Getting readers onto the hype train that is the love of your writing is the hardest part of being an author. To overcome that barrier, consider compiling an anthology of short stories and one or two sample first chapters. Give away some of those short stories anyway you can. For example, I’d suggest putting some of your short stories on your website so anyone can read them. If you put a little explainer at the end of each story, telling readers where they can get more like this, you will have solved the onboarding problem.

Nothing sells a book to a reader like selling another book to the reader and them loving it. Fiction authors can platform build just by finishing more books.

We authors have but one problem – reader onboarding. Once a reader loves one of your books, they are on board to read the rest. The challenge you are trying to solve is the reader onboarding problem. This is what an author platform is for.

An author platform is not (just) marketing. In fact, it is mostly anything but marketing. Marketing is what you use to grow your platform. The platform itself is the reach you gain, so that those who want to hear about your next book can.

Your platform is your connection with the people who will be excited to go and buy your next book. That’s not marketing – that’s reputation.

As an author, your job has never been to sell books. Readers don’t buy books; they buy trust in an author. That’s what you are selling – trust. A reader who trusts you not to waste their time but actually deliver a good read will buy every book you write.