Ways Indie Authors Can Help Themselves Stand Out

When indie authors have a solid platform, offer bonus content, and build a brand, they can go far

Being an author means you are competing against thousands of other authors to be seen by your target audience.

But being an indie author means that you are learning the landscape of the publishing industry and your target audience’s wants as you try to stand out. Which means you are juggling numerous jobs while trying to research and learn your target audience’s habits and needs.

So the question is, how can you help yourself stand out among the sea of authors?

A Solid Author Platform

Picture your author platform as a tree, and each branch is a piece of it. And once you establish a base, it grows strong enough so that you can present a strong platform for your readers to find everything they need.

Having a solid author platform means that you have:

Social Media: Posting consistently on social media is a great way to keep connected with your audience on a daily basis

Author Website: Consider this a home base for yourself. A place where your audience can find everything they need about you, such as your works, your about me section, how to contact you, and a blog to keep updated.

Professional author photo: This shows you want to be serious for your audience and can be used across your platform from your author profile on selling platforms for readers, your website, and social media.

Newsletter: As early as you can, you should plan your newsletter content, determine how often you can post (monthly, bimonthly, or weekly), and begin building a subscriber list.

If you can check all of these boxes, it means that you have a solid author platform to work with.

Creating Quality Bonus Content

When competing with so many authors in your genre, a strategic way to stand out is by creating companion content, bonus content, or special branch-off components for your books.

Here are some ideas:

Book Playlists: Why not create a Spotify playlist and connect it to a QR code for readers to access? Or if you don’t have access to Spotify, simply envision a list of songs that you can pair with your book and create a list to share with readers. There is a good chance they will look them up and connect with them.

Maps: If you are a fantasy, dystopian, or sci-fi author, why not create a map and include it in your book? You can either try to make one yourself using a service like Canva.com or hire a freelancer.

Short Stories/ Novellas: If you have a great cast of characters and find readers favor some of them, why not consider writing a short story or novella with a focus on side characters? Doing so can be shared as a reader magnet, added to the back of an existing book, or sent to subscribers as a freebie.

Share something different: As an author, of course, we want to constantly talk about our books, but why not spread out a little? Consider writing book reviews of books you read. Or if you have expertise in something, share it with your audience. Maybe you have book research that would interest readers, share it. 

Build a Brand

The more books you publish and the more social media platforms you add to your author platform, is how slowly you build an author brand.

By this, I am referring to that wherever you go, people will recognize it because they recognize you and what you have.

How can you establish this brand?

• List what you talk about, what genres you write in, and your website in your social media bio

• Have the same profile photo wherever you are, so you can be easily recognized

• Keep the same color scheme across your platform

When you keep these key elements in mind, you increase your chances of your audience finding you wherever you are.

Standing out as an indie author can feel like climbing a mountain, but I promise that with dedication, persistence, and planning, you can grow your platform and your audience.

Remember to:

• Have a solid author platform

• Offer quality bonus content

• Build an author brand

Use these key elements and you will do well.