Coffeeshop Author Talk Magazine September 2013 | Page 6

What Is An Author Platform? This can be defined in many ways, just depends on which one you like best. Let’s digress, shall we? An Author Platform is all about you, the author, and how many people you interact with. It can be defined as… • Your target market or audience, are people visiting your website? • Your Reach, how many people do you reach daily via social media, mailing lists, blogs, etc.? • Your Visibility as an Author, who actually sees you on a daily basis?

What is an Author Platform Anyways?
• Your Expertise, how many people can vow for you that you know what you’re talking about? If you are writing, or have written a book, all of this is very, very important to you. Without a platform, your books will never see past just being published. You want people to buy and read your book, right? Of course you do! That means you need an Author Platform to help you. It’s a marketing tool, and one that you will need. The sooner you start building it, the better off you’ll be in the long run. Start building it right away. Yes! Even before your first book is published. It’s not enough to just have a Facebook page or Twitter account, and I sure hope you’re not only discussing your book or books on these networks. It’s not all about JUST sales. It’s about…wait for it… Relationships! Think of readers as friends, not just people that will read your book. Talk to them. One thing I’ve found is that readers love to know that authors are real people and not just sales robots.