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kingwand
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Sep 6 2015, 02:27 AM
Post #1
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A publisher’s or a literary agents’ first question she / he asks you: What is your platform? Editors and agents are for sure attracted to authors who have a “platform”. They are looking for someone with visibility and authority, who has a proven outreach to a target audience. Why? The short answer is: Money. Publishing houses are everything but non-profit organizations, they want to earn as much money as possible from the manuscripts they buy. They can only sell a considerable amount of books and make money when lots of people know about the author and his or her work – provided the author is able to spread the word about the book to a huge audience. . What is an Author Platform …. which is not only important for authors who want to sell their manuscript to a trade publisher, but equally or even more important for independent writers who want to author-publish: Authority: What other articles or books, blogs or articles for newspapers or magazines have you written previously? What’s your credibility? What are your credentials? Proven reach: For example the size of your e-mail newsletter list, your website traffic, blog comments, high-profile reviews, testimonials or references for your writing from bestseller authors in your genre. Visibility: What communities are you a part of? Who knows you? Who is aware of your work? Where does your work regularly appear? How many people see it? Who do you influence? Target audience: Being visible to the right audience for the book you are publishing. For example, if you wrote a book how career women can combine work and parenthood, you should have a large target audience of parents, career women, mommy-bloggers, maybe even kindergarten teachers or psychologists. . No Hard-Selling: It’s not about hard selling or constant self-promotion. And it is also not a one-time event or something you can create overnight or in a month. Creating your platform is a long-term project and it cannot be developed by posting “Follow me!” on Twitter or “Like me!” on Facebook… Compare it to opening a business or becoming self-employed: it takes many months, sometimes years, until a solid foundation is grown, one customer at a time. . How Can You Grow Your Platform: Publishing or distributing quality work online, on blogs, newsletters or websites, or articles in magazines and newspapers, taking part at social networks, producing pod casts, webinars or videos for your target audience. Speaking at and/or attending events where you meet new people and extend your network of contacts and your visibility. . Don’t Give Up – it All Takes Time: Write content and reach out: Building your author platform belongs to the same project as the book you write. Use your creativity , and again: write lots of content, such as guest posts, blogs and short stories for weblogs, websites, magazines, newspapers, and give speeches and presentations at writers conferences or at local libraries. Reach out to potential fans of your writing – one reader at a time.
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