Traditional publishers and agents expect a full platform typically, before they even look at an author. Don’t you suppose, even if you are an Indie publisher, you should also have this set up?
So, what is a full platform?
To begin with, you need at least the top five social networking sites. (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram) Then, add in GoodReads which is specific to books, and while you are at it, you should add an Amazon Author Central account.
Once you have those, you need an author website, and all of these places should interact with each other automatically. That means if you make a post on Facebook, it will also appear on your website and other compatible platform areas. (Facebook will play with Twitter, although Twitter doesn’t play well in return.)
I know some of you have book websites rather than an author website. I want to caution you here though. If you write more than one book, now you must go build a new website and push lots of marketing there. With an author site, you can simply add the new book to the home page and continue marketing to the same site.
I realize you may not be inclined to do all of this, although I must ask you this. Do you want the kind of infamy that E.L.James has? She didn’t become an overnight success because she had a great book. She did so with the use of this technique. The day she published her book, she had connections through social media with thousands of people, to which she sent word to go buy her book. In her first month she sold thousands of copies. This was all done with the use of a well integrated and well used platform. Then, because she sold so many, so quickly, she received a traditional contract in a few short months.
So it’s time to bite the bullet and get out there. YouTube is a great place to learn about all these things. It is where I go whenever something new is on the rise.
