My least favorite part of writing a proposal is the platform part. My numbers are not where I’d like them to be. And it is still a work in progress to get my social media numbers higher. But there is away to boast those numbers that doesn’t involve hours of marketing.
Monthly guest blogging
Guest blogging takes a commitment of time, but it pads out your numbers on those proposals. I write a monthly guest blog that is emailed to about 60,000 people. There is a devotional site that has hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Because I’m a regular contributor, I can add those numbers to my proposal.
It also shows you publishers you’re willing to expand your reach I order to get more readers.
Some blogs request a query letter before they will consider you for their blog. Others are by invitation only. These are usually the ones with a large readership.
Smaller blogs
Does that mean you shouldn’t bother with smaller blogs? Absolutely not. Author blog exchanges are great way to put your books out in front of new readers. The key is to be sure the blog focuses on your genre or some theme running through your book. My latest release is Historical Romance. I need to focus on blogs that talk about history. A blog where romance readers hang out would be another good fit.
When my next contemporary romance comes out the romance blog would work but not the historical one. Because I write for the Christian Fiction market, there are blogs that feature new releases and have a large subscriber base. A great place for me to blog.
My own blog
I do author interviews as well as author spotlight to help promote other author’s new releases. Because my blog focuses on writing craft rather than my genre, I can offer spots to authors in any genre.
When you do guest blogs, it’s an opportunity to leave your social media link calling card along with a link to sign up for your newsletter. I’ve gained new followers and readers by doing guest blogs.
Creating the blog posts can be time consuming,but if you tweak one blog a bit, you can use it in several places. It is well-worth the time and effort.
Have you ever been a guest blogger? Do you have a blog and welcome guests?