Building Your Author Platform

It's imperative that you do two things -- even BEFORE you publish your book. Know yourself, and know your audience.

Everyone has a personal brand. Whether you know it or not, whether you use it to your advantage or not, you have one. The first step in your author marketing journey should be to determine what you want that brand to be. Who are you/who do you want to be publicly? The process of publishing and marketing a book is ALL about connection. It’s about you connecting with people. You have to be able to show the world who you are. You’ve got to know who you are before you can properly connect with people transparently.

It’s also imperative to know your audience. Why did you write your book? What is your goal (beyond “selling books”)? Who did you intend to read your book? Where do they live, what do they do, where do they spend their time? Create an avatar of your ideal reader. This will come in handy through the entire publishing and marketing process.

Think about your ideal audience’s:

• Gender

• Age

• Race

• Religion

• Household income

• Education level

• Do they have children, how many

• Marital status

• Location

• Where they spend their time

• How they consume information

Having a reader avatar means that you can more easily target your marketing efforts and know the best ways to communicate with your reader.