This is the Way

Last month, we witnessed the latest “Congress will shut down TikTok” hysteria. If you’re on the platform, your feed was inundated with posts ranging from angry attacks on our governing body to creators who wondered what they would do if tens of thousands of followers disappeared. And truthfully, I even posted a few videos on the subject because why not? However, my posts were similar to the ones I posted when a certain billionaire bought Twitter and then proceeded to run it into the ground faster than a wingless bird falling out of a tree. My posts were a reminder that we are all better off building our own audiences on our own platforms, away from the financially motivated clutches of social media networks.
Between these quakes in the social media landscape, it’s easy to get lulled into complacency and start viewing the social media platforms as the focal point instead of the tools they are. I’m not immune to this way of thinking. Last year, before the release of my fourth book, The Firefly Collective, I was using my blog and my newsletter to promote my work actively. But at some point, I strayed from the path. Maybe I was swamped and only had so much bandwidth, or maybe I was lured in by the neverending dopamine pulse of TikTok? Either way, my commitment to my strategy faltered. For the rest of the year, I worked relentlessly on different social media apps to increase my followers. But, to my surprise, it didn’t significantly affect the number of sales or page reads.

I continued like this for a few months, wandering in the social media wilderness. I posted regularly and made quality content, but the likes and engagement didn’t make a big difference in my book sales. Then I happened upon an article by Joann Westenberg. The article “The creator economy trap: why building on someone else’s platform is a dead end” hit me like a shot across the bow. It wasn’t that it was anything I didn’t already know; in fact, it was my mission statement from a little while back. But the article reminded me that I had lost my way. The article’s point was simple: if you were building your author business on someone else’s platform, you were vulnerable to algorithm changes, platforms shutting down, etc. You could go from having hundreds of thousands of followers to zero practically overnight. So, how are you supposed to protect your author business from such vulnerabilities?

The answer is simple. You build your own platform, so you don’t have to rely on theirs. The first step in building your platform is to create a website. This should be more than just a link-sharing service; it should be a comprehensive hub for everything you do. Share your Amazon links, and if you sell direct copies, set up an online store. Most importantly, use your website as the primary source for all news about your writing. Whether it’s updates on your latest novel, presale information, or upcoming events, ensure your website is the first place to share this news.
The next thing you should do is create a reader magnet. A reader magnet can be a novella, short story, or a bonus chapter from your latest book. Just be sure to make it relevant to your latest work or series. Then, make it available on your website in exchange for the visitor signing up for your email newsletter.

That’s the final piece of the pie: the email newsletter. Once a visitor signs up, this means they are interested in you. And, assuming the newsletter grows, you have an audience of people who are fans of you and the novels you write. What you do with a newsletter and how you build an audience is beyond the scope of this article. Fortunately, Tammi Labrecque has written an excellent book titled “Newsletter Ninja,” which is free to read on Kindle. I highly recommend it.

Now, just because you post content on your website and share it with the Newsletter audience doesn’t mean you need to abandon social media. It just means you treat it like the tool it is instead of the focal point. Once you create content for your website, use that content to populate your social media. However, the important thing is to focus on building your audience on your platform. If you get people who regularly visit your website to view your content and sign up for your newsletters, that is your audience, not an audience who is on an app and might happen to see your post, and also not an audience filtered by an algorithm. These are your die-hard fans who want to hear what you say and read your books. This direct and meaningful engagement with your audience through your website and email newsletter can make you feel connected and valued by your readers.

I admit I had lost my way in my quest to try different things. Now, I’m back on the path. As a recently famous Sci-Fi show would say, “This is the Way.”
Won’t you join me?

– Ryan