When blogging first hit the scene, it was a goldmine for authors. Start a blog and watch your traffic explode!
Flash forward two weeks: there are a bazillion blogs out there. The odds of getting yours read? Yeah.
It’s time to get creative. The internet is still the #1 reading, shopping, and socializing ground in the world. Facebook alone has more accounts than the population of Earth and California combined. Wattpad and Goodreads get more traffic than a Minnesota beer tent.
So let’s find your playground, as I call it. I don’t want to tell you what to do. I want to show you what I’m doing and see if if opens the attic doors.
I’m a YA writer, so I had to find my audience. Facebook? Forget it. Too many parents. Twitter? What’s that? Instagram…now you’re talking. So I got busy on that account and started posting nice photos with writing tips (85% of teen readers say they want to write) and commenting on other posts. I got active.
I noticed that a lot of my Instagram followers used their profile link to direct me to their Wattpad account.
So I went to Wattpad and posted my books–yes, for free. I got active. I commented on other stories. I joined the clubs. I gave budding young writers real advice. And they were thrilled. And they followed me right back to my newsletter sign-up form.
I also started a podcast with my partner, Gina Conroy. We named it Teen Writers Publish! and got busy directing our followers to iTunes. And then…a revelation. Instead of posting show notes and other advice on the podcast blog, why not a “book” on Wattpad?
So I created a book called Teen Writers Publish! and posted my writerly advice and show notes there. We still have our web page, but most of my posts go into the Wattpad book. And, ohmigosh, people are reading them! And commenting! It’s like 2005 all over again!
I’m not suggesting my plan will work for everyone, but you can follow the same principles:
- Find your readers. If they’re not on your blog, they’re somewhere else online. Meet them there.
- Use that platform as your home base and be active.
- Keep your blog because you’ll get your followers there eventually, but now it’s more of a home page, where you’ll advertise your amazing books, starting with…
- A free book or another reader magnet in exchange for an email address.
What you’ve done is set up “sales funnel” from your new platform playground, like Wattpad, Goodreads, or Pinterest, and back to your website. Instead of the old method of using your website as your primary content base, you now use another location and–need I say it?–get active!
So your marching orders: Find your playground. Don’t just watch the other kids playing. Jump in. Get dirty. Bite. Scratch. Comment.
Eventually, you’ll have a tribe. And they’ll follow you anywhere.
~*~
Ron Estrada is a young adult author of the Cherry Hill Series, supernatural stories with a touch of romance. Book 1, Now I Knew You, is now available on Amazon and book 2 will be out this month. You can find out what he’s up to at RonEstradaBooks.com.