SPEAKER_00 0:00

Start speaking to your audience now. Start bringing them into the fold, so to speak. Start sharing your stories and your inspiration and your process because all of this is about finding your ideal reader, your ideal community. And a platform can be so many things.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Welcome to the Write It Scared podcast. I'm your host, Stacey Fraser, a formerly repressed creative soul, turned fiction writer, story editor, and author accelerator certified fiction book coach. At Write It Scared, we tell the truth about why writing a novel is so hard by acknowledging that most writers grapple with two stories: the one they want to put on the page to the best of their ability, and the often subconscious internal story that prevents them from doing it. This show is designed to help you identify and rewrite the internal narrative holding you back while you discover and write the story you want to tell and learn all the tools to help you do that successfully. Join me each week for a new episode where we'll talk about writing to deepen our understanding of the craft and of ourselves as writers. Writing a novel is an inside job that we do not do alone. Welcome to Write It Scared. I'm glad you're here. Let's dive in. Hi, writer. Welcome back to the Write It Scared podcast. I'm your host, Stacy Fraser, and today I have a great conversation to share with you about building your author platform and how to approach it in a way that is not overwhelming. Today I'm joined by multi-published author and book coach Nicole Meyer and PR genius Gretchen Schaefer, the duo behind bookworks. Together, they empower authors to reach readers through a special blend of book coaching and branding expertise. Nicole is a certified book coach and the author of four novels. She also hosts the popular steps to story podcast for emerging writers. Her books have been recognized by Booklist, Refinery29, BookBub, and Pop Sugar. Gretchen is a PR strategist with experience at Adobe, Microsoft, Meta, and Sony. She now helps authors build strong platforms and pitch strategies. Together, they guide fiction writers in establishing their brand, connecting with readers, and confidently pitching their work in the literary world. I cannot wait for you to hear our conversation and help you demystify the author platform and learn how to reach readers who will fall in love with your work. But before we jump in, I have a question for you. Would you like to plan and write your next novel or your first one with more confidence and less guesswork? Of course, right? Writing is hard. So let's make it easier. I have a free tool to help you do exactly that. First Draft Confidence is a free workbook and introductory guide to all the foundation work that my clients complete before they begin drafting. And it helps to prevent false starts and abandoned drafts. First Draft Confidence has seven simple exercises designed to help you overcome mindset wobbles, learn how to organize your thoughts so that you can start to see the story, help you set up realistic writing expectations and a schedule that fits your life, test drive your story concept to see if it will support a full-length novel, and develop your cast of characters as well as a high-level outline that will work whether you're a pantser or a plotter or somewhere in between. Plus, it has resources on how to format your novel to publishing industry standards, word count expectations for your genre, recommendations on excellent craft books for drafting novelists, and links to resources to answer all your big questions about story structure, character arcs, writing backstory, weaving in conflict, hooking readers, and more. So let's take as much guesswork out of this drafting business as we can to avoid the first draft flail. To download first draft confidence, go to writeitscared.co forward slash novel planning guide. Or check the link in the show notes. Now let's jump into our interview. Hi Nicole, hi Gretchen. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast today. I'm excited to have you. How are you?

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Hi, Stacy. Thanks for having us. Hi, Stacy. Thank you. It's great to be here.

SPEAKER_02 4:11

Yeah, so today we are discussing this mysterious entity called the Author Platform. And we're going to talk about what it is and what it's for and when writers need to be thinking about it and how they can get started without feeling overwhelmed. But before we dive into that, I know I gave you both a bio, but please, if you would, share with our listeners just a bit more about your journey and how you became the duo behind Bookworks, which is a agency that helps authors build platforms and pitch their work.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

Yeah, I'll start. This is Gretchen. And Nicole and I have been first longtime friends, but over the course of our friendship, and we've always been interested in each other's work and backgrounds and bouncing ideas off of each other, we came to kind of an understanding of like, hey, what I do in my PR marketing world fits really well with what you do in your coaching and working with authors and editing world. And how could we do something together that supports authors? And so we came up with this idea of an author platform business and knowing that this is something that authors really need right now. And the combination of our kind of unique skill set and our personal passions have really turned it into something that is exciting. And we started bookworks from that. And I'm I'm sure I'm missing other key points, Nicole.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

No, I think that that really sums up, you know, our genesis of how we put this agency together. But honestly, Stacy, working with so many fiction writers who work so hard on these beautiful manuscripts, I was seeing time and time again that the end of that journey, they would say, now what? How do I reach a reader? How do I look good to an agent or a publisher? How do I think about self-publishing? And they really were needing help building that bridge from a platform to their audience. So that's really what inspired us.

SPEAKER_02 6:15

I love that. Well, let's dig in. What let's define what an author platform is and what it's supposed to do. Yeah. You want to jump in, Gretchen? I mean, I know my understanding of platform is the ability to reach readers, but there's so many moving levers and components of it that I feel like it is an overwhelming subject.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

So yeah. And I think what we said before is, you know, you've written this wonderful manuscript and now what? And it's really like, how do you not only get an agent and all of those things, but it's like you want people to read your work. So how do you develop that platform where people can find you and know about your work and what you're doing as an author? And bringing that platform shows agents that you have an audience and that you can, you know, bring people along to buy your book eventually. So it's really a collection of different ways to build your own thought leadership as an author. So it can, it's not just social media. And a lot of people think, oh, it's, you know, I need to be on all these social media platforms. That is a component of it, but there's also lots of other things that can that you can do to build your platform and and build that potential audience.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

Yeah, I I love reminding people that because that's the biggest misconception is people think, I got to dance on a video, you know, on social media. And that's not it at all. It's about reaching that readership. And Gretchen touched on yes, it's wonderful if you want to pitch agents and go the traditional route, but it's also for people who want to self-publish. Start speaking to your audience now, start bringing them into the fold, so to speak. Start sharing your stories and your inspiration and your process because all of this is about finding your ideal reader, your ideal community. And a platform can be so many things. You know, it's really an online presence, but that varies from author to author. And it varies on the genre you're writing, it varies on where your ideal reader is living and getting their entertainment. So it's actually really exciting because there's so many different kinds of opportunities when we say platform.

SPEAKER_02 8:32

In a way, it's a very murky time, but it's also a very exciting time. I think it's more important to establish that connection and trust with your audience than ever before, because it's a little scary, honestly. Like you could, you know, you click on something and you don't know if there's a real person behind it or not. Right. So yeah, and you brought up an interesting point, Gretchen, that if you have an established connection or an established platform that might make you more interesting to agents or publishing houses, I feel like that's true on the nonfiction side. But on the fiction side, do you feel that holds the same weight?

SPEAKER_01 9:16

Well, it's I know what you're saying, and definitely on the nonfiction side, but I think it can't do anything but help. So just showing that you have put thought into who you're writing for and reaching your audience and engaging with them, that isn't gonna hurt at all to have people see that. I mean, sure, you don't have to do anything and just hope for the best, but chances are if you're put up against an author that has a platform that has established something already that's engaging with their community in some way, that is gonna look better to agents. And also if you self-self-pub publish, you have something to, you know, give people. It's so that behind the scenes look at what you're doing and be able to find an audience to sell your book to.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

For sure. It is so key for all writers, no matter what your genre, to learn what it's like to speak to an audience before your work is published. I can speak from personal experience. When I learned to do that, you know, my very first writing gig was writing maybe like two paragraphed blogs for my local visitors association. And from that, I learned what resonated with audience. I learned how to grow and sort of sharpen my author voice. I learned how to receive feedback. And that really only fueled my creative process moving forward. So I think anytime a writer has a chance to reach a community, reach an audience that's interested in their message or their genre or their themes, like Gretchen said, it's only benefiting them. Were you scared the first time? Yeah, I mean, the stakes were low, you know, and I think that that it is scary for a lot of writers to think, oh my gosh, I have to put myself out there and be vulnerable, vulnerable. But honestly, you know, some of the writers I've worked with in my program, I asked them to read their a portion of their work aloud to other writers in a safe space. And even that's scary for them. But once they get over that hurdle, they're get excited to share more and more about their inspiration, their work. And it's the same thing goes for your platform is start small with low stakes. Everybody knows that saying of kind of, it's okay to start messy, just start because you'll learn your voice. You'll learn how you like to talk to people, how you like to show up for people, and you'll learn what's resonating with them. And like I said, it's really going to make your messaging so much stronger the more you do it.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

I love that. Start messy, low stakes, just like you would a book. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I love that. So can you give an idea of when is wise for a writer to start trying to build a platform and when they should just sit back and worry more about learning the craft?

SPEAKER_01 12:08

That's a great question, Stacy. And I think what we have found, especially with the authors that we've been working with, they're in various stages of their manuscript drafts. I mean, they're we encourage everybody to start before you've even published. Just as Nicole said, start someplace. You know, you want to start building an audience and you want to just start dipping a toe in the water to see what feels authentic for you to, you know, if if that's on social media, if that's on Instagram, sharing some of your background of how you're writing and the journey that you're on and the story that you're trying to tell and the trials that you know you're going through as a new writer. We just really think it's best to start early than wait, because if you wait, it might have already passed. You know, you might have already missed the opportunity, that window that's when you're in the part of crafting the story that you want to also be crafting your platform and telling that story to people to share the journey. So I know we've said start small, it doesn't have to be, you know, perfect, and be consistent with what you're doing. So maybe just choose one small thing to focus on for your platform. And that could be something very, very simple. It could be whatever, you know, maybe it's a substack, maybe it's an Instagram or a website or something that you're you're starting, but just start small and just be consistent.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

Yeah, and I was gonna add on to that. That's so great that you mentioned all those places, Gretchen. There are different places to show up, as we all know. It's so important for a writer to know where their ideal reader is already living online, where are they getting their information, where are they getting their entertainment? Just because your favorite author is showing up on Instagram reels, that doesn't necessarily mean it's right for you. You know, maybe you should be writing a blog, maybe you should have a podcast or be guests on a podcast. There's different places you can show up. Do the research first. Even though we said start messy and start easy, low stakes. I really want to encourage people to do a teeny bit of research first and figure out where your ideal reader is living.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

Yeah, it's about who they are, where they are, and how to reach them. Yeah. And who they are. Does that connect into the why they're here? Would you say? In terms of the reader? Yeah. Like who the readers are. Does that how does that connect with why the writer is doing what they're doing?

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Yeah. I mean, I I, Gretchen, I'll just, you know, think of somebody that we've worked with recently. She is in the sci-fi horror space, and her readership and community shows up in a completely different way than let's say maybe one of our romance writers. You know, their audiences live in very different parts of the internet, so to speak. And when you're saying the why are they showing up, is they're looking for, like in the sci-fi horror category, they're looking for all kinds of stuff about, you know, maybe they're really interested in tech, or maybe they're interested in science or engineering, and they're really looking for more stories in that area. And so the why is they're showing up because they're eager for that information versus maybe someone in a romance community or readership, they're looking for escapism, they're looking for themes of you know, love and empowerment. Things are wildly different from you know other genres. So yeah, the why definitely marries into the where.

SPEAKER_02 15:48

Yeah. So let's talk about tools for a minute because you mentioned several of them. How does a writer decide what tool to explore using first? There's a ton of options out there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:07

And it's probably maybe feels a little bit, I mean, it definitely from my perspective, it feels overwhelming as to where do I invest my time and my energy and how much of that time and energy is worthwhile for me to invest at this point in my journey.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

You know, I think one of the things that we tell everybody that we worked with is that maybe just choose one thing first and whatever that feels right to you, because a lot of people are really like, I don't want to be on, you know, I don't want to show my face on Instagram and have to do all the things, but I'm comfortable doing this, or, you know, so it's just finding that one thing that feels right for you. And again, starting small and just focusing on the one thing. So yeah, there's a million things you could do and you could, you know, go out of the gate with all of those. But if you just really want to start small and focused, we just encourage you to choose one thing and be consistent and try that out and see how that works. And then you can add other things as it feels more natural. And it's like, okay, I got this, I got the rhythm of this. And, you know, you can see that you're building an audience.

SPEAKER_00 17:27

Yeah. And as Gretchen was saying, within that one place you're going to show up, there are baby steps to that. So the first one is you've got to develop a clear and a sharp bio. And that's going to go wherever you're going to show up. But you cannot imagine how many people have bios that just say, I write books. And to the reader, it's like, well, what kind of books? Do you write sci-fi? Do you write romance? So really get clear of who you are. That's the very first baby step to whatever place you're going to show up. And then there's a step after that and a step after that. So really it is just taking it one step at a time. And if you want to be a realistic and say, look, I want to put all of my time and energy into crafting my manuscript. Maybe every Friday morning I allow one hour to sit down and work on platform.

SPEAKER_02 18:14

That's great. That's very practical and very approachable. I do, I run into a lot of writers who I always do an intake and a strategy session with them as far as how we're gonna how we're gonna march out for goals and all of the things. And sometimes it is like grow my following, grow my platform. And it's very nonspecific. And so then we have to dig into okay, what does that mean exactly? And how much time are we dedicating to that? And what return on investment are we expecting from this activity? And in the beginning, you know, it's like I think maybe breaking it down to just getting used to doing something is like the first step of anything, even to writing a handscript, getting used to putting messy words on the page and learning to accept a certain level of uncertainty or maybe learning to accept a certain level of crickets. You know, when you're first building a platform, it's kind of the same thing, but yeah, kind of understanding where you're going. And that was my next question, actually, is when you're building a platform, I mean, the purpose is to be able to reach out to communicate with readers so that they know what you do, they know why you do it, and then buy your product because eventually a book becomes a product. So, how important is the email list in this respective author platform? And at what stage in building your author platform should you start trying to collect people's email addresses?

SPEAKER_00 19:48

Yeah, right away. My answer is yesterday. I mean, my answer with platform is yesterday, and my answer with email lists is yesterday. And it can be just starting with three people. Maybe it's three people who live on your block who are just curious about your all your writing. It doesn't have to be this big thing, but whether you're on a Substack, whether you have on a podcast, whether you have a blog, whether you have social media, all of those places are opportunities to say, if you want to find out more or get updates or hear about my book that's coming out, here's my email address, here's my freebie, here's whatever it is you want to, whatever way you want to capture an email list because that is gold. And honestly, you can take an email list wherever you go. So yeah, yesterday.

SPEAKER_02 20:37

Yeah. And I think that that that also is kind of a a misconception, too, is just that platform is about numbers of followers or numbers like like Gretchen said earlier, you know, it's it's not necessarily that. It's your ability to to reach people and influence, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:57

Yeah. I mean, you could have 2,000 people on your list, but none of them buy because they they don't have a sort of rapport with you and they don't no one's engaging back and forth. You could have 20 people on your list that you guys engage back and forth via email, you ask questions, they respond, and those people are buying your book because they're way more connected to you and your journey. Wouldn't you agree, Gretsch?

SPEAKER_01 21:19

Yes. I mean, I think what we're seeing, and everybody can tell, especially right now, all the social media platforms, you don't own that space, you don't own those, you know, likes and followers. That is up to the algorithm and that is changing all the time. So those things are great tools for sure. But your email list is really kind of your own gold, right? It's like the people that you're in contact with, like Nicole was saying, you have control of that and can reach those people, whether or not you have social media or not. And that's You know, that's pretty important, especially today.

SPEAKER_02 22:06

So let's talk about practical tips fiction writers can use to begin building their platform.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

Yeah, I would say b aside from just the practical number one or I'd say ground zero is research. We talked about that, really research your genre, who your reader is, where they're living online. That is so key and it's also so overlooked. That's why I've repeated it twice so far. But then the next thing is look, maybe you don't want to invest thousands and thousands of dollars to build this big, shiny website. Great. You don't have to start there. You don't have to start big. Start small. So maybe it is starting an account on social media, or maybe it's starting a Substack. Both of those things are free. I know people that are actually starting podcasts on Substack, which host it for free. So there are free ways to just get those baby steps started. But I think that the the first step is a bio. The second step is think about the pillars. Like what sort of things are you going to talk about? We don't want to hear about the pizza that you had last night because it's nothing to do with your historical fiction novel. We want to hear more pillars that have to do with your writing and themes that interest you and that will interest your readers. Do you agree, Gretchen?

SPEAKER_01 23:22

Yes, absolutely. And I think for some people that already have somewhat of a following or some type of platform already or social media outlet, it's maybe making some simple changes to that to shift the focus, like Nicole was saying. We don't want to see the pizza or, you know, shifting the bio to be more inclusive of what you're doing and just tighten a few things up so that it starts to formulate into more of an author platform than a personal platform.

SPEAKER_02 23:55

Yeah. I think it is hard to stay focused on who you're talking to sometimes versus just talking about yourself.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

Yeah, we don't want to be self-centric, right? We don't want to just talk about ourselves all the time. We want to sort of have an invitation that we extend to our community, whether that's writers or readers or both, extend an invitation and say, I'm loving these three historical fiction books, and here's why. Who else? Or who else has a title for me? And then you start engaging. And then the next part, maybe you share here's what is inspiring me about my historical fiction manuscript. You know, so we say little steps one at a time. It's an invitation. Bring people in.

SPEAKER_02 24:40

I love that. Okay. So this has been incredibly informative. We've talked about what an author platform is, what it's supposed to do, when you should consider starting to build one. The answer is now, as Nicole said. Better now than later. Would you like to share more about what Bookworks does and how you work with writers to help them navigate building their author platform?

SPEAKER_01 25:14

Yeah, I mean, we work with a variety of authors at any stage in the process. You can find kind of everything that we're about and what we offer on bookworks.co. We kind of have a nice outline of our packages, but we do anything from strategy kind of jumpstart session for your platform to building out like a full platform customized plan for authors with that includes like a step-by-step calendar. So it just really helps take the guesswork if you're really stuck and need kind of help on getting everything going. We do research on your comparable titles and all sorts of things. We also have another package where we help with agent queries and coming up with a tiered spreadsheet on who you should pitch. So that's a little bit separate than the platform package, but those are ways you can work with us. Wonderful. And where can we find you? At bookworks.co.

SPEAKER_00 26:14

Am I missing anything on that, Nicole? And then same on Instagram. So the the website's bookworks.co. And then if they're on Instagram, they can find us at bookworks.co.

SPEAKER_02 26:24

Ryan, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today. Thank you, Macy. It was great to be here. Thank you for listening to the Write It Scared podcast. If you enjoyed today's show, please make sure to hit the follow button so you never miss an episode. And please leave a review. Reviews help other writers like you find the voices and messages they need to hear to continue to write their stories. Let's lift each other up. Remember, you can be scared and still be unstoppable. I'll see you next week.