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.

Author Platforms 

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