Building an author platform can be a difficult and painstaking undertaking. Chances are your writing time will be greatly sacrificed. However, blogging, tweeting, and updating your Facebook page does constitute writing, and does generate readers. Therefore, it is time well spent. I’ve noticed certain patterns emerging as I’ve began building my own platform.
Blog reciprocation has the highest ranking. When I hit the Like and Subscribe buttons or drop a comment on someone else’s blog, they generally reciprocate by doing the same on mine. Of course that only happens when the initial contact is done through blogging. If the initial contact happens through Twitter, full reciprocation doesn’t usually occur.
When someone follows me on Twitter, I make it my business to follow back, drop a tweet, visit their Facebook page and their blog. But the Twitter reciprocation rate is pretty low. I’d say about 1 out of every 35 who I make contact with visit my blog or Facebook page.
Twitter returns don’t seem that bad when compared to Facebook. I must say that my Facebook page is pretty much dead space most of the time. Although I really haven’t been “pushing” over there either.
In the same order up to now, The Blog, The Tweet, and The Facebook Page have become my own version of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
How are you doing with your platform experience? Any tips you’d like to share?
San Giacomo's Corner 
I prefer blogging, and I find that you build longer, lasting relationships with readers and other writers.
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Yes Diane, you are absolutely correct about the superiority of blogging. A blog just naturally seems to have more “fullness” than a 140 character tweet.
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Currently, I only blog. I do active searches for similar blogs
visit those who visit me
I only follow the blogs that interest me as a person. I don’t follow just b/c I am followed.
I actually read the posts of my followed blog and re-visit them.
I am becoming more active in writing communities online.
That is about all I’m doing to build my platform right now. I think my platform is building me as a writer.
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I’ll always follow as a courtesy, but they do have to keep me interested if they want me to continuously return.
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I blog and use Twitter. Blogging is more substantial, but Twitter – in my experience – is very effective for connecting with others in the writing community. I love it – a lot.
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Oh yes Hesther, I’ve made many contacts on twitter as well. But, so far we all seem to agree that blogging is better contact.
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I use Facebook and blogging. On FB I am member of writing groups that have 10,000 or 20,000 followers, in addition to smaller ones. I also have a Facebook page called “Ask a Grammar Guru.” I post a grammar problem every day and invite people to ask me questions if they have them. I have not yet used Twitter because I already seem to have so little time.
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Hi Marilyn, always great to hear from you.
I didn’t know about your “Grammar Guru” page. I’ve only checked out the SAWG FB page. I’ll be visiting.
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Funny you ask. My only platform – by choice – is WP. And the rest, I just did a miniseries on. “How to Succeed as a Blogger.”
Interesting posts here. =)
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I’ll be checking out your blog this week. Thanks for visiting.
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Hi I am discovering the blog-world. It allows my thoughts to wander randomly and get concretized in words; and yet the random thoughts can be ‘categorized’ for structured reading.
Do look in on https://sweetyshinde.wordpress.com
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Welcome to the blogosphere:-)
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Although I like Twitter and Facebook I’ll have to go with the blog. I do think you have a better chance at connecting on a blog. I just hope I don’t lose interest in my author/personal blog this time. I usually do run out of things to post about or I just get too busy and forget the blog.
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Blogging can consume almost as much time as writing a novel. I tend to fall into that trap.
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I agree with you, Ernesto, on blogging being the more effective social media. I don’t automatically give a follow-for-follow, but I have found that most of the people who follow my blogs (I have a book editing blog on Blogger as well as a more personal blog here on WordPress) are people whose blogs I enjoy enough to follow or at least visit regularly. A friend of mine (an author) described her blogging experience as “reading a novel with real people as the characters” whose lives are ever-changing and extremely interesting.
Besides, I’m half Italian. I can’t say ANYTHING in 140 characters or less, even when I eliminate all the hand motions. 🙂
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I’m glad you decided to visit.
Agreed, Twitter should put in some graphics for hand gestures. 🙂
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I am curious…no one has brought up having a url and stand alone website. Blogging is better? or cheaper?
Thank you “Ask The Grammar Guru”…I need you in my life.
Far apart and never alone!
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I don’t have a “dot.com” store, so I can’t make an honest comparison. If you have a lot of steady sales then you should have a blog and an online store.
You can use the blog to build a following and then link a store to it very easily.
Thanks Mary.
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