Book Rescue: We Built an Author Platform

About this video

In this Book Rescue episode sponsored by Fiverr, Dale surprises author Robert G. Culp — whose journey the series has followed for months — with a complete author brand kit after noting that lack of time and money had kept him from building a presence. Dale frames a website, custom email, and social media accounts as elements that separate an author from contemporaries, building on earlier groundwork for Robert: keywords and categories, a book description that shows readers what they gain, and new book covers. Presenter Ava walks through the kit: it starts with a questionnaire about the desired brand; she builds a custom email account and orders a clickable custom email signature from Fiverr seller RS Themes linking to Facebook, Twitter, and the website; then she builds a WordPress website featuring a mockup of Robert’s books, a central author photo, a testimonial section repurposed to showcase book reviews, a books page using five lines of copy from a prior episode with Brian Meeks, and a contact form at the bottom. She also secures his brand by reserving social media accounts across many platforms so impersonators cannot take his name, and creates mock-ups and promotional graphics for all five of his books, including 3D covers on phones and e-readers. Dale lists the kit as including a custom domain, hosting, WordPress setup, custom email and signature, MailerLite email marketing set up and integrated with the site, social account reservations, and hundreds of promotional graphics, and says the package is worth over $1,000. For authors who cannot afford that, he points to cheaper Fiverr alternatives, citing about $5 for the email signature and about $5 for an ebook cover from Olivia Pro Design.

Key takeaways

• An author platform — website, custom email, and social accounts — is presented as what sets an author apart from contemporaries
• The brand kit build order: brand questionnaire, custom email and clickable signature, then the WordPress website with books, reviews, and contact form
• Reserve the author’s name on social platforms early to prevent impersonators from taking it
• Create reusable promotional graphics and 3D book mock-ups for every book to solve the ‘what do I post’ problem
• Dale claims the full kit is worth over $1,000, but cites Fiverr alternatives around $5 each for a signature and an ebook cover

Episode details: published December 3, 2021 · 7:42 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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