How to Build an Author Platform as a Novelist

In Three Easy Steps

Hello friends!

Am I really done with my book? No! I forgot to put my citations in Chicago MoS format, lol. Even though I specifically tell readers to do so in my actual book. Agents, they’re just like us.

Anyway, as I’ve been transitioning from the writing phase of this process to the on ramp to the marketing and promotion phase, I’ve been thinking a lot about my platform, and how I can use it to promote this book. I have dozens of ideas, some of which will happen and others of which will work. But I’ve also been thinking about what it would be like if I were promoting a novel. What would I do differently? If I didn’t already have a platform, how would I build one?

The party line is that you don’t need a platform in place to sell a novel. And that is true. I look at a novelist’s platform to see if it’s there, not to check it off like a requirement. It’s a bonus if it’s there! And I don’t mean that like I’m saying it’s a bonus but really it’s a requirement and everyone you know who sold their novel secretly has 100k followers on instagram and you don’t. It’s really not like that, I promise.

If you’re interested in building a platform as a novelist, and/or to expand your non-fiction platform to include fiction (yours or others), here’s where to start.

Talk about what you like

What’s your favorite genre? Mysteries? SF/F? Romantasy? Talk about what you like on whatever platform you want. Where do you naturally gravitate online? Twitter? Threads? Instagram? TikTok? Go there. Post about what you’re reading, even if it’s an old book you found in that beach condo that you meant to read fifteen years ago. Someone else will have read it and maybe that will start a conversation. Maybe it’ll get someone else to read it and they’ll come back to you in six weeks and say hey, I just read that too! Wasn’t it great/horrible? You don’t have to talk about the. hot. book., especially if you haven’t read it and don’t want to. You should talk about what you like so you can connect with other people who like the same things. Do this often enough and someone will think oh, I like what this person has to say, and they’ll follow you. And when your novel comes out they’ll think oh! that person I like so much online wrote a book! I can’t wait to get it! It takes years to build that, and authenticity is vital, but it can really, really work.

Talk about other people

When you talk about what you like, don’t forget to mention the writer in your posts. This is obvious, of course, but it’s also a kind of corollary to the above. You want to talk about other people’s writing instead, or in addition to, talking about your own. You don’t build an author platform buy posting BUY MY BOOK BUY MY BOOK BUY MY BOOK. You can absolutely promote anything you want on your feeds, and you can share things about your writing journey—rejections, acceptances, road blocks, triumphs. But many people think that the most important word in Self-Promotion is SELF. In fact, it’s PROMOTION. Talk about other people’s work—short form, long form, things you loved, things that made you think, things that made you think of other things—and you’ll start conversations and build connections.

Yes, you can say negative things about books on the internet. You don’t have to like everything! You can be honest! But DO NOT TAG THE AUTHOR IN A NEGATIVE REVIEW OR POST. Like, seriously. They don’t want to know and they don’t need to know. Talk amongst yourselves. Don’t bring the author into it.

Make friends so you can influence people

We all follow people online that we have no memory of following. They’re not famous. They’re not IRL friends. They’re just people online that we followed because they said something funny or smart or interesting and we clicked the button and forgot about it. Now they’re in our feeds and we have a parasocial relationship with them and sometimes we say “my friend on the internet said…” when that friend is really some random funny person we followed four years ago and it’s too complicated to explain that in conversation.

AND THEN, when that friend on the internet writes a book, especially a novel, you’ll think omg my friend wrote a book! I’m going to check it out! You might repost it, too. You might go to their local reading or take a cute picture of the book on your coffee table. You aren’t doing this necessarily because the author told you to. You’re doing it because you want to support someone you like on the internet. You might be reminded to do it by their posts, but you won’t go out and buy the book just because they posted BUY MY BOOK. Build relationships online and those people will naturally want to support you.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. OK, Kate, I’ll just be naturally charming and funny on the internet, a place I have already been for many years, and I’ll just naturally build up millions of followers and everyone will buy my book. Easy peasy. Lol. I know it’s not that easy. I know you’ve probably been trying to do something like this for years. But you probably haven’t been thinking about how your posts build connections, not just blast your thoughts or ~some personal news~ around the world. You’re probably viewing your posts more as:

And not:¹

Talk to people online the way you want to be talked to. Start the conversations you want to be part of. Yes, it feels like a popularity contest, and it’s not not that. Your goal here isn’t to get two million followers and kick back on your yacht. I mean if you do, that’s cool. But you’d be surprised how effective you can be with 500 or 5000 or 15,000, depending on the platform. These things take time, so you want to start now, not once you’ve gotten your agent or signed the deal. And you can actually use your “platform” as a place to goof off when you need a break, or learn about new books from other people, or follow along in a fandom. Yanno, all the things we’ve been doing on the internet for like 30 years now. You’re probably building your platform already, and you don’t even realize it.

It takes a long time. There’s no finish line. There’s no specific formula or process that equals X posts /hour = 100x followers. If you come at it authentically—as much as you want to be so in a public space—people will join you authentically. And that’s what people want most in a novelist, imho.

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Happy Book Birthday (yesterday) to Joanna Ebenstein for her amazing book MEMENTO MORI: The Art of Contemplating Death to Live a Better Life.²

Have you ever wanted The Artist’s Way but about contemplating your own mortality? Well do I have a book for you! This thoughtful, surprising, affirming, informative book will guide you through your own thoughts about death so you can live a better life.

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ONE LAST THING, friends. I never do this, but if you like Agents & Books, won’t you tell a friend? I’d love to reach more writers and you can help me do that.

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Happy building, friends. Graphic design is my passion, after writing.

XOXOXOX,

Kate

1. Omg you have no idea how long it too me to flip that freaking emoji

2. Affiliate link. Proceeds go to charity.