31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 3: Quote me on it

[Before we start, have you followed 10 new people yet?]

We’ve done a ton of thinking and a little bit of grunt work. Let’s take a break and do some fast action.

Our Day 3 of the 31 Day Author Platform Challenge is a simple task. Remember those accounts I told you to sign up for and open? (from Day 1 and Day 2?) Today you’re going to create a gif/png/meme of your favorite writing-related author quote, and post it across all your social media platforms–even the new ones.

You can choose a cool quote from a character in your published book if you’d like; the background image could be a page from the book or your book cover (assuming you have rights to do so–check first!). And, you’ll be keeping your author brand in mind as you do so.

Note: a gif is video, while traditionally a meme (in PDF, JPG, PNG, HTML, XML, etc formats) is a static image. I use the terms interchangeably as memes now include video elements.

Creating the PNG/PDF

If you don’t have a quote in mind already, do an online search for one. Consider flipping through old conference notes for something a speaker said that resonated with you.
Go to Canva or Book Brush or Imgflip or Insta or whichever you prefer, and check out the (free) quote templates already created. No sense recreating the wheel. They might have actual quotes already waiting for you in the template itself. I got the above wording from Book Brush in the quotes template.
Add the quote to the template as necessary, and who said it. In my example, it’s more a thought so I didn’t worry about an attribution (Book Brush didn’t offer one anyway). From a visual standpoint, I should have moved the quote up over the image of the boy a bit so the PNG isn’t so tall. But I got impatient.
Are those template font and colors “on brand” for you? If not, change them to ones that are. I changed the template’s background color and font. Don’t use exactly what the template has. Make it “you.”
Add in your website or social media handle, in a subtle 10-point or smaller font, about 50-75% opaque text so it doesn’t jump out, and place it at the very bottom or vertically along the side. In the above example, my URL is too large and too obvious. This way you get credit when it’s copied, RTed, or goes viral. You also get brand recognition.
Bonus points if in the post caption you add an interaction Q such as “What do you think?” or “What’s your take?”
Post away! Add it to every account you have: FB, Twitter, Insta, etc. If you chose and opened that automation tool like you were supposed yesterday, this will be suuuper easy for you…one and done!
Bonus points if you take the time to target each different audience with an interactive Q posted in the caption such as “Have you ever thought this?” Remember, your FB audience might need the question worded differently than your website audience. Yes, it takes more time, but worth it.

Note: if adding to your blog or website, and you have the time or desire, add +/- 300 words on why the quote is important and relevant to you. It’s a blog, afterall. But OK if no; it’s fine to simply post the gif/png/pdf.