Tested Proven Ways How to Create and Expand a Writer’s Platform.: Battle tested ideas from the trenches.

I want to share with you the ways I have used to build and expand my brand and writer’s platform. I hope some of these things might spark ideas for you to use. It’s about creating a personal media ecosystem.

As writers, we generate content. That is our intellectual property. Each piece of content is a potential income-producing asset. A strategy for generating more income is to leverage our content. We can repurpose it across different platforms.

Content is King. We all work and aspire to create great content with readers and audiences and fans in mind. We have repositories of content and ideas. We can leverage and repurpose that content in different formats across many channels.

We can use multiple paths to increase awareness and capture new fans and customers.

It doesn’t take vast numbers of fans and followers to make a sustainable living. As Kevin Kelly said, 1,000 true fans can support a sustainable artistic livelihood.

Readers have a wide variety of choices in the way they consume and enjoy information that begins as writing.

Get creative about repurposing your writing across social media and sales channels. A digital-first strategy uses platforms and partners that have little to no cost. Become aware of business model choices that create many revenue streams.

Create a content production workflow that forms a matrix of properties that you promote and sell in different ways. Leverage computer and web tools for content repurposing and do it all yourself. These revenue streams will help you support sustainable creative living.

Get creative about repurposing your content across platforms and sales channels.

My content production workflow includes my blog, e-books, paperbacks, audiobooks, videos, online courses, podcasts, infographics, slide decks, and more. It’s all about repurposing content, sometimes aggregating it, and sometimes unbundling it.

I use simple tools like Word, GarageBand, Skype, iMovie, and others. It is easy to create all the content yourself. With partners like Medium, KDP, ACX, and LibSyn, you can disseminate material worldwide. You can do this with no fixed costs or investment.

I deliver my products across platforms like Amazon, iTunes, Udemy, SlideShare, YouTube, Vimeo, Barnes & Noble, KOBO, Kindle, Audible, and more. Each one of these has a massive ecosystem of customers. Amazon is the third-largest search engine, and YouTube is number two (Google is #1). Social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others can access loyal audiences.

I am also experimenting with transcription and translation services.

I am a big fan of Long Tail Marketing. Kevin Kelly’s influential notion that 1,000 true fans are all one needs to sustain an artistic career.

Create a platform based on a website hub with social media outposts. Create a mailing list to keep in touch with followers. Please provide them with satisfying information and content.

Use marketing funnels, conversions, and paywalls. Finesse all the touchpoints along the customer journey. You can automate the process.

The business model is sweet: no inventory, no working capital requirements, everything falls to the bottom line. You can experiment. Try things out.

I look at my products as nodes in a matrix of content and channels. A 10X10 matrix yields 100 products. This model creates robust and diverse streams of revenue, engagement, and awareness. It’s about writing and creating intellectual property, self-publishing, and retaining the bulk of revenues and sales. And, most important retaining complete creative control and ownership. It’s fun, satisfying, and productive!

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