PRE-PLAN, PRE-BUILD
It is so easy to interact with the world with just a click: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, blogs—just to name a few. And it’s (relatively) free. New authors/writers need this exposure, but not necessarily to sell books, but something far more important: AUTHOR BRANDING.
Even before your book is completed, you should have an author presence on the web. Social Media and a website/blog.
brand name
noun
1. a word, name, symbol, etc., especially one legally registered as a trademark, used by a manufacturer or merchant to identify its products distinctively from others of the same type and usually yprominently displayed on its goods, in advertising, etc.
2. a product, line of products, or service bearing a widely known brandname.
3. Informal. a person who is notable or famous, especially in a particular field, a familiar or widely known name.
“younger writers who clamber toward brand-name status”
source: Dictionary.com
Website Presence
Don’t wait to start a blog or website presence until you are published. Building your Author Brand is a long-term marketing effort as well as crucial for platform development. It should start from the moment you decided to write a book.
See: How to Set up a Free Blog
Domain Name
This is the place where your site will live and it should be the name you use to publish your work—not your book title (Book Brand). Stephen King, JK Rowling, Dee Henderson…author brand names. Purchase YourName.com, YourNameAuthor.com, or even YourNameBooks.com. While there are other extensions that may be available, such as .net, .co, .me, a “dot com” (.com) will carry the most mileage. There are many domain registrars to purchase your domain name. Below are just a few from a Google search “domain registrar”:
Domain Registrars:
Hosting: Free or Paid
Self-hosting is the best option, but if you are just starting out and/or want to keep costs down, use free sources, such as WordPress.com. While self-hosting allows more flexibility and control, unpublished or new authors may want to become familiar with the platform first before taking on site building and management responsibilities.
There are thousands of site building options from free blog setups to easy website builders (which include hosting). Below are just a few:
WordPress.com (free)
Blogger.com (free)
Webs.com ($)
