End-of-the-Year Author Platform Tune-Up (2025 Edition)
Simple To-Dos So You Can Hit the Ground Running with Your 2026 Plans
I hope everyone has been having a truly wonderful holiday season. I recognize that these final few weeks of the year come with their own rush of to-dos and gotta-get-theres — gift-exchanging, gatherings, and travel to see friends and family — but there’s also some glorious pockets of downtime. People are “out-of-office.” Fewer emails flow into the inbox. The calendar is free of zoom meetings. In-progress project discussions get kicked to the work-week start of the new year, which means Monday, January 5, in 2026.
I’m one of those New Year inbox zero types. I like using these quieter, wintry days to do clean-up and organizing — things like moving files off my desktop, shredding notebooks, deleting endless emails, and more. It’s not so much out-with-the-old, in-with-the-new, but more about meditatively appreciating work that has been done while establishing a clearer path for the work to come. I feel a sense of renewal and rejuvenation by going through this ritual, and performing these tasks during this stretch of downtime keeps it relaxed and low-pressure.
This sentiment inspired a post I shared last year at this time — The End-of-the-Year Author Platform Tune-Up — which I am resharing for the final edition of this newsletter in 2025. Going to make this an annual tradition, because of course platforms require regularly scheduled maintenance and upkeep. But overall I believe it’s a practical and inspiring exercise that is easy to accomplish, and taking care of it in late December offers up some uniquely energizing upside given the impending new year atmospherics and goal-setting dynamics.
So my suggestion is to take some time between now and Jan 5 to do an author/writer platform tune-up. Not a total revamp, or site redesign, or anything of major magnitude. This is more about simple fixes and updates on your site, newsletter, and social media profiles, so that you can move forward with your larger and more expansive 2026 plans with a running start as the new year commences.
Without further ado, here is my recommended list of very actionable, easy-lift to-dos for your end-of-the-year author platform tune-up:
Update the copyright in your website footer to 2026.
Add any recently published articles or stories to your “Publications” page.
On your “Events” page, if you’ve got programming that looks like it’s upcoming but is actually a past event, make that clear by updating accordingly. And if you’ve got 2026 programming booked, make sure it’s listed.
Same goes for your “Courses/Workshops” page, if teaching is a part of your platform. Move the old offerings aside, and make sure your current/upcoming courses/workshops are posted up front and center.
If you had a book come out recently, make sure to add/update the pull quotes from reviews on your book’s product page.
If you use a link-in-bio type of service (like Linktree) on your social media profiles, take a look at what is linked there and make the appropriate updates.
If you quit Twitter, joined Bluesky, ramped up a TikTok profile, changed your handle, or switched up where you are most active on social media, be sure to update your social media links on your site and other places where you list your profiles (like the “Links” on your Substack profile, for example).
Speaking of social media profiles, make sure to update your short bio if there’s something outdated referenced. Or add the exciting new thing that’s coming in 2026.
And in terms of your longer bio, on your site and places like LinkedIn, if there’s an award you’ve won, or you have new published pieces, or a new professional role, make sure to update your bio accordingly.
Think about updating your social media headers (on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc), especially if you are currently featuring something that’s less relevant due to the impending new year/passage of time.
If you had a book come out recently, make sure your site, social media headers, and bios no longer have “coming soon” or “pre-order” messaging about that already published book. That messaging tends to linger on author sites and social media headers, and this is a good moment to clean it up and make all the proper updates.
Got some great event photos from this past year that you never got around to posting to your site? Now is a good time to scroll your photo roll, select some highlight-level captures, and add to your site on the relevant pages.
If you’ve got a more recent and preferred social media profile photo, but it’s not actually posted on all your socials, make those updates now.
Take a look at your “Contact Me” page to add, remove, or update social media profiles, emails addresses, fields and overall messaging. Fine-tuning the messaging and fields on a Contact page can improve the way inquiries flow into your inbox, which saves you time in the long run.
Review the “Welcome” letter that gets sent to people who subscribe to your newsletter — give that an update as you likely have made changes or added features to your newsletter over this past year that are worth highlighting.
Take a look at your pinned posts on social media and decide whether it still makes sense for those posts to be pinned. Perhaps there’s something more exciting and relevant that should be swapped in, like, oh, I don’t know, your awesome, forthcoming 2026 project(s).
That'll do. I don’t want to turn this tune-up to-do list into a drag. In fact, I think ALL of the above could be done over a cup of coffee in a single morning. And it will feel really good to get these things done. An additional layer of accomplishment on top of all the amazing things you made happen in 2025. And by doing these things now, you get to hit the ground running with a tuned-up platform right at the start of 2026.
If you’ve got an additional platform tune-up suggestion, please leave it in the comments.
ABOUT THE PHOTO AT THE TOP OF THIS NEWSLETTER
That’s a rest stop near Marfa, TX, captured as the sun came up. This is me being literal for myself. We love spending time in Marfa — an abundance of eclectic art, best breakfast tacos, empty roads, backyard fire pits, and magical desert landscapes, all with the chance of a UFO sighting. A gorgeous, wide open space to reset and get some meditative thinking done. The photo captures the restful and restorative vibe I’m trying to convey in this particular newsletter send. Still on the move, exploring and seeking, but doing so with the proper relaxed mindset, pulling over for as long as you damn well please to take in the view.
HUGE THANK YOU AND HAPPY NEW YEAR
We got snow earlier this week in NYC. This used to be far more common, but now, it’s like a special treat. I’ll take that as a very auspicious sign as we close out this year and gear up for the new one.
Thank you for subscribing, reading, sharing, and commenting. I’ve truly enjoyed the community building and inspiring content flow coming out of the newsletter space, and I’m grateful to be a part it.
I hope you and yours have a very Happy New Year. See you in 2026!
ABOUT THE WRITER OF THIS NEWSLETTER
Jeffrey Yamaguchi is going to practice what he preaches and rewrite this “About Me” section of the newsletter as part of his end-of-the-year platform tune-up.
Thank you.
Thanks for the helpful list. So appreciate it.