Every author wants to become a bestseller and sell millions of books. However what they may not know is how to sell their book to anyone other than their family and friends.

Making your book a bestseller is easy IF you have a HUGE platform.  A platform is the publishing world’s term for your fan base or what I prefer to call your tribe. It’s the group of people who love your work and follows you.  They talk to each other about your message and gift your book to their friends.

If you are like most authors, you are currently writing your book or worse have already launched your book and you haven’t been growing your tribe. That’s a very big mistake that causes very low book sales that can leave you not getting any return on your investment of hardwork, time and finances. You must make growing your tribe a priority so you have loyal fans that rave about your book and help make it viral. The bigger your tribe, the bigger difference you will be making and of course, the more books you will be selling.

If you haven’t been growing your tribe, don’t kick yourself. Now is the perfect time to start.  Here are 3 tips to help you start growing your tribe today.

1.     Who is your tribe? Clearly define who is the ideal buyer and reader of your book. Is she male or female? What is his/her age, educational background, marital status, etc?  Everyone who fits that description falls under your tribe.

“But my book is for everyone: male, female, single, divorced, married from 7 to 77 years old!” I hear you.  I believe that your book can help everyone, however for you to start building your fan base, you have to start from a very specific profile of people.

With a smaller niche, your book will be much easier to recognize rather than if you are promoting your book to the whole world. It will be much easier for you to engage with your fans and create a following. Then, it will be easier for you to expand to bigger niches eventually.

2.     Give people a free taste of your book. Set up your website wherein visitors will be able to give their name and email address so they can download one or two chapters of your book.  If you want, you can be creative and give out something other than chapters of your book that will entice visitors and give them a sense of what you have to offer.

Its crucial that you implement this tip because every person who gives you his or her email and read your material will be a new member of your tribe. You will then be able to communicate with them regularly and give them updates about your upcoming book, or keep them engaged and talking about your current book. You can do these through email, articles, teleseminars, etc.

3.     Blog regularly.  Blogging is a powerful tool in building your tribe. When you post regularly on your blog about topics that is relevant to your tribe, they become used to anticipating your next post. They will then leave comments and have discussions.

This is what you want to happen regularly. Because the more current discussions around your posts, the more people will be drawn to you. Remember, people like to engage in conversations that people similar to them are in.

In addition, when you implement this, your Google ranks go higher.  This makes it easier for your tribe to find you. Therefore, growing your tribe exponentially.