Welcome to the Author Platform Challenge!
What’s the 31 Day Author Platform Challenge and why do you need to join? Join other authors as you find out here, my friend!
Keep readingBitsy’s 31-Day Author Platform* Challenge
Join this simple 31-Day Author Platform Challenge to up your social media presence! BitsyKemper.wordpress.com/31-day-author-platform-challenge-2
Keep reading“31 Day Author Platform Challenge” Prep
I know we’ve got a bunch of people that are finding out about the 31 Day Author Platform Challenge late and/or are just starting. Welcome! This challenge can begin at any time, so don’t feel rushed to catch up on every past day to match where we are now. Take the time to do each task properly! I wanted to be sure you start out on the same right foot the rest of us did.
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 1: Cross-Platform Assessment
Day 1 of 31 Day Author Platform is looking at the big picture. We’ll take a cross-platform assessment so we know where we are, and where we need to go!
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 2: Set up with sign-ups
Day 2 of 31 Day Author Platform Challenge: Set up with sign ups
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 3: Quote it
Day 3 of the 31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 3 puts Day 1 and 2 to work with an easy challenge of posting a meme across all platforms
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 4: Author Pages
Day 4 of the 31 Day Author Challenge focuses on creating Author Pages-which is easy, as well as an effective part of author branding
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 5: Website homey
For Day 5 of the 31 Day Author Platform Challenge, it’s time to work on your author website, specifically your homepage.
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 6: Bio, Bio Everywhere
It’s Day 6 of 31 Day Author Platform Challenge and we are all about the bio, the bio, the bio, the bio 🎶
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 7: Headshots
Smile for camera! For Day Six of the 31-Day Author Platform Challenge we are focusing on headshots.
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 8: #WritersLift Shout-outs
You’ve known plenty of helpful people. Today, Day 8 of the 31 Day Author Platform Challenge we are showing them some (virtual) love.
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 9: Why a Newsletter?
[Before we start, have you followed 10 new people yet?] Talk Directly to Those Who WANT to Hear From You Why are we talking about newsletters today? One of the problems with social media is that it casts a wide net. Everyone from everywhere is scrolling and watching. You never know who is paying attention so you never know if what you’re saying is being heard. Think about placing a billboard on a busy freeway. Yes, a TON of people will see it. But are they the right people? I mean, what do you know about those people? They have…
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 10: Pop-up & Capture
Day 10 of Bitsy’s 31 Day Author Platform Challenge is on capturing emails via pop-up sign-up forms.
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 11: Magnet Ideas
Today we are coming up with a list of 10 things you can offer as a freebie—your lead magnet— as an incentive to get people to sign up for your newsletter’s mailing list. It has to be not only good, but enough…enough for them to hand over their precious email address and agree to stomach yet another barrage of emails.
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 12: Let’s Make Freebies
Remember in Days 10 we talked about dangling a freebie to get people to sign up for your mailing list, and in Day 11 we brainstormed 10 potential freebies? Today, Day 12, we are going to pick one of those freebie ideas, and create it.
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 13: Little Known Facts
Today you’re going to find a little-known fact that supports your brand or your book(s). Then you’re gonna create and publish a pretty little post about it.
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 14: How to Boost Sign-ups
On Day 14 we are going to go back to our freebie, and create a campaign to kick off today. Yes, today. No sense wasting time.
Keep reading31 Day Platform Challenge Day 15: Good News
Today, Day 14 of 31 Day Author Platform Challenge, in a separate post from your poll result analysis, you are going to share some good news.
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 16: Did You See That?
We’ve made several posts so far. Time to up the ante. Studies show videos get far more views and engagement than simple photo posts on social media.
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 17: Why Not Ask?
On Day 17 of our 31 Day Author Platform Challenge, we are going to engage and interact by asking readers/followers an open-ended question.
Keep reading31-Day Author Platform Challenge Day 18: Talk About Me!
Today, research five podcasts and/or blogs you can make guest appearances on within the next two months.
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 19: Being Real
Today, Day 19 I insist you have some fun creating a “My view today” video. And by that I mean, a 10-25 second video of what you are looking at, at the moment. That’s it, that’s all it’s going to be. Sort of like a BeReal, if you know what that is.
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 20: What Do YOU Think?
We’re taking a poll! 31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 20 is fast and easy.
Keep reading31-Day Author Platform Challenge Day 21: Mutual Support
Today’s author platform task has two parts. First, you need to post the results of your poll. Then, you’ll post something timely and beneficial for a fellow author/
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 22: Let Me In
Day 22 of 31 Day Author Platform Challenge: Create a short-ish blog or FB post sharing a personal story.
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 23: Time to Conference
Day 23 of 31 Day Author Platform Challenge: research conferences and events in your age and genre to be a resource for others that would be interested too. You can use that info anyway.
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 24: TIL Video
“TIL” Today I Learned Maybe it’s a hack on scrambling eggs, or a shortcut in folding laundry, but odds are you learned something recently. Today, Day 24 of the 31 Day Author Platform Challenge, you are going to share that learning. Via video! (You need to get more comfortable in video. It’s the future!) And “TIL” is all the rage right now, so let’s hop on board. My recent key learning is a time saver called a “macro” which lets you type in a few letters and have your pc fill in the rest. It’s called a macro. It’s hugely…
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 25: SEO
Today, Day 25 of 31 Day Author Platform Challenge, we’re going back to your website and looking into “SEO” or “search engine optimization” which is a fancy way of saying “making sure your website has the right words for search engines to notice, so it pops up early in search results.”
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 26: Baby Pix
What age range are you writing for? Pull up some old file,s or photo albums (remember them?) and find some old baby pix of yourself at that age.
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 27: Best Advice
Today, share your best piece of advice for your audience (is your audience writers? moms? YA readers? librarians?).
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 28: Listicle Love
One Day 17, you’re going to create a listicle today to share with your followers. You choose the topic. Suggestions include topics like “10 Best Travel Books for Toddlers,” “5 Favorite Bedtime Books with Elephants,” “7 Ways to Strengthen Your Story Arc.”
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 29: Things We Love
Let’s get friendly on Day 29. Time to share some of your go-to favorites in books, websites, webinars, conferences…whatever you consider crucial in your daily(ish) writing
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 30: Checklist Check
Day 30 of the 31 Day Author Platform Challenge…Today, make one clean (re)list of all the things still to be done.
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 31: We Made It!
Day 31 is when we check our progress! Let’s check our current numbers against where we started. Did we meet our goals? Did we try?
Keep reading31 Day Author Platform Challenge Bonus Day: Please and Thank You
For today’s Bonus Day, join me in tagging friends that have helped you along the way in improving your reach and attaining your growth goals.
Keep reading31-Day Author Platform Challenge: Prep Day
Getting Ready to Rumble
Before we start the challenge, grab a fresh new notebook in order to create a new “31-Day Author Platform Challenge To Do List.” Or, create a new Word Doc or new To Do list on your phone (the Notes or Keep apps work well). You’ll want ONE separate and central place to keep track of all your thoughts, notes, and To Dos this month–of which there may be many!
Any task you don’t need to tackle because you’ve already completed, you can come back to this list and pick something to work on. Any day you complete in a flash or any time you have a few extra minutes, come back to this list.
Also, I wanted to clarify some things. I am making an assumption here, that you not only KNOW what an author brand is, but that you HAVE or are WORKING ON one. I’m not defining or going into detail on what an author brand means here because that’s a whole different can o’ worms. But when I talk about your personal brand, I am referring to how you present yourself to the public, how you are seen/viewed by readers, agents, editors, fellow writers/artists, and anyone else paying attention. Scribe Media describes it this way: “Book positioning tells someone why your book is the right book for them. Author branding tells someone why they should read your book, as opposed to anyone else’s.” I’d add to it by saying it tells people why to follow you vs someone else.
That means my assumption is you have already thought about how you are presenting your unique qualities, the ones that “brand” you as a person, as a writer, or artist. (To not confuse your brand with your image, scroll halfway down this blog post: https://bitsykemper.com/2016/03/10/creating-an-author-platform/.)
For help on creating an author brand, find great posts by Rocket Expansion, NY Book Editors, and PW here, here, and here.
If you DON’T have a brand, or haven’t given it a thought, now is the time! Everything we do over the next 31 days will be supporting it. But if yours isn’t defined yet, don’t panic and bail. What you do over the next 31 days can help you figure out and hone your brand so you’ll be better prepared when you’re ready to define it.
For now, just be thinking about your brand as an author (NOT your book’s brand or image). We’ll spend time working on it throughout the month.
Recap:
- Get a new notebook to capture To Do list
- Refer to To Do and complete and item on list when you have an easy day or free time
- If you aren’t familiar with the term “author brand” check out the three provided links
- Don’t use lack of a solid brand as an excuse to bail (nice try, though)
- Have your author brand in the back of your mind at all times this month
Now get some rest and be ready to start on the first of the month!
Thank you, great idea! I always do better in a group or with a challenge!
Yessss!! #same!
Ok, I’ll take the challenge. Got my fresh notebook ready to roll.
Yeeaaay!
Serendipity! Right place, right time. Will follow 31-day challenge. Need it!
Fantastic! Looking fwd to keeping each other honest lol
Thanks Bitsy. This challenge looks really interesting
Looking forward to cheering each other on!