have the budget to pay for marketing services, you can get exposure to massive audiences of readers in your genre through these platforms.
- Online advertising platforms like BookBub Ads, Amazon Ads, or Meta Ads. Advertising directly to your target audience can be a powerful way to get your books discovered by new readers. Read about the differences and strengths of each platform for book advertising.
- Subscription or crowdfunding platforms like Patreon, Substack, and Kickstarter. Some of these platforms function similarly to an email newsletter, where you can send content to your existing fans, but others can give you exposure to new audiences too. See how authors have used these platforms to reward their readers.
Learn more:
- How Successful Authors Use Social Media: 29 Content Ideas
- Authors on Social Media: Choosing Platforms & Avoiding Burnout
Contribute to conversations in your field
Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, another way to grow your author platform is to establish yourself as an expert in your particular niche, subgenre, or field. Here are some ways you can start to build your authority and increase your exposure:
- Join relevant conversations online. If a topic related to your books, your background, or your author brand is trending on social media or in the news, chime in! Whether you post a TikTok video, publish a blog article, comment on a post, or write a thread of tweets, keep an eye out for opportunities to add your voice to online conversations that are interesting to your target audience. This can include conversations about news and current events, seasonal themes or holidays, pop culture, niche hobbies or interests, TV shows or movies, and even other books.
- Pitch guest articles to blogs, magazines, or journals. Identify the media that your target audience likes to read and pitch article ideas to be featured on those platforms. Don’t be discouraged if your pitches aren’t accepted — remember that these platforms are trying to maintain their own relationships with their audiences or meet business goals, so be polite, friendly, flexible, and patient. Keep trying to find new platforms that might be a good fit and generate new ideas for articles that align your expertise with their audiences’ interests.
- Sign up to offer quotes for journalists. Platforms like Connectively (formerly HARO) or Source of Sources connect journalists with subject matter experts to provide quotes, context, and insights for articles. This can give you opportunities to get featured in articles and publications that your target audience is reading.
Learn more:
- How to Pitch Your Book to the Media: 5 Steps to Standing Out
- How Authors Can Guest Write for Blogs (And Why They Should!)
Make connections with other authors
Another way to grow your network and strengthen your author platform is by making connections with other authors who write similar kinds of books. Not only can this lead to exciting collaborations (see examples of how authors have worked together to write a bestselling anthology and a series set in the same world!), but it can help you develop a community on your writing journey. Other authors can be an incredible source of support, commiseration, advice, and inspiration.
Here’s how to start connecting with authors:
- Join online communities. There are plenty of Facebook groups, online forums, and other online communities for writers! Many of them are focused on particular genres, career stages, or marketing challenges, and are filled with authors who are also seeking community.
- Attend author conferences. Writing or book marketing conferences are fantastic places to meet other authors! Look for events with many authors in your genre or at a similar stage of their writing career. “What do you write?” is an easy icebreaker!
- Attend reader events. Many authors attend book signings or other events for readers. These events can be more accessible than professional author conferences, and engaging with your genre as a reader and a fan as well as an author can be a fun way to connect with both other authors and potential readers.
- Boost books and authors you love. Readers love getting book recommendations from their favorite authors, so pay it forward and get in the habit of recommending your favorite books and authors to your audience!
Learn more:
- 15 Ways Authors Support Each Other on Social Media
- Publishing Conferences: How to Know Which are Worth Attending
Nurture your relationship with your readers
A devoted audience can be even more powerful than a large audience. One of the best things you can do to build a strong author platform is to invest in your current fans and readers!
Whichever channels you use to stay in touch with your readers, be consistent and reliable to stay top-of-mind. This could include sending a monthly email newsletter with updates about what you’ve been working on, sharing a weekly themed social media post, or hosting a private reader group. Remember to commit to marketing efforts that are sustainable and authentic to your personal preferences and author brand.
If you’re comfortable with it, encourage a two-way conversation — let your readers know you want to hear from them! Encourage them to reply to your emails or comment on your posts. Pose questions for them to answer (this can also be a great way to learn more about your readers!) — ask them to share other books or media they enjoy, recipes, gardening tips, or pictures of their pets. Get to know them as they get to know you.
Remember that an audience can’t be grown overnight. But with persistent and focused efforts, you can begin to build a fan base of readers who will eagerly await your next book.
Learn more:
- How I Went from Zero to 6,500 BookBub Followers
- How Recommending Books Can Grow an Author’s Audience
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