Tear-Out Sheets: Author Platform Publicity Plan
Step 1: Your Author Website: Home Central
Know your audience needs and your own value and plan your author site accordingly.
Choose an existing author site model to customize for your needs.
Map out your landing page site strategy.
List your site pages and create a tab for each.
Write content for each page.
Determine your website design.
Publish your website—go live.
Track and measure the users of your website.
Step 2: Blog
Create and link your blog to your home base website.
Choose a model and customize your blog accordingly.
Post original-content blogs consistently at least once a week.
Add reposts of others’ blogs or articles with a comment to add blog frequency.
Write from the perspective of what your audience needs.
Promote your blog.
Learn more about your audience preferences on your blog with Google Analytics.
Step 3: Twitter
Sign up for Twitter.
Use your consistent author brand name and photo.
Construct your audience-centric author profile.
Emulate model tweets of others.
Connect your Twitter account with your blog.
Create and automate your Twitter posts.
Respond to your Twitter comments.
Follow others to create a broad network.
Step 4: Google
Create a Google+ Account.
Include your friends, associates, and clients. Find people to follow and repost others’ works.
Try to post once a day; automate posts to save time. You can duplicate Facebook and Twitter posts.
Post when you have a new blog entry and/or announcement.
Use Google Alerts and What’s Hot to find articles to post.
Join Google Authorship.
Step 5: Facebook
Create a personal profile.
Keep your author photo and name consistent across your author platform.
Write your profile bio for public eyes.
For your personal profile, keep as friends only family and those close to you.
Create and customize a book Page consistent with your book website.
Post updates and events to your book Page without advertising.
Respond to comments on your book Page.
Encourage Likes on your book Page.
Join Facebook groups with common interests.
Step 6: LinkedIn
Join LinkedIn.
Optimize your author brand profile with photo, name, and keywords consistent with all parts of your author platform.
Upload your address book contacts into LinkedIn.
Grow your contacts list and post updates.
Join groups and post your news.
Seek joint book-marketing opportunities.
Step 7: Personal Appearances
Organize your subject matter into teachable lists.
Plan your mix of live and online personal appearances in advance of your publication date.
Create and deliver a short course or series of courses.
Give live talks.
Attend industry conferences.
List your personal appearances in your media kit on your websites and all parts of your author platform.
Step 8: Article Bank, Repurposing Content
Create an article bank of 500-word original articles.
Include your byline description with your name, photo, and book titles listed.
Create articles that repurpose portions of and outtakes from your book.
Publish articles on your blog and sites and get permission to publish these on blogs and sites of people in your network.
Submit original articles to large and small publications and article directories.
Repurpose original material into spin-offs for publications addressing various audiences.
Work to get quoted in others’ articles and on others’ websites.
Blitz the web with as many articles as possible with your byline, which should mention your name and book title, especially near the time of your book launch.
Step 9: Audio
Practice recording yourself with a headset.
Post the best audio clip on your author website.
Pitch local and national radio shows for interviews.
Find podcasters in your niche for interviews.
Create your own podcast.
Step 10: Video
Practice and videotape a short author interview about your book.
Videotape all talks and instruction.
Tag videos carefully with keywords for searchability. Include your book title and URLs.
Create a short book trailer video.
Upload your book trailer to YouTube, Vimeo, and other video sharing sites.
Create a YouTube channel and upload all your author/book videos and grow over time to include related videos of others for cross-promotion.
Connect YouTube and Vimeo to all your book and author websites, social networks, and author platform locations.
Step 11: Book Website
Create a book website in addition to your author website built during Step 1.
Use your book title as your URL.
Showcase a large photo of your book cover on the landing page.
List your book’s back-cover copy in short, succinct points on the landing page.
Place a Buy Now button next to the book, linked to Amazon.
Create pages beyond your landing page.
Include a link back to your author site.
Step 12: Amazon’s Author Toolbox
Join Amazon’s Author Central.
Create your Author Central page and keep it updated.
Upload photos and videos to your Author Central page.
Cross-link to all your online locations.
Solicit as many book reviews as possible from colleagues and Top Reviewers.
Join and participate regularly in Amazon Customer Communities.
Create Listmania lists to link your book to similar titles.
Step 13: Reviews
Ramp up your outreach to potential reviewers the minute you deliver your final manuscript to your publisher.
Three months prior to publication, send out galley proofs to reviewers.
Send out free copies to potential reviewers as soon as your book is published.
Review others’ books positively and let the authors know you did.
Join or use all of your group memberships as support systems for reviews.
Ask audience and colleagues to post positive comments specifying things about your book that helped them.
Join review sites. Find and query book review blogs.
Connect all information together on your author website.
Step 14: Launch: Book Parties and Virtual Tours
Plan your launch to include a live book party and a virtual tour.
Send invitations two months in advance to give media time to schedule coverage.
Plan your virtual tour a couple of months before your book is published.
Create schedules for the launch party and virtual book tour to coincide with your publication date.
Post every aspect of your launch to your social networks and sites.
Query for guest blog spots and interviews, and create multiple virtual appearances.
Try to get reviews on prominent book blog sites.
Promote your book tour on all of your online locations.
On all guest blog posts, include your byline and a Buy button for your book for easy purchase.
Enjoy and celebrate every step of the way during your launch!