How I Finally Built an Author Platform

(Without Losing My Mind)

Let me be honest with you. For a long time, "building a platform" was the thing I knew I was supposed to be doing and absolutely was not doing.

I had a Facebook. I posted occasionally. Sometimes I'd share something writing-related and then disappear for three weeks because life — specifically my very demanding full-time job — had other plans for me. I told myself I'd get serious about it later. When the book was done. When I had more time. When Mercury was finally out of retrograde.

(It never is, by the way. Mercury is always in retrograde. Do not wait for Mercury.)

The thing that changed? Two things, actually. One was joining a writing workshop and meeting other writers who were actively building their platforms right now, not later. Watching other people do the thing you've been putting off is a very effective motivator. (Embarrassing but true.) The second thing was figuring out that I didn't need a complicated system. I needed the right tool used the right way.

That tool is Canva. And here's how I use it.

Step 1: Understand That Not All Platforms Are Created Equal

The first mistake I made when I started taking social media seriously was trying to post the same thing everywhere. Copy, paste, done. Easy, right?

Wrong. Every platform has its own culture, its own rhythm, its own expectations. What works on one will flop on another. Here's how I think about it now:

Facebook is where I talk. It's text-heavy, community-forward, and the readers there want context. I post writing tips, updates on my works in progress, reflections on the craft. Think of it as a conversation with people who already know me a little.

Instagram is where I show. It's visual, aesthetic-driven, and people are scrolling fast. I post quote graphics from my stories — character lines, world lore, lines that make you feel something without needing to know the whole story. The image has to do the work before anyone reads a single word of the caption.

Twitter/X is where I amplify. It gets what Instagram gets, crossposted. Short, punchy, visual. Done.

Three platforms. Three functions. One coherent presence.

Step 2: Build Your Templates ONCE

Here's where Canva comes in and saves your actual life.

I have two templates. One for Kingdom and one for The Time Agency universe. Each one has its own visual identity — different color palette, different fonts, different feel. Kingdom is deep navy and gold, underwater and lyrical. Time Agency is dark and precise, electric blue against black, geometric and cold. A reader who follows me should be able to glance at a post and know which story they're in before they read a word.

I built these templates once. Just once. And now every quote post I make takes me about two minutes. I open the template, swap out the text, save, schedule. That's it.

The key is making your template reusable from the start. Keep your branding elements (logo, website, color palette, fonts) locked in place so you never have to rebuild from scratch. You're just plugging in new content.

Step 3: Batch Your Content Like Your Sanity Depends On It

Because it does.

I don't post day by day. I don't sit down every morning and think "what do I say today?" That way lies paralysis and three weeks of silence. Instead, I batch. Once a month, I sit down and create and schedule all my posts for the coming month at once.

Canva lets you schedule directly to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter/X from the same place. You design the post, set the date and time, and walk away. The content goes out whether you're at your desk or elbow-deep in a chapter or recovering from a brutal day at work. Your platform keeps running because you did the work in one focused session instead of scrambling every single day.

For Facebook, where I want longer-form text posts, I use Canva's stock photo library for images — clean, professional, free, and none of the headaches that come with scrounging the internet for something usable. For Instagram, I use my templates. For Twitter, I link the two.

One month. One session. Done.

Step 4: Give People a Reason to Follow Each Platform

This is the part most people skip, and it matters.

If your Facebook and Instagram are posting the exact same content, there's no reason for someone to follow you on both. But if your Facebook is where you talk craft and share your process, and your Instagram is where your fictional world comes alive in quote graphics, now you've got two distinct reasons to follow you. Two different experiences of the same author.

Think about what each platform can do that the others can't. Facebook handles a long post well. Instagram doesn't. Instagram makes a gold-on-navy quote pop off the screen. Twitter doesn't. Use each one for what it's actually good at.

Step 5: Start Before You're Ready

Here's the thing I wish someone had told me earlier: you don't need a published book to start building an author platform. You need a story you're working on and something worth saying about the experience of writing it.

Character quotes from unpublished novels create intrigue. Writing tips from your own process build credibility. Progress updates on your manuscript let readers feel invested before the book even exists. By the time you're ready to query — or publish — you won't be starting from zero. You'll have an audience that's been watching the story come to life.

I launched my Instagram because a group of writers I met in a workshop encouraged me to stop waiting. Within a week I had posts scheduled, a template I was proud of, and readers already curious about my characters.

Start now. Batch your content. Use your templates. Let Canva do the scheduling so you can go write the next chapter.

tl;dr: Different platforms, different purposes. Templates built once, used forever. Content batched monthly so you never scramble. Start before the book is done. The platform won't build itself, but it also doesn't have to be complicated.

Oh, and one last thing... Author newsletters like this one? They're just the cherry on top.

Happy Writing~