15 Favorite Ways to Develop Your Author Platform

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my monthly blog updates by email. As a thank-you gift, I'll send you my free special report, Your Author Website: 21 Content Ideas for Profit and Publicity. Thanks for visiting!

Enter Your Email


Here are my 15 favorite ways to develop your author platform. Please use comments to add your own. And don’t forget to read my original post on author platforms below!

  1. Get credentials related to your specialty
  2. Join and participate in professional associations
  3. Create a website that demonstrates your expertise
  4. Publish a blog
  5. Publish a podcast
  6. Write and publish articles (online or in print publications)
  7. Publish an ezine
  8. Volunteer or do perform pro bono work
  9. Serve on committees and panels
  10. Teach — online and off
  11. Get quoted in magazines and newspapers
  12. Participate in social networks
  13. Give speeches
  14. Get on radio and TV
  15. Create a PR campaign — both online and off

Tags: , , , ,

Related posts

April 23, 2007 | Filed Under Author Platforms, Author Websites, Blogging, Getting Publicity, Online Book Promotion, Podcasting, Social Media & Networking | 2 Comments 

What Is Your Author Platform?

The term author platform is popping up all over the place, but what exactly is an author platform? Essentially, your platform is based on your expertise. For nonfiction, this relates to the topic of your books. In some cases, your platform is obvious. For example, you’re a registered dietitian and former athlete who writes books about sports nutrition.  If you write about a topic that doesn’t offer specific credentials (let’s say you write travel books about the Pacific Northwest), you can still develop a platform. You’ll just demonstrate your expertise in a different way.

Some authors have a different challenge — they write about multiple, unrelated topics. This used to be a challenge for me. My main area of expertise is technology, particularly anything related to the web or online marketing/PR. But I have a wide variety of interests and didn’t want to be pigeonholed. If this sounds like you, it’s still critical to develop a platform based on your main expertise. Having a platform doesn’t mean that you can never do anything else. But you should choose one area of focus, design all your communications vehicles (website, blog, etc.) about this focus.

What about fiction authors? Your platform, obviously, should focus on your genre. It’s even better to focus on a smaller niche. For example, get known for knitting mysteries, literary novels set in pre-WW II Europe, urban chick lit, etc. Even if you do write outside your niche from time to time, having one will help differentiate you from all the other novelists in your genre.

April 23, 2007 | Filed Under Author Platforms | Leave a Comment 

Free Book Videos at AuthorViews

Reader Mike Maranhas, author of Re’enev, recently wrote to alert me to another great promotional opportunity for fellow readers of The Web-Savvy Writer blog. AuthorViews is a company that creates free book videos for authors. You need to be at one of the book events around the country in which AuthorViews is participating, but there is no charge for your two-minute video. To learn more about the program and how to get your own video, visit the AuthorViews website.

April 16, 2007 | Filed Under Book Trailers | Leave a Comment 

Online Press Releases: Attract Both the Media and Potential Readers

Creating and distributing a online press release is a great way to generate interest in your book. Today’s online press releases reach more than just the media, however. You also need to target potential readers who could find your release on online news sites or through a web search. Here are three tips for press release success:

# 1 Focus on the Needs of Your Audience

Don’t just issue a release announcing your new book and think it will automatically draw a lot of attention. Be creative and create a release that has meaning and value to your audience. For example, include expert tips, piggyback on another relevant news topic, or add a local twist to your release. If you want some tips from a publicity expert on how to write the type of release that generates results, visit The Publicity Hound, which offers lots of great content on attracting the press and customers with targeted press releases. The CD program The New Rules of Press Releases: How to Write Them for Buyers, Not Only Journalists is particularly relevant.

#2 Think Multimedia When Designing Your Release

Why issue a plain-text release when you could enliven it with pictures, sound, and interactivity? Consider adding photos, web links, and podcast files to your release for maximum impact. Connecting with your audience through audio and video not only differentiates your release from hundreds of other releases, it also encourages a one-to-one connection. This in turn can help capture the attention of a busy journalist or a potential reader. One of my favorite online press distribution services is PRWeb, which offers a lot of multimedia extras to its customers.

#3 Be Proactive in Seeking Media Attention

Rather than just waiting for the media to read your release and contact you, be proactive in seeking media attention. Look into publicity leads services such as PRLeads or Annie Jennings PR, which send you leads on journalists seeking experts to interview. For example, if you’re the author of a book on sports nutrition, you could receive a lead from a writer for a national magazine looking to interview an expert to provide nutritional tips for weekend athletes.

April 16, 2007 | Filed Under Author Websites, Getting Publicity | Leave a Comment 

Recycle Your Blog Content for Added Promotion Punch

Do you recycle your blog content? If not, you should. Here are six ways to get more mileage out of your existing blog content:

Any more ideas? Add your own as a comment attached to this blog post.

April 1, 2007 | Filed Under Blogging | 3 Comments 

The Key to Book Promotion Success: Have a Plan

One of the great things about online book promotion is that there are so many options. Websites, reciprocal linking, SEO, virtual book tours, blogging, podcasting, RSS, social networking, multimedia–so many different ways to market your book, each with its own spin and variations. If you’re like me, you keep a list of all the different ideas you think of to promote your books. Sometimes, it’s a very long list. So long that it can be hard to get going or know where to start. And so the list sits idle, with maybe a checkmark here or there, but essentally uncompleted.

To avoid being overwhelmed with the many options for promoting your book online, it’s important to have a plan. Go through your list of ideas and prioritize them. Or, if you’re looking for new ideas and how to execute them, check out my book The Web-Savvy Writer. From your prioritized list, create a monthly plan for online book promotion (or an annual plan, if you’re really ambitious). Schedule in time to enter blog posts, update your website, create that podcast, and more. Break larger promotion projects into chunks that you can list separately.

By having a plan, you’ll get much farther in your online promotion efforts–and reach your profit goals that much faster.

April 1, 2007 | Filed Under Online Book Promotion | 3 Comments 

Interactive Social Media Site for Book Lovers

An author/publisher friend of mine recently alerted me to another new opportunity for promoting books online. It’s called Shelfari and is a free, interactive social media site for book lovers. I just joined today so am still exploring this site, but can already see many ways that you could use it to promote your books as well as interact with readers and other authors. If you do join, feel free to search on my name and add me as friend.

Tags:
April 1, 2007 | Filed Under Social Media & Networking | Leave a Comment