31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 27: Best Advice

Posted in 31 day author platform challenge, Writer's Platform by bitsykemper

Now listen up…

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

We are on the homestretch! Today’s task is a snap; I mean, seeing as we’ve spent so much time on the Canva-type of programs we’re practically experts in graphic design.

Today, share your best piece of advice for your audience (is your audience writers? moms? YA readers? librarians?).

Feel free to add where you got the advice, how it changed things for you, and what you hope will happen by sharing it. (Speaking of which, Forbes has some ideas on how to go about making your posts more sharable.)

If you make it interactive, check out some advice on ways to get interactive posts noticed.

Or simply post the quote (with your social media handle/website) across your platforms.

Make it pretty, with images and animation. Sound effects optional. You’re getting good at this, right? (I sometimes spend so much time futzing around on Canva that I feel like I’m playing hooky from my WIP! Anyone else find themselves willingly jumping down that rabbit hole?)

Ask followers to share THEIR best advice.

Four days to go!

26May2023

31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 26: Baby Pix

Posted in 31 day author platform challenge, Writer's Platform by bitsykemper

Write, write, baby

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

To cleanse our frazzled brains from yesterday, for Day 26 we are taking a step back in time.

What age range are you writing for? Pull up some old files or photo albums (remember them?) and find some old baby pix of yourself at that age. Take a good look.

How cute are you?

What was going on then? Do you remember your mindset? Did you really understand as much as you thought you understood? At that age, what did you want more than anything? What did you need? Place yourself there for a moment.

This picture, this person, will remind you who you’re speaking to in your manuscripts and works-in-progress.

If it’s not too personal, I’d like you to post the pic, and tell followers about this person you are writing to.

For me, I’m writing to this little girl who was grossly unsupervised, the youngest of five kids in five years that got lost in the shuffle growing up being raised by a widowed dad that worked full time and tried (I think). When this little girl discovered Clifford the Big Red Dog after Aunt Carolyn sent her a book for her birthday, things changed. Sure, the main character being a young blonde girl that dressed in bright colors and shared the name Elizabeth helped draw me in because I “got” her.

But those fantastical adventures with a safe, caring guardian sent me to a world where I didn’t have to worry about my clothes being dirty or ill fitting, my shoes being worn out, my hair not being washed. I didn’t think about being hungry or not having money for gymnastics like everyone else. Nope.

With those books in my hand, I got to hang out with my friends Clifford and Mary Elizabeth for as long as I wanted to.

See that girl?

I write for her.

Tell me, and your followers, who you write for.

25May2023

31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 25: SEO

Posted in 31 day author platform challenge, Writer's Platform by bitsykemper

Over 5 and a half BILLION searches are processed a day just by Google alone. We need to find ways for our site and our books to get noticed!

I let you skate for a while with easy tasks. Today, Day 25, have a seat. 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.”

A good overview that explains how search engines work and what they look for (along with tips specific to WordPress but likely work on other sites) is here: https://aioseo.com/ultimate-wordpress-seo-guide/

Wouldn’t it be great if when someone typed in “children’s book author” and your name popped up in the top ten? One way of course is to have a website that has a million hits, which means you have a best-selling title or five. But there are ways to pad your website to up the chances a little bit.

The bad news is, I can’t tell you exactly what to do because we all have different sites and different focuses and reasons and audiences. But here are general guidelines the experts say to bear in mind:

Images and videos are better than simple text. It not only makes people stay at your website longer, it can up your name on image and video search queries. Caption your images!
Pick a scalable template or see if your web host will optimize your site for mobile devices.
Keep your website up to date. Regularly adding new content keeps readers coming back for more. It also improves SEO by showing search engines that your website is active and relevant.
Add internal links and make sure they’re current.
Use keywords repeatedly, such as in headers and in summaries (I have heard this doesn’t work as well as it used to though).
Simplify language and URLs if you can, so search engines know how to find you.

The best advice I can give you is to go back to your website host and check their FAQ for SEO. They are bound to offer specific steps you can take. Wish I had a plug-and-play answer for you (and myself)!

[Oh, and have you followed 10 new people yet?]

24May2023

31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 24: TIL Video

Posted in 31 day author platform challenge, Writer's Platform by bitsykemper

“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 helpful for long words and phrases you use over and over.

You don’t have to be on camera in your TIL vid if you don’t want. I’m not in mine!

Impress your friends (or at least your kids) by creating a custom macro!

What this shows is going to your Mac, clicking the Apple logo very top left, then System Settings, scrolling down to Keyboard in left column, then Keyboard Shortcuts Text replacements… isn’t it so much easier in video?

Now, anytime I type letters “apc” in a row it automatically types ’31-Day Author Platform Challenge’ for me. Try it for yourself creating any shortcut you want–your home address, email address, whatever you find tedious. Impress your kids by telling them you “created a macro”!

If you don’t know how to record your computer screen (I didn’t until this video!) I can help you there too. This link from PC Mag has step-by-step instructions for both Mac and pc.

Create your own TIL with literally anything. Maybe it’s that you learned where your keys are hiding.

Refreshers on creating great video content are on Day 16 and Day 19.

Have some fun.

Tag #31DayAuthorPlatformChallenge so we can see it!

[Aaaand..have you followed 10 new people yet?]

22May2023

31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 22: Let Me In

Posted in 31 day author platform challenge, Writer's Platform by bitsykemper

Getting Personal

Today we’re getting personal.

The author platform task is: Create a short-ish blog or FB post sharing a personal story.

There are tons of experts that say getting personal makes you more likable and draws readers/followers in. (They also caution against sharing too much.) You’ve been spending all this time with your readers and followers, let’s allow them in a little more. Lots of ways to do that without posting your grocery list. Share insight into why you are a writer (is it in your heart?), what makes you want to write (thinking about the reader?), what makes your day as an author (fan mail!), or even what you hate about being an author (“oh you write children’s books, how cute”).

Maybe it’s a mom moment you’d like to share, frustrating or fun, like:

In that one, I had the chance to tack on another tweet and ask moms if they felt my pain, but didn’t think of it at the time. Look for chances to ask followers why they in turn do in that scenario. Ask them to reply. Engage with them (every one of them) when they do.

Use this task as an opp to break out of the mold and do something different today. At a minimum, use the tweet to add additional commentary as you post the link to the blog you just wrote.

It doesn’t have to be book related! Shed some insight into who you are so people feel like they now you (there’s plenty of stuff you can recycle from your bio page, right?). Suggestions:

A story about your kids or your own childhood
A funny anecdote (like when I wore my pants and yes shirt inside out)
A thought-provoking observation (“Have you noticed…”)
A personal goal you’re working towards
A challenge that you’re facing
A milestone reached
A lesson learned
A small thing you’re grateful for, like cold pizza for breakfast (maybe that’s just me)

Recap: Share a personal story. End with request to hear followers’ stories. Converse with them (all) when they reply.

[Oh, and before I forget, have you followed 10 new people yet?]

21May2023

31-Day Author Platform Challenge Day 21: Mutual Support

Posted in 31 day author platform challenge, Writer's Platform by bitsykemper

[Before we start patting each other’s back, have you followed 10 new people yet?]

Today’s author platform task has two parts. First, you need to post the results of your poll. It can probably be automated with Buffer or whatever tool you use, but consider going back one by one to personalize each post. This engagement is the interactive part I tend to forget or gloss over. It’s an ideal time to start or continue a conversation! Take advantage of it. Ask people what they think of results, if they are surprised, if there was an option you should have included but didn’t, etc. Keep this engagement ball a-rolling.

I realize this will take some time, so when you’re done, today’s official task will be an easy one.

Day 21 is celebrating or sharing a friend’s success.

Let’s get friendly. Time to celebrate others. You can:

Share a friend’s website or book launch information
Recommend a fave website or resource you use regularly
Offer a link with details explaining why it’s helpful to you
Offer detail on a helpful site or resource

This is different than the #writerslift we did last week; although it does lift up a fellow author, it’s more a sharing of information vs a shout-out. It’s timely (compared to saying “thanks” which can happen any time), and newsworthy (it’s something you are reporting about).

Feel free to send several tweets that celebrate a bunch of people’s work – but keep it to one person per tweet unless it’s something they did together. No sense clogging up feeds with group tags.

Recently I found a free template for a book proposal, created and offered by a lit agency. Yes, it was a template for them so their submissions were less sucky, but hey, free resource. I made a post and included the link along with a shout-out of appreciation to the agent and the house (tagging them both), and that tweet got a pretty high number of likes and RTs—including the agent herself as well as the agency.

Will that agent want to take me on? No, she doesn’t even rep kidlit, it’s not why I did it. The point was to help others. It’s good karma to boot. I got a bunch of honest interactions and appreciations from it. Goodness comes from well-intended posts.

What I didn’t do at the time was share the post across all my social media. Lesson learned (and one reason I created this challenge!). I hope to cross-promote every tweet, or most, from now on.

Anyway, I love seeing posts from authors supporting authors, don’t you? Some authors are really good at this! It projects such a positive image.

Recap: Today, uplift someone by sharing a resource and thanking the person that offers it. Or highlight a friend’s small business, service, etc. Consider creating the post on a Canva-like site to make it pretty. Post it on all your media.

Easy.

Just make sure the timing is good. Don’t post it right after or right before another big post like I did at the time, or it’ll get lost. Had I waited on that book proposal post, until after the dust settled on the other popular tweet, it probably would have doubled the amount of likes.