Comments on: When is the Best Time to Start an Author Platform? https://authorkristenlamb.com/2017/04/when-is-the-best-time-to-start-an-author-platform/ Author, Blogger, Social Media Jedi Tue, 03 Apr 2018 15:18:47 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.8 By: Tracey Dyck https://authorkristenlamb.com/2017/04/when-is-the-best-time-to-start-an-author-platform/#comment-91597 Tue, 03 Apr 2018 15:18:47 +0000 https://authorkristenlamb.com/?p=21552#comment-91597 Love this! I’m new to your blog, so I’m excited to dig into the archives.

I think I’m in the Silent Years. Still sowing in some areas, but generally speaking, I’m in a place of slow but steady progress–and looking forward to when the results start to show! 🙂

]]> By: Kristen Lamb https://authorkristenlamb.com/2017/04/when-is-the-best-time-to-start-an-author-platform/#comment-76712 Mon, 05 Jun 2017 19:42:53 +0000 https://authorkristenlamb.com/?p=21552#comment-76712 In reply to Belladonna Took.

Keep your blog. Rename it Valerie Landon’s Blog (AKA Belladonna Took) and sally forth. I recommend saving a crap ton of heartache and just get a copy of Rise of the Machines. A few bucks to save a TON of hassle because I take you step-by-step how and what to do even when you’ve made a mess. I ALSO have a blogging class coming up. Blogging for Authors and that is also an excellent option.

And give yourself a break! There is a learning curve and at least ur brave/smart enough to ask questions. Great to meet you!

]]> By: Belladonna Took https://authorkristenlamb.com/2017/04/when-is-the-best-time-to-start-an-author-platform/#comment-76711 Mon, 05 Jun 2017 19:33:56 +0000 https://authorkristenlamb.com/?p=21552#comment-76711 Hi, Kristen, great advice, thank you! But could you help me figure my way out of a hole I may have dug? I’ve always “been a writer”. I’ve written a zillion poems and short stories, and a couple of novels. But aside from journalistic and technical writing I’ve never been published. I don’t know whether I could have been, I think some of my stuff might be quite good, but I really suck at marketing myself, writing to agents, dealing with rejection … argh.

Anyway, several years ago I started my blog, mainly to help me break out of paralyzing perfectionism and just get into the habit of writing. It’s worked to some effect, but I’ve not been regular at posting; I start posts and work on them but don’t hit the publish button as often as I should. So after reading this post of yours I realize I must, must, MUST change that and start posting regularly, even if it’s not perfect.

However, that hole I mentioned … When I started my blog I wasn’t sure what I’d be writing about, or whether I’d want friends and family members to know I was writing about them, so I used a pen name, and I’ve become quite fond of it, but I can’t publish books under the name Belladonna Took.

Now I’m ready to put my big girl panties on. I’m working on a novel that is unashamedly not Great Literature, but that I think might be a fun read that I’m pretty sure hasn’t been written before – and it’s the first in a projected alphabet series, so if it sells it’ll keep me happily occupied for quite a few years. I’ll be pitching to about 12 agents and editors who are looking for general/women’s fiction in about six weeks at the Pacific Northwest Writers Con, and I’ll be ready. BUT … the blog. How do I use it as a platform? I have only 300 followers, of whom maybe 20-30 are real humans who engage, so not enough to constitute a solid readership base.

As I see it, I have a few options:
1. Start a new blog in my personal name and write writerly things intended to make people think of me as a writer.
2. Rename my current blog, and/or abandon Belladonna Took and come out of the closet as Valerie Landon, and keep writing the way I already do, but more regularly, and sometimes about writing.
3. Start a new blog in my protagonist’s name, writing about things that interest her. This isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds … She isn’t me and she’s not living my life, but there are parallels – I tend to draw from real life. This is the option I find most interesting and potentially amusing, frankly … BUT I’m worried that it might interfere with the process of actually writing the books.

Your thoughts? I’d be so grateful.

]]> By: Liberty On the Lighter Side - (LOLS) https://authorkristenlamb.com/2017/04/when-is-the-best-time-to-start-an-author-platform/#comment-75264 Tue, 09 May 2017 18:27:19 +0000 https://authorkristenlamb.com/?p=21552#comment-75264 Brilliant, I wish there was a love button. I’m in that slow and early stage and now I feel encouraged to press on faithfully. Was only saying to my DH yesterday about how I absolutely love writing but feel daunted about how I’d cope if I spend half a lifetime working at it with a possibility that I wouldn’t bear any fruit at the end. I guess there are no guarantees but in the meanwhile I’m just gonna keep watering those roots!

]]> By: jamestarantin https://authorkristenlamb.com/2017/04/when-is-the-best-time-to-start-an-author-platform/#comment-75114 Fri, 05 May 2017 06:11:02 +0000 https://authorkristenlamb.com/?p=21552#comment-75114 Thanks for sharing this blog with us.this is related to the author life.how they are struggle in their life.JAMES TRANTIN is one of them.James Tarantin is a philosopher, game architect, American businessman, speaker, and author.His family heritage begins with his paternal grandparents who after losing all their children were told by a doctor that they will never be able to have a child. Despite this awful decree, no ceiling would defer their dreams.

]]> By: Kalpanaa https://authorkristenlamb.com/2017/04/when-is-the-best-time-to-start-an-author-platform/#comment-74666 Mon, 24 Apr 2017 03:22:03 +0000 https://authorkristenlamb.com/?p=21552#comment-74666 I was directed to your absolutely wonderful blog by John Holt – https://thesoundofonehandtyping.wordpress.com and I’m so glad I popped over. I loved your writing style and the advice given. The farming metaphor is gorgeous.

]]> By: Patti Rae https://authorkristenlamb.com/2017/04/when-is-the-best-time-to-start-an-author-platform/#comment-74656 Sun, 23 Apr 2017 19:41:52 +0000 https://authorkristenlamb.com/?p=21552#comment-74656 Thank you so much, Kristen! The gardening analogy you used in creating your social media platform really hit home for me. Tending, weeding, and planting a field – it was something I could relate to. The same nurturing process that I put into the new raspberries I just planted; weeding, feeding and cutting out the dead wood, so that in a year or two, I’ll have more berries than I need, is the same process in creating a author platform. I get that now. I even wrote my first blog post, but haven’t posted it yet. I’m still figuring that part out.
Again, thanks for keeping it real and honest, and being there for all us who are still trying to figure out how to grow and succeed in this sometimes scary industry. People like you help people like me keep going. :0)

]]> By: Grace Robinson https://authorkristenlamb.com/2017/04/when-is-the-best-time-to-start-an-author-platform/#comment-74628 Sun, 23 Apr 2017 01:20:10 +0000 https://authorkristenlamb.com/?p=21552#comment-74628 Thank you for the encouraging post! I’ve been blogging and building my platform for over 4 years now, just self published two books, and am still not famous or rich. But I have more followers than I started out with, so I know I’m on the right track!

]]> By: Jenna aka passportenvy https://authorkristenlamb.com/2017/04/when-is-the-best-time-to-start-an-author-platform/#comment-74536 Thu, 20 Apr 2017 17:51:35 +0000 https://authorkristenlamb.com/?p=21552#comment-74536 In reply to Kristen Lamb.

Kristen… A. I love you… B. I MUST do your blogging for authors class… but I am not around that day. Will you be doing another over the summer? Also I was a travel writer for a long time and I have created a conglomerate blog of travel advice and stuff for Historical fiction should I separate these?

xoxo your biggest fan Jenna *unverified

]]> By: P. J. Lazos https://authorkristenlamb.com/2017/04/when-is-the-best-time-to-start-an-author-platform/#comment-74503 Thu, 20 Apr 2017 01:09:13 +0000 https://authorkristenlamb.com/?p=21552#comment-74503 Love the positivity you exude, Kristen. I had started blogging in 2012 with a partner and as a result of creative differences, after almost three years of blogging she locked me out of our WordPress blog. At that point we had a couple thousand followers and I felt as though I’d worked for everyone of them so was really disheartened to have no access and not be able to tell them where they could find me. What-ev, right? I dusted off and started again in 2015. I’m almost at about 500 followers, another long, slow slog to get there, but I notice that I’m gaining followers a little more quickly lately and developing some really lovely relationships. So I guess I’m a poster child for slow and steady and am relieved to hear that the strategy of relationships over chasing big numbers will eventually pay off. Thanks for sharing your successes as well as your failures.

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