Thursdays with Amanda: How To Grow Your Author Platform…2012 blog posts
Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. Every Thursday, she posts about growing your author platform. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent.
Assuming that the world will NOT end and that 2013 is YOUR YEAR to get things together and develop (or further develop) that coveted author platform everyone keeps talking about, I figured I’d put together an index of all my posts this past year.
The catch? You aren’t allowed to casually skim it. I want you reading the ones that jump out at you while you come up with a goal list of
10 Things I WILL Do in 2013 to Grow My Author Platform
2013 is your year! Make the most of it. Your career will thank you.
How it all started
- How Big Should a Writer’s Platform Be? (I should really update these numbers! But still, it’s good info to know!)
- You Don’t Have to Do It All
Growing Platform Through Articles
Growing Platform Through Blogging
Growing Platform Through Conferences
- Promoting Yourself at a Conference
- Promoting Yourself at a Conference, Part 2
- Promoting Yourself at a Conference, Part 3
- Promoting Yourself at a Conference, Part 4
Growing Platform Through Ebooks
Growing Platform Through Facebook
- Using Facebook as an Author
- How to Use Facebook as an Unpublished Writer
- How to Use Facebook as a Published Author
Growing Platform Through Goodreads
Growing Platform Through Pinterest
Growing Platform Through Public Speaking
Growing Platform Through Tumblr
Growing Platform Through Twitter
Growing Platform Through Video
Growing Platform Through Websites
- Why Unpublished Authors Need Websites
- Website Content for Unpublished Authors
- Linking to Social Media
- How to Create Your Own Masthead
Misc
- How to Host a Successful Book Giveaway
- Utilizing Your Home Town
- How to Promote Old Titles
- What I Did to Grow MY Platform
So what’s on YOUR to-do list for 2013? I want to hear some of your goals!
24 Comments
I get so confused with posting on different blogs. I showed up as DisneyMuse instead of : Donna Marie. Same person!
QUICK QUESTION, Amanda: I was skimming each post and on Feb.9th you mentioned that the following week you were going to post about Blogging as a Fiction Writer. It wasn’t in the February archives and not on this compiled list. Did you end up deciding against the topic or perhaps post it at a much later date? Thanks!
Thanks for catching that. I must have missed it when I was compiling these…I added it above!
Amanda, what a great idea–everything I need in one place. This is definitely going to require some devoted time with a cup of tea to relax and ponder my platform goals for 2013. Thanks for the inspiration.
It will be time well spent, I promise 🙂
Thank you, Amanda! This is very timely for me, actually since, over the past month, I’m finely developing a blog. It was only last week when I was here doing a search for all your posts on blogging, but only a handful came up. Now I have what I need! Yay! 🙂
Glad this is helpful, Donna!
What a great list of posts. Thanks for posting this!
Thanks for reading!
Ah, my homework assignment: “You aren’t allowed to casually skim it. I want you reading the ones that jump out at you while you come up with a goal list of 10 Things I WILL Do in 2013 to Grow My Author Platform” Seriously I am working on my 2013 goals so this is a great place to dive in. Thank you so much for this list. Merry Christmas!
Let us know what you come up with, Jean!
Ok began my homework so here I go with my initial goals for 2013;
1. Update blog and webpage. Possibly redesign and evaluate a move to wordpress. Add more content to attract readers and to support my brand.
2. Explore and try to utilize Goodreads and Tumblr.
3. Update and distribute Speaker one page marketing sheet. Continue to lead at least two retreats and present at least 4 times in 2013.
4. Attend writing and spirituality conference for networking and knowledge building: Write to Publish in June, Indy Christian Writers in Nov. Spiritual Directors International and Richard Rohr in April.
5. Write and submit at least 4 articles and/or guest posts and seek guest posts to my blog
6. Increasing marketing efforts for self published book, The Great Communicator
7. Continue to post on blog four times a week and on writer’s blog on my monthly rotation.
8. Spend time on writing and polishing a book proposal and one sheet to take with me to conferences.
Ok now that I have made these public, I guess I have to work on them, right?
Thanks Amanda for getting me started on these. I needed the push.
Amanda, this is awesome! One of my goals for this weekend, actually, is to work on a marketing/platform plan for 2013, so now I’m pumped to re-read your articles as I get to work on that. Thanks for the info!
Great timing! I hope it helps 🙂
Thanks for the challenge. Guess I have some goal-setting to do! Yippee!
It’ll be worth it, Anne 🙂
Thanks for all the great advice and inspiration. My platform improved greatly in 2012 thanks to your insights. Hoping 2013 will bring more of the same, starting with that masthead ….
Oh, that’s so GREAT to hear! Very cool. Keep up the good work, Laura 🙂
I love Thursdays.
Okay, I’m so glad you asked that question because I’ve been needing to figure out what I’m doing for about the last 3 months. This made me sit down and think about it. Here are my top goals for next year:
1. Blog – Broaden my audience- 20ish guest posts on mom blogs NOT related to homeschooling. (preschool/reading/motherhood/budget/homemaking etc.)
2.FB- Research how to use FB more effectively. Post 2-4x/wk.
3. Blog – pray for opportunity for consistent posting on HS conglomerate blog
4. Blog – include humor in every post – part of what I offer that’s different
5. Blog – invite 5-10 guest posters to my blog
6. Craft – deconstruct/analyze everything Jenny B. Jones has ever written because she’s astoundingly brilliant
7. (if time) Pinterest – create board for books we read during year
Wow, that’s a lot. But you asked. 🙂 Now I’ve said it, so I better go print this out and stick it on my wall. And go reread all your posts. BTW, the moneysavingmom blog has a great series on increasing blog readership, for those who are interested. I’m off to reread that too. Thanks as always.
Lots of blog work! And that’s great. It’s better to focus than to spread your efforts to too many things. This looks like a great list!
Wow. This is awesome—so many great links, all in one post. Thank you, Amanda! Your articles have been the best.
Thanks for the kind words, Adam. And thanks for reading!
Amanda, I’d like to guest blog more. This month, I’ve had a guest post twice on the same website, and although I haven’t seen a spike, I can tell my traffic has gone up. Writing and submitting a guest post usually gets shuffled to the bottom of the to-do list, but I’m going to bump it up a few numbers. Thanks for the list.
Sounds good to me! A great plan, Meghan.