How to Build a Writer Platform on The Internet

Writers have a tough time in the publishing world. Financial crisis and cutbacks are making agents and publishers careful with their spending money. When a writer submitted a manuscript years ago, they stood a good chance of being read and published. Nowadays with the Internet, many people write books and submit. Money is tight so only a small percentage get through the door. The writer no longer writes, they have to market and promote themselves, even before they have written a page. Following other writers and communicating on a daily basis creates a strong platform.

An Internet platform for writers is something publishers look for, it indicates the writer has the ability to communicate and promote themselves. Many writers, published or unpublished use blogs as a base for their online portfolio. From the blog they link out to places such as Facebook, Twitter and other forums and networks.

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Social networking for writers plays an important role. Facebook and Twitter are two social playgrounds that can provide positive support.  You do have to becareful not to procrastinate and play there all day. The aim is to write, so do not waste too many hours chatting.

Facebook now provide pages and many authors have taken on a page to promote their books. Publishers encourage self promotion and this is an ideal way to gain sales.

For aspiring writers it is a great way to integrate into the world of authors. Making friends and supporting others is the ideal way to get noticed. One author became friends with someone on Twitter, they chatted on a daily basis. What the author didn’t know was that the other person was a Literary agent. The agent then took them on and found a publisher for the author’s book. So it pays to be professional and friendly.

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Blog directories are great for adding your link. Leaving a comment with a link back to your personal space is another way of leaving your calling card, without spamming.

If you don’t know how to do it, here is the code.

<a href=”http://the address of your blog”>I want this bit to be seen and clicked on </a>

<a href=”http://glynissmy.com/”>Author Glynis Smy </a>

Interview other writers. They in turn spread the post and gain you traffic and new followers. Agents and Publishers like to see you have a group of people keen to buy your book.

NaNoWriMo is a great way of joining other writers. It is a huge challenge site. Write a novel in 30 days. It is a 50,000 word challenge. There are some who say it is a waste of time, nothing comes of the work put into the novel. That is no longer the case. Many NaNo writers have been published. It is a way of showing a publisher you can meet a deadline.

To find an agent is a hard process. Preditors and Editors is a website that has found the good and highlight the bad in the business. One thing a writer must be wary of is running down agents. Should you get rejections it is wise to be professional about how you share the news. Agents visit author blogs. They might not be keen to read a rant about a colleague on your blog.

Blogger is a good way of setting up a basic platform. For $10 per year you can buy your domain name. So instead of www.glynissmy.blogspot.com I now have www.glynissmy.com. It goes further on the Google search engine and looks far more professional.