31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 5: Website homey

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

[Hey there–before we start, have you followed 10 new people yet?]

Bringing it home

Welcome to Day 5! Today we are going to apply your brand to your website. We’ll start with your homepage. Let’s tidy up the house so we are proud when company comes over. We’re first looking at your home page because you only get one chance to make a first impression.

Your homepage:

Open your website. View it with fresh eyes, as if you were someone that doesn’t know you, and is there for the first time. As far as the big picture, do you see an author brand? Would a stranger see it? Is your site a visual mess, or is it a place someone would want to stay and linger? Take notes on what needs to change.

Take closer inventory. What is the first specific thing people see and feel? Take notes on the following:

When someone sees it, do they get an immediate sense of who you are—but more importantly, is it welcoming?
Does it represent the current you, and your brand?
Are the colors right? Is font readable? Is there enough whitespace?
Is it current? As in when was your last post or update? How would they know?
How old is your bio pic?
Is every subheading correct, necessary, and relevant?
Do you have clearly marked Contact info and links to social media?

RIGHT AWAY, get working on anything that needs fixing. Make notes in that new notebook or document on any work you still need done. Give yourself a deadline to complete it. Even if you end up needing to push the deadline out, give yourself one. Trust me (and science!), it is more likely to happen when you hold yourself accountable by being SMART (remember–Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.) If you don’t have time to add the icons and links to all your social media platforms today, write down you’ll figure out how to do it by Friday the 5th and complete it by Saturday May 6th.

If editing a website is above your pay grade and it’s not something you can immediately start on, contact someone today with SPECIFICS on what you would like them to do for you. Not “help me with my homepage” but “change the colors on the homepage, update my contact info, and remove this image.” Give them a (reasonable) deadline too – or at least a timeframe.

I just got done assessing my homepage, and FWIW this is what I realized:

My colors were too juvenile so I changed them
I hate the random, ugly ads that are generated in the free version of WordPress that I use, so did what I’ve been thinking about doing for years: upgraded to the no-ad version. Not saying you need to! Just something I’ve wanted to do and finally did, whew
My “Upcoming Events” list was waaay too long so I shortened it and put stuff from 2020 on a diff page
The “long version” of my bio was, well, too long so I pared it down (it’s still too long, but progress…)
My tagline, held over from when I spent more time marketing than writing, feels dated, so I edited it
My formatting skills are horrendous but I cleaned up a little bit at the bottom (it’s still terrible but it’s good enough for now. I added it to my To Do list to fix later.
I added a “subscribe” button in the top right column — please sign up so you get emails on each daily task! (it’s now on the top right of every page)

I was able to handle all of it within about an hour.

Now it’s your turn.

Recap: Take a birds-eye view of your homepage. What needs updating, changing revising? Take note (literally) of larger things To Do and change what you can right now.

Let me know how it shakes out! Leave a comment below.

3May2023

31 Day Author Platform Challenge Day 3: Quote it

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

[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? 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 a meme (in PDF, JPG, PNG, HTML, XML, etc formats) is a static image. I use the terms interchangeably.

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.
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. The quote below is more on brand for me, and has softer URL.
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 in each platform to target each different audience with an interactive Q posted in the caption such as “What do you think?” or “What’s your take?” Remember, your FB audience, for example, might need the Q worded differently than your website audience. Yes, it takes more time to do that, but could be 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.

How long did it take you, start to finish? Leave a note in the comments.

That’s it! Day 3 complete!

13Apr2023

Bitsy’s 31-Day Author Platform* Challenge

Posted in 31 day author platform challenge by bitsykemper

woman overwhelmed with social media options — Photo by Dalila Dalprat on Pexels.com

I’m making an effort to up my social media presence. Who wants to join me?

I am going to spend the month of May doing one thing every day that will ripple across my social media outlets, to engage (if not educate and entertain) and grow my followers. Since many writers are introverts, I know marketing and promoting ourselves doesn’t come easily. Being asked to “up our social media presence” can feel like a trip to the dentist. While it’s easy to to put off or “get to later,” it’s really not that hard. We just have to do it. That’s why I created this challenge.

Sure, I’d like to have more followers, what author wouldn’t? I admit I’m way behind where I’ll like to be when my next book comes out. But building a list for potential book buyers is not the only reason I’m doing it. The years of Covid confinement have left me with lingering feelings of isolation, and I’m eager to (re)connect with people.

I’m doing it for me.

Sure, the best time to start building your platform was years ago. But the next best time is now.

Yep, time to get to it. I’ll have a short blog here detailing each task I’m doing, each day, so you can come join and learn along with me. The tasks all differ. Some are creating lists of ideas. Some are specific posts that’ll take 5 minutes to do. Others might take more work, but will still be manageable. I promise. I don’t have all day for this stuff—which is why I’m looking at small, daily steps. I am breaking the challenge down into 31 small-ish tasks that should all add up to making a decent difference. Sorta like eating an elephant one bite at a time. It’s a CHALLENGE to push us past our comfort zone. I think it will help if we cheer each other on along the way.

So, fellow author friends, whadday say?

Will you join in? Leave a message or sign up below to make sure you are committed! (Experts say you’re more willing to follow through on a commitment or challenge if you tell someone else about it. Saying your goal out loud, or posting it publicly, makes us feel more accountable. Do it. Do it.)

*For those unfamiliar with the term “author platform,” I can best describe it in a visual. Picture a group of people. Let’s say they are all authors. One person stands on a raised surface—it could be basically anything for better visibility; let’s say it’s a milk crate. That person is now a little taller than all the other authors around them. They stand out. You can spot them in a crowd. They are an author, on a platform.

You want to be the author that sticks out, that is noticeable in a crowd. You need a platform. In modern terms that means having a strong social media presence. It could be a solid group of Facebook followers (10K is minimum to be impressive these days)(yikes, right?), Instagram, Twitter, or any of the new ones popping up like Post, Mastodon, Discord, Clubhouse…the list goes on and on. It could also include people who subscribe to your newsletter or follow your website. These aren’t people that you blatantly scream BUY MY BOOK to, mind you, they are your friends, your support, your cheerleaders. And if they’ve been ignored for too long, they’ll move on to someone else. I don’t want to lose any more friends! In fact, I want to make more.

So I ask again…who wants to join?!