Authors and Writers: Creating an Online Presence

So you’ve finished a book. The hardest part is over right? Now it’s time to enter the magical world of publishing! But wait! You’re an unknown! You have zero presence online!

If you’re wanting to self-publish, or even traditionally publish you can’t just focus on the writing aspect. The writing and publishing industry today has been getting increasingly competitive as self-publishing and indie publishing companies have become easier-to-access platforms. So mastering an online presence has become crucial to the success of writers.

For this week's article, I wanted to focus on a few simple ways you can master your online presence without losing too much precious writing time.

Photo by Paige Cody on Unsplash

Mastering The Schedule

To start, you’ll want to master your calendar. Through time-blocking or extensive planning try to give yourself a few free periods to work on advanced preparations. By this, I mean spending time preparing social posts and such.

I’ve started spending one day out of the week preparing all of my social posts in advance so I am not scrambling to get them ready on the day of and let me say — game-changing. Especially using Buffer, an online tool that allows you to prepare posts for Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and more all in one place. You can create a post, adjust it according to each social media platform's standards, and schedule it to post at a specific time and date.

Now that we have a tool for advanced preparations, let's look more into post-prep and other platforms.

Photo by Fiona Murray on Unsplash

Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

As a writer, it’s important to have a social media presence, and the top three to be on are Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. I personally have mostly been working on Instagram, but now I’ve been branching out to Twitter and Facebook. The important thing to remember is that not only do you need to post, but you also need to be active in interacting with writers and readers in online communities.

For creating posts, try using Canva!

Twitter

I do not have the best handle on using Twitter, but here is some advice I’ve learned in what little I’ve done with the app.

Keep it short and sweet. The character maximum on a post is way shorter than what can be done on Facebook or Insta. If you want to get noticed on Twitter honestly you need to post way more than you would ever post to other socials. Retweets, comments, and likes are very important too.

Use Images, Gifs, and Hashtags. Try to engage with followers, and be extremely active. This is why I don’t have the best handle on the app, since I don’t have unlimited time to spend retweeting and sitting on social media, but if you already use the platform a ton, try using it to your advantage as an author.

Facebook

Ok, Facebook is a bit of a mess nowadays, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a well-built platform for authors and writers to build a community on.

First, you will want to build an author page. Naming it something along the lines of “Your Name, Author” or just “Your Name” etc.

Next, you’ll want to consider the type of content you will be posting. Figure out your audience's age range, and the genre of your story, and make sure to not only do self-promo posts — post some pictures, quotes, and other things that inspire you.

Check out these two pages for some ideas: John Green and Joanna Penn.

Instagram

I love using Instagram! Instagram has an excellent community for readers and writers alike. The most important thing on Instagram is the use of keywords or hashtags and aesthetic and memorable pictures.

For hashtags, try to look up the best hashtags for your niche, from fantasy to romance there will be better hashtags to use for your type of postings. Don’t only post about your book! Try posting about books you’d recommend, what inspires you, quotes, and more.

For aesthetic pictures, I tend to get ideas from Pinterest on what shots of books would look nice and are eye-catching enough.

Finally, be sure to be active in the community! Be genuine in liking and commenting on other people’s posts, and interact with your followers often.

Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash

Author Website and Blogging

If an author site isn’t quite something you want to do, even having a linktree with an about section will do, but you can easily make a website for cheap and without much hassle using Wix or Squarespace. I use Wix, because you can have it up under a Wix domain name for free, and I link the website on all of my socials.

Using Wix, it's easy to set up a site using one of their Author Website templates and edit the words and pictures. The main things your author site will need are:

• About the Author

• Books/Work

• Contact

• Blog

For the blog, you can connect your Medium page to your Wix page so you can post here and it automatically posts to your website as well! Here is how.

Using Medium, it’s easy to make articles when you have free time and schedule them to post at a later date. I try to spend a day writing articles when I need a break from writing my books then schedule them to post once a week over the next few weeks.

Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash

In Conclusion

The most important thing to remember, put the same effort forth for one follower as you would for one hundred. It’s not just about a sales pitch, it's about building a community, sending the right message, and creating a positive space for readers and writers. So put effort into everything you post or say online.

It’s a lot of work to put in to build a presence online, but it’s worth it. I’ve made so many friends in the various writing communities online and met some really genuinely kind and motivational people. I hope I’ve been able to give back to the community by sharing what I learn in return.