What Is Your Author Platform?
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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.
Tags: author platform, book marketing, book publicity, online book promotionRelated posts
Social Media Overload, or How to Network Online and Still Have Time to Write
LinkedIn. MySpace. Facebook. YouTube. Shoutlife. Twitter. Digg.
And the list goes on. With so many options available today, it’s easy to experience social media overload.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m a big fan of social media and how it can help you develop your author platform and sell more books. But it can be overwhelming, even addictive for some. With new social sites popping up every day, how do you make the most of the opportunities social media provides and still have time to write?
Here’s my advice:
- Be choosy. You don’t have to participate actively on every available site. Pick a few sites that best match your goals and your target audience and invest your time there. Don’t feel guilty if you don’t have a presence on MySpace or Digg just because “everybody” else does.
- Check your web analytics. Review your web stats to see where your traffic is coming from and focus on the social sites that bring the most traffic. A great free tool that helps you analyze your web traffic is Google Analytics. You may be surprised when you view your results. For example, I didn’t expect much when I created a MySpace profile, but I generate a lot of traffic from this site even though I update it infrequently.
- Schedule time for social networking. Whether it’s every morning for 15 minutes or once a week for an hour, having a schedule helps you set limits. Your schedule doesn’t have to be set in stone, however. When you’re busy promoting a new book, you may spend more time on social networking sites. When you’re faced with a major deadline, you may spend far less time.
- Categorize sites based on effectiveness. If you discover that your Facebook profile generates far better results than your MySpace profile, for example, you may want to invest time on Facebook on a weekly basis and update your MySpace site only once a month.
- Consider automation. Using tools like Ping.fm enable you to update multiple social sites at once. Linking between your social site profiles, your blog, and your website also helps increase visibility with little effort.
- Get focused to get results. Just because you spend an hour a week on social sites doesn’t mean you’re automatically going to generate the results you want. You need to understand the best ways to use each site so that you spend your time effectively. Fifteen means of strategic social networking can be worth far more than several hours of aimless social surfing.
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Authors Need to Get Social to Get Book Sales
Recently I read a forum post in which an author said that she didn’t want anyone she didn’t know to see her Facebook page. This reminded me of a similar experience I had several months ago, when a new author declined my Facebook connection request because she didn’t personally know me.
Now, I understand the concern for privacy, and make sure that I don’t reveal too much personal information on the web myself. But authors who don’t make the most of everything the social web has to offer are really missing out on one of the best free promotional tools around. As an author, you need to connect with readers, develop your platform and audience, and get the word out about your books.
Social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and the many other book and niche sites offer a great opportunity for doing just that. Think of your online profiles as extensions of your public website. If you want to connect only with people you know, do so in a private group. But make your public profiles as open and accessible as possible to develop those increasingly important connections with readers and peers.
And if you’re a fellow author wanting to connect with me on Facebook, go ahead and send a request. I won’t say no 
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Second Edition of The Web-Savvy Writer Now Available
The second edition of The Web-Savvy Writer: Book Promotion with a High-Tech Twist
This edition contains extensive updates plus lots of new content about the ever-changing world of online book promotion. I cover the basics, such as author websites and Amazon promotion, and then delve into blogging, podcasting, social media, virtual book tours, book trailers, and more.
Tags: book marketing, book publicity, online book promotion, The Web-Savvy WriterRelated posts
Book Promotion 2.0 Video
To celebrate the release of my latest book, The Web-Savvy Writer: Book Promotion with a High-Tech Twist, Second Edition, I created the following trailer. Hope that you enjoy watching it, and that it inspires you to create a trailer for your own book!
Tags: book marketing, book publicity, online book promotionRelated posts
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Patrice-Anne Rutledge is a bestselling author of 26 books translated into 11 languages who has been featured on CNN, Inc., CareerBuilder, AOL, Global Business and dozens of other publications around the world. She is an online book promotion expert who holds the designation of Certified eMarketer (CeM).
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