Last Updated on by Michael Brockbank
There are a lot of ways to market yourself and your books as an author, but should you diversify your presence? And what does that even mean, exactly? Let’s go beyond sharing Amazon links on social media and talk about spreading your name far and wide.
Despite what some might think, your name is just as valuable as the title of your book. So, it’s equally important to get it in front of as many people as possible to potentially gain new readers and fans.
In other words, you gotta do more than just post on Threads, TikTok, or Instagram if you want to make waves. This is especially true nowadays, as the market gets more flooded every day. You need to stand out to get noticed.
Why Should You Diversify as an Author?
Not everyone has enough in the bank to rely solely on income from being a self-published author. In reality, the median income for an indie author was about $12,749 per year in 2023. If it were broken down into a full-time job, that would mean making about $6.13 per hour.
Making money as an indie author is incredibly difficult. It’s no wonder that so many will have second jobs to pay the bills.
Diversifying yourself as a writer can help offset some bills and expenses. In fact, I personally know several freelance writers who turned to self-publishing, and vice versa. However, you can go further than just copywriting for a client.
When you diversify yourself with other platforms as an author, you’re marketing your name while potentially making a few bucks on the side. Plus, some of those methods could also increase book sales and other opportunities to make money.
It’s all about creating a web of connections that may pique the interest of your next greatest fan. And since the Internet is saturated with people like yourself, you need to do more to stand out than just posting on Threads and hoping to sell a book or two.
11 Ways to Diversify as an Author
There can be more to being an author than just writing a book and uploading it to Amazon. There are all kinds of ways you can market yourself and your books while making a few extra bucks on the side.
Now, you don’t have to do any of these, and a lot of authors don’t. However, there are quite a few benefits to adjusting to an audience to promote yourself as an author.
1. Blogging
I believe that every author should have a blog. Not just to sell books and merch, but also to engage your target audience. People like the idea of getting to know more about the person whom they read. And blogs can deliver that quite easily.
Depending on the style and content you publish, it could take an awfully long time to build up a strong fan base. Building a blog doesn’t mean you’ll instantly get people coming in, reading your posts, and buying your books. However, a blog can easily be a base of operations, especially as an indie author.
After some high-quality content, you can then monetize the blog with Google’s AdSense (or other ad-serving network) to make a few extra bucks each month.
That’s not to mention how most of the next methods to diversify as an author integrate well with a blog. This includes everything from embedding videos and podcasts to promoting online courses.
2. Podcasting
A lot of indie authors have built podcasts to talk about books, the industry, or to otherwise engage the writing community. The best thing about creating a podcast is that it doesn’t require a lot of up-front investment.
As long as you have a microphone, you can easily send the audio file to Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, and more for free. And if you talk about some interesting topics (and throw in a bit of marketing), you can build quite an audience.
All of the top podcasters in the world started from nothing. Although you might not grow into the popularity of someone like Joe Rogan, you’ll easily attract ardent fans who will listen, watch, and read everything you create.
Out of all the ways to diversify yourself as an author, podcasting is probably the easiest. You don’t have to be on camera, it doesn’t cost anything to get started, and the episodes can be shared across a lot of platforms.
The ease of setting one up is why I created the After Hours podcast for WriterSanctuary. I’ve already recorded the show live on Mondays. It takes less than 20 minutes to get the show up on various platforms after that.
3. YouTube
YouTube is another platform that is easy to get into without a hefty investment. Currently, I’m using an old 4k webcam, although I would like a decent camera in the near future.
Authors of all kinds use YouTube to accentuate their reputation as well as build an audience. In fact, I get more viewers to the channel than I get readers to this blog. So, I’ve easily expanded my audience with similar content.
Now, I’m not saying that creating a YouTube channel will instantly make you a success. Some of us struggle for every dedicated viewer, and writing/author channels just don’t grow as fast as something like reaction or entertainment channels.
However, setting yourself up on YouTube can easily help build a fan base of those who will buy your books as soon as they’re released. Eventually, you can grow to a point where you make a few extra bucks through ad revenue.
This isn’t to mention any sponsorships or affiliate income you can generate.
4. Writing Communities
A simple way to diversify yourself as an author is to join and engage with writing communities. These are usually full of other authors, mostly indie, who are supportive of each other and share experiences. Not to mention being able to meet some incredible authors.
Writing communities are where I have generated the most interest for live interviews. If it weren’t for these communities on Threads or Facebook, about 90% of the interviews I’ve done on YouTube wouldn’t exist.
Something else to consider is that writing communities are also filled with readers. A lot of authors are more than happy to buy books from indie authors, especially if it’s in their preferred genres.
Just make sure you’re being respectful and interacting with those folks. Don’t just join a community to spam the Amazon link to your book. Be social, share your experiences, and help others if you can. Remember, it’s a community.
5. Writing Competitions
The Internet is full of writing competitions of all kinds. In fact, a lot of flash fiction submission sites have cash prizes for the best stories. But joining writing competitions is more than just winning some money here and there.
A lot of platforms have profile pages that are easily shareable on social sites and blogs. For instance, you can submit stories to Reedsy’s Weekly Writing Prompts for a chance to win $250 while sharing a profile of the stories you have submitted.
Essentially, it’s another method of getting your name out there as an author while potentially winning a weekly prize or two.
Even if you don’t win a single contest, it still gives you valuable practice, notoriety, and an experience you can share with others. And as I’ve said many times before, anywhere you can publish your name is ideal for marketing.
6. Guest Articles
Guest posts are a common marketing method for bloggers. This is when you write for a similar website to your own, and the owner links back to your blog. It’s a symbiotic relationship as they get content and you get a quality backlink.
For an author, it can work similarly, especially if the site in question is exceptionally popular. People who may not even know you exist can see your name as the author of a post, including the Google algorithm.
Sometimes, you’ll even come across some platforms that will pay you directly for a guest submission. However, these are quite rare and difficult to get into, as the market is so saturated with authors.
Even if you don’t make a single dime, the time and effort to write as a guest is well worth it. Keep in mind that a big part of selling books is marketing, which means you gotta get your name out there as far as possible.
You’re training both humans and search engine algorithms about who you are and what you provide.
7. What About TikTok?
As an author, you can diversify yourself by creating TikTok content. In 2024, TikTok claims that roughly 59 million printed book copies could be attributed to #BookTok-related content.
Now, this doesn’t mean that creating a TikTok account and making a few videos will instantly help you sell a ton of books. In reality, I know more people who struggle on TikTok to sell more than 10 per month than others. But you never know what might take off to help you sell more books.
Like any other social media platform, you have to manage the TikTok algorithm. It takes a great deal of time and patience, and it might not be as fruitful as other social sites.
The important thing to keep in mind is that all of us indie authors will have varying experiences on any platform. Some might sell more books on Facebook, while others might sell a lot on TikTok. However, you won’t know which platform works the best for you until you try.
Keep in mind that BookTok is saturated with authors, so it might take a bit of effort to get recognized by the algorithm and viewers.
Personally, I’ve never really been a fan of TikTok, mostly because of its questionable reputation. Well, that, and I have no idea what videos to make for the #BookTok trend. Besides, I’d rather stick with YouTube shorts, as that is what I know.
8. Freelance Writing
I started as a freelance writer working with content mills in 2012. Over the years, I have greatly expanded what “writing” means to me and now manage blogs, books, and am toying with screenwriting. However, it’s the freelancing that pays the mortgage.
Megan Grant, a friend of mine, started her writing career building a six-figure income writing business. Today, she incorporates books into the workflow. Coincidentally, Megan also has a YouTube channel that is five times larger than my own.
Of course, there is a big difference between copywriting for business clients and writing a piece of fiction. For one thing, AP Style and Oxford are two different animals to remember when structuring a book.
Although a lot of storytelling powers client content today, it’s still much different to detail a scene in a book than to create a tutorial for how to replace soffits on a roof.
Regardless, there are a lot of authors who generate revenue to cover book expenses by becoming freelance writers. And it’s not all that difficult to work for content mills or find private clients on sites like LinkedIn.
9. Free Publishing Sites
Some authors will use sites like Wattpad, Inkitt, or Archive of Our Own to share stories. I personally know a couple who have used Wattpad to promote their Amazon books by providing extension stories or publishing chapter one with a link to buy the entire book.
I also know an author who uses rough drafts on Inkitt so people can enjoy the story without buying the polished copy.
The point is that a lot of authors will use these free publishing sites to promote themselves. Plus, they are great platforms if you want to dive a bit into fan fiction without getting sued into oblivion.
In fact, I plan on doing more with these sites in the future, as soon as I wrap up my three main projects.
What I like about a lot of these sites is that most give you a chance to directly interact with readers, some have challenges, and some will offer writing contests you can enter. So, they are more than just slapping your manuscript up on the site and hoping for someone to stumble across it.
10. Online Courses
Online education is a booming industry. It is believed that it will generate more than $363 billion per year by 2032. As an author, you can share your knowledge of the craft with others to earn a slice of that enormous pie.
You can promote your courses on Udemy, utilize the services at Coursera, or even host them on your own website. There are all kinds of ways you can diversify your income by teaching what it means to be an author.
Now for the downside of course creation – it takes an incredible amount of time to put together something someone is willing to buy. And then, you’ll need proper promotional and marketing tactics to get it to the right people.
You’re not going to take a Saturday afternoon and cobble together something someone is willing to spend $1000 on. It’ll take a lot of development to create a syllabus that will entice users to join.
The upside is that when you publish a great course, it has the potential to keep making you money without extra input from yourself. Of course, that also depends on whether you’re going to be more hands-on or passive.
11. All of the Above
Lastly, you can embrace all of the above to expand your reach as an author on the Internet. However, it’ll consume a lot of your time throughout the week. So, you’ll probably want to start small and include other methods when time permits.
For instance, I am an author, blogger, YouTuber, and developing podcaster. Yet, I am still seriously considering creating some online courses, entering writing competitions, and doing more with Wattpad and Inkitt. Unfortunately, my time is quite limited, so I haven’t been able to start any of those projects.
You don’t want to overload yourself to the point of burning out. Adding several of these points can feel grueling at times, especially if you don’t see immediate returns, which often leads to getting frustrated and quitting.
Nonetheless, you can add a few of these things to your weekly tasks to help market yourself and your book. And some will earn quite a bit with some of these side quests as an author.
It all comes down to what you’re capable of handling during any given week.
Connecting an Intricate Marketing Web from a Blog
At the end of the day, marketing is probably one of the most vital and difficult parts of being an indie author. If no one knows the book exists, no one will buy it. And if no one knows who you are, they won’t bother to look up what you’ve written.
This is one of the many reasons why I think every author should have a blog of some kind. It’s a base of operations that can easily connect all aspects of your journey as an author.
You want your name or pen name to be Googleable, as well as your books. And a consistently updated blog can help build an online reputation as an author. Then, you can link or embed all of the above to boost your reputation even further.
You don’t merely have to appease humans, as the algorithms hold a lot of power over your success. And if you don’t diversify yourself correctly as an author, sites like Google, YouTube, or TikTok won’t have any idea who you are or to whom to show your content.
The point of all this is that you can’t merely rely on sharing a link on social media and expect thousands of people to buy your book.
That’s a Whole Lotta Content!
One thing that a lot of folks don’t take into consideration is just how much content a self-published author has to create to sell X amount of copies. Between blogging, social media, TikTok videos, and everything else we create, we barely have time to write our books.
Not to mention holding down a job or two just to keep the rent and bills paid.
If you want to sell more than a copy or two of your book every year, it’s going to take an incredible amount of time, energy, and financial expense. It’s a juggling act of content, as you’re trying to keep everything up in the air while more is added to the mix.
In a lot of ways, being an indie author is far more difficult than going the traditional route. At least as a trad author, there are teams of people who do most of the work for you. Well, at least, they’re supposed to, anyway.
The upside is that there are ways an author can diversify and generate forms of revenue while marketing themselves and their books. It all comes down to how they engage an audience and what they’re providing for the fans. Plus, indie authors often make about 55 to 60% more in royalties.
But we often have to spend more than that just to make a sale.
No matter how you slice it, though, indie authors have to create an insane amount of content outside of their books to gain enough exposure to sell several copies per week.
How Well Do You Market Yourself?
Marketing is one of the most burdensome parts of being an indie author. Not everyone has the money to throw at professional help, and the rest of us don’t know exactly how to move forward to get books in front of people.
I’ve seen some authors spend tens of thousands of dollars on marketing over the span of a few years, only to sell a couple of hundred copies. On the other hand, I’ve also seen authors spend less while hitting the top 100 of their categories on Amazon.
We’ll all have different experiences, so don’t fret if something you’re trying today doesn’t work. Even if you don’t plan to diversify yourself beyond writing books, there are many ways you can market them to generate more sales.
It’s all a matter of finding what works best for you.
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