THE BERNIE BOOK

⇢ Expanding Your Platform

GAINING FOLLOWERS

Word of advice—and I know it might sound 'tone-deaf' coming from someone who has been lucky enough to have a large platform, but this is true—followers shouldn't be your end goal. This can lead to a harmful mindset, where you feel like you've failed if you don't gain, or you become obsessed with refreshing your notifications.

It's an ugly phase that I unfortunately fell into when I first started writing. It hurt not only my mental health, but my ability to write quality books. I've been lucky enough to pull myself out of it, and my main focus is the joy of being able to write books people enjoy (because HECK YEAH! All of my readers are AMAZING).

I just want you to keep this in mind before reading this section, because the last thing I want is for you to go down that path as well. 

            ⇢ advertise: I made an instagram account and would post every time I had a new book update! A lot of my followers from 2018 came from Instagram, and I've made a lot of friends since then. You can use Twitter, Tumblr, or any social media outing you like!

            ⇢ post regularly: It's not a requirement to post everyday (although that's what I did, and it was super helpful) so please do not feel you need to. writing should be fun! Just make sure you're active on the app, and don't abandon your books for months on end.

           ⇢ make friends: find your fandom community! I'm happy to be a part of the mcu and harry potter group, and I've been able to learn so much by reading and talking to other accounts!