5 Steps to Create Community Around Your Book Even Before You Write It

Are you ready to harness the power of a tribe of people following you and your words? If so, let’s dream a little. You are working on your book or you have just finished your written masterpiece. You have a host of friends, family and fans waiting to get their hands on your book as soon as it comes out. They already know and like you. They (your family, fans and
friends) are lined up at the virtual doors of your website.

O.k., so maybe not everyone on your list is quite as interested as some. Even so, you (an aspiring or emerging author) are a prime candidate to take advantage of the power of community. Here are five steps to create community around your book, even before you write it.

 1. Setup a blog. Your blog centered around your book’s topic will help build your author’s platform. It can be the start of creating community around your book. Your blog is a great place to send your potential readers, publishers, customers and fans. Your blog is or should be a representation of you and your work. I use WordPress with my own domain names for my blogs. Also, there’s lots of hosted blog platforms to choose from. (No, you don’t have to wait until your book is written; start now.)

 2. Engage your existing friend and fan community base. If you don’t have a friend and/or fan list on one of the current big three social websites, start today. At the time of this writing and not necessarily in this order, the big three are Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Invite your friends and fans to your website to receive a free gift or to read an article. Host a contest; send out free tips. Give first and you shall receive. Then when your book comes out; feel free to tell all your friends and fans about it. Since, you already have relationship with your community, many will be happy to buy your book. Whatever you do to engage them, just get started.

3. Reach out to your readers. You can build a community by reaching out to your readers. Start an email list of your readers and potential readers. Put up a form on your website/blog to collect the names and email addresses of your  web visitors. These days, most people will not part with their email address just because you have a form on your website. You need to offer an incentive. It must be something related to your book’s topic. You can offer a free PDF ebook, an ecourse, a newsletter, tips column or short report. To download it, your visitor will need
to put their email address in your form. When I first started, I had doubts on whether anyone would be interested enough in my topic to sign-up. But I put the form up anyway and offered a free mini-course as an incentive. A few years later, that list has grown to nearly 6,000.

4. Expand your reach by streamlining your focus. You might already have a growing community around your book’s topic. If not already, narrow your focus and your topic. Target a specific group of people interested in that topic. For example, I love the general topic of writing. It’s my passion; so my interest level has always been high. But my community didn’t start
growing until I streamlined my focus. I focused in on book writing and aspiring authors. After streamlining your topic, break your main topic  and target into sub-groups. Using my book
writing example, I then grouped and expanded my target groups into several categories. I expanded my reach to aspiring authors, new authors, emerging authors, self publishers, independent publishers, and book marketers.

5. Create a strategy. Write out your plan to build community around your book. Then work your plan to grow a huge and responsive community. My plan includes building lists, article marketing, video marketing, social media campaigns and more. Create a strategy with all kinds of campaigns to build your community. Choose when and how often you reach out. Commit to your community’s growth. As you grow, begin to think about expanded space to house your tribe. Many authors have opened memberships, forums, Ning community spaces and more to accommodate their community. You will discover the old boundaries have been removed. Your community could easily span across continents, all because you set a plan in
place to build community around your book.

Don’t hold back any longer. You could be in the same place next year, wondering if you could create a community around your book. Your fans and readers are waiting on you to make the first move. I’m looking forward to seeing your name as the next expert author with a growing tribe.

More Tips About Building Community While Writing Your Book: http://bookwritingcourse.com

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