Build your author presence
Secure your social handles
Register your author name as a handle on the platforms that matter for your readers, then be active only where you actually want to be.
Why it matters
Handles are part of your public identity, and they get printed in bios, on slides at events, and in the back matter of the book. A handle that changes, or that turns out to belong to someone else, is a small permanent error. Securing the names early costs a few minutes; the impersonation case costs a great deal more.
Your part
- What you do
- Decide. Make a judgment about fit, cost, or strategy.
- Who normally owns it
- Author
- When
- Any time, ideally as soon as the author name is settled (Build your author presence: any time, and the earlier the better)Checked September 14, 2026
How to do it
The full walkthrough
A social handle is the username that appears in a profile's address. Registering yours on the major platforms early is cheap insurance: it stops a namesake, a fan, or an impersonator from taking it, and it means the handle in your media kit will still be yours in three years.
Registering is not the same as posting. Nobody expects an author to be active on six platforms, and trying usually produces six neglected accounts. Pick one or two where your readers already are, and treat the rest as placeholders with a photo, a one-line bio, and a link to your website that says where to find you.
Traditionally published authors sometimes find the publisher's marketing team has opinions about which platforms matter for the book. Listen, then choose what you can sustain. Hybrid and self-published authors are on their own here and can be more ruthless about ignoring platforms that do not suit them.
Use the same handle everywhere if you can. If your name is taken on one platform, choose a consistent fallback (an added word such as "author" or "writes") and use that same fallback on every platform where the plain name is unavailable.
Common mistakes
- Registering everything and posting nowhere, so the accounts look abandoned.
- Using different handles on each platform because the first choice was taken.
- Listing a placeholder account in the media kit, then sending journalists to a dead page.
- Registering with an email you later lose access to.
What done looks like
- Your published name (or a consistent fallback) registered on the platforms relevant to your readers.
- Placeholder accounts carrying your headshot, a one-line bio, and a link to the website, with a note saying where you are active.
- Active accounts limited to one or two platforms you can keep up.
- Handles recorded in the Book Identity Sheet with login details stored securely.
- Only the active handles listed in the media kit and on the book.
Sources and last checked
- Official source
- No single official page for this step.
- Last checked
- September 14, 2026
- How confident we are
- Verified
Rules and deadlines change. We last checked this information on September 14, 2026. If you see something that needs updating, please tell us.