The perfect time to start promoting your writing was last week. Until they invent time travel, the best time to start is as soon as humanly possible.

Book promotion is not really book promotion – it is author promotion. Even before you have a book, you can start promoting yourself. You may have already started without realising it. If you have a Twitter account – or use social media at all – the chances are you already have a small circle of people who are happy to see content from you. Now just grow it.

When we talk of Author Platforms, that’s what we are really discussing – growing your reach in readiness for the news, “my new book is out”. When an audience – big or small – is primed to be pleased to hear from you, they will be just as excited as you are by the news of your new book.

Of course, when you start promoting your writing that level of attention seems impossible. Audience attention is hard, I’ll grant you. It is perfectly achievable all the same.

How to start promoting your writing

The first rule of author platforms is, have your own space. Something not owned by a social media company. Facebook owes you nothing and can cut you off from your fans whenever they feel like it. That’s why the foundation of your promotion must be your own space.

WordPress blogs can be a great choice if you do not happen to be a web developer. Let’s face it, I am highly unusual in that I work in development. That’s why I made Author Buzz – so other authors do not have to worry about that stuff.

Grab a free blog here, or set up one wherever you feel most comfortable. You can still use a group feature to build a community of fans and get the word out about your more recent posts.

If all you do today is set up your site and create your “why I am wonderful” page, that is a good start. Most people call that the “about page”. Your “about page” matters so make it good.

I have a blog. Now what?

We are writers. Some of us are authors. A few might even be published. A tiny minority of us might be slightly famous. But we all have one thing in common. We tell stories.

Regardless of the distinction between fiction and non-fiction writers, what we do when we write is tell stories. We tell stories about dragons if we write that sort of fantasy or we tell stories about how The Beatles got started if we write that sort of non-fiction. We all tell stories.

Tell your story. The story of you. Why do you write? What do you write about? Who motivates you? How is your novel progressing? Tell the story.

Each and every week, open the “new post” page and talk to your readers. Talk to them even if they do not exist yet. Assuming you have even a shred of talent (and we all do) one day your readers may look back on your older posts. If they find the story of you, the story of your books, your life, and your writing, they will feel connected. Readers that feel connected to you will hang around. They usually buy books too.

What about social media?

How many ways can you think to say “I have a book, please buy my book”? Not many, I’d bet. Less still if I said keep at it until either you or I get bored.

The same truth applies to social media. Sure, you can show your followers images of your cover designs. If that is all you share, they are likely to loose interest. On the other hand, that blog you’ve been writing is fresh content you can share.

Ask yourself a simple question. What sort of content would a person that would read my book be delighted by? Find that and share it. Surprise and delight your potential readers with exactly what they are looking for. When it comes time to announce your book, it will be bathed in the reflected glory of what you have been sharing.

After all, if everything else you shared was interesting to me, I will probably assume this book you just told me about is also interesting to me.

This is not a quick fix

Communicating like this will not make you an overnight super-star. You cannot connect with millions of people all at once. You connect one person at a time, one story at a time.

Buy the time your book is ready, you will have built up a huge and engaging showcase of what you can do. That is why the time to start promoting your writing is as soon as possible.

When will you start promoting your writing?