Shelley Hitz - 9 Strategies to BUILD and GROW Your Author Platform: A Step-by-Step Book Marketing Plan to Get More Exposure and Sales

9 Strategies to BUILD and GROW Your Author Platform

Copyright 2014 Training Authors, a division of
Body and Soul Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

No part of this eBook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any informational storage or retrieval system without express written, dated and signed permission from the author.

Edited by Shannon Janeczek: www.publishsavvy.com

Bonus Video Training:

Download the PDF version of this book and watch the bonus video training here: http://trainingauthors.com/sellmorebooks

Table of Contents

Introduction

This book is all about building and growing your author platform.

The idea for this book came to me while I was in church one Sunday. Yes, I know, I am supposed to be paying attention to the pastor and not thinking about book ideas when in church. However, sometimes the best book ideas come to us at the strangest times. I bet you would agree and have a few stories of your own.

For weeks, I had been reflecting about what really works when building an author platform to sell more books. I was reading books and reflecting on my own success as an author. Then, in the middle of that church service in March, the idea came to me in the form of a 9-step formula.

My 9-step formula is contained within the following acronym:

B.U.I.L.D. and G.R.O.W.

Immediately, I realized the 9 steps contained within BUILD and GROW not only represents my own success as an author, but also clearly explains what every author truly wants. We want to build an author platform that connects us with our potential readersour customers. And once we have built our author platform, we want it to grow .

Building and growing our author platform will allow us to accomplish two things:

1.) Reach more people with our message.

2.) Sell more books.

However, so many times we get stuck in the process.

I have talked with many authors over the years, and so many of them get stuck in one step or another of building an author platform.

In this book, I am going to give you a step-by-step system that can help you connect with your readers so that you can get more exposure and sell more books. Sound good?

What is an author platform?

Many authors are confused by the term author platform. To explain this, let me use the following illustration.

I performed a lot growing up, so I was often on a platform. I would sing in the childrens choir at church and was cast as the lead role in a musical in eighth grade. In high school, I was in show choir and performed in a singing group in college.

However, if we had performed without a stage, on the floor with everyone else, or if there had been no lights or sound system, it would have been very difficult for the audience to get the best experience possible. It would have been difficult for them to see or hear us.

For performers, the platform brings you up to a level where everyone can see you and hear your message.

The same thing is true for your author platform. It allows you to gain the attention of your target audienceto get noticed and get exposure.

Your author platform is the stage.

Simple or complex?

Your author platform does not need to be complex. It can be simple to get your message across.

For example, sometimes a street performer uses a small box and stands on a street corner. That is their platform. In a similar way, your author platform can be simple, but effective.

However, you can add another way to reach your audience with your author platform. Just like popular music artists will rent a big stadium, use all kinds of lights, have the best-of-the-best sound equipment, and smoke machines to reach their audience, you can also create a more complex way to reach your target audience. There is an entire spectrum; you can have something very simple or something very complex. Whatever you choose, you need to have an author platform.

When done properly, it can provide a way for you to reach your audience, gain exposure for your books/services/business, and eventually build trust with your audience where they want to buy from you.

And thats the end goal, right?

We want our message to reach more people. We want to earn an income from our work. It is the difference between writing as a hobby and writing as part of a thriving business.

The steps I share in this book are strategies I wish I had known when I first started publishing in 2008. What I am going to share with you is what I have learned the hard way.

They say hindsight is 20/20, right?

I have made many mistakes in my career as an author, but I persevered. In 2011, I resigned my 9-to-5 job as a physical therapist, and have been working full-time as a self-employed business owner (author, speaker, and entrepreneur) since that time. I have published over 30 books and continue to publish new books all the time. If you are interested, you can read my full bio, including my successes and my failures, here .

This short eBook is not meant to be a comprehensive guide containing every detail you need to learn regarding book marketing. However, its purpose is to give you the foundational framework for which you can build the rest of your book marketing efforts upon. Building an author platform is a long-term strategy that can reap rewards for years. Ive sold over 103,000 books in the last six years, and I feel like I am just getting started!

And now I am excited to take you on this journey of building and growing YOUR author platform.

Lets get started!

B - Bridge to Your Readers

The first part of the BUILD and GROW system is to build a bridge to your readers. I want you to see your author platform as a bridge to your readers. Your platform allows your readers to find you. For example, imagine how different things would be if we did not have any physical bridges. We literally could not get to certain locations.

My husband and I were missionaries in the country of Belize for two years. During our stay in Belize, we took a trip to Blue Creek in the Toledo district. This was one of the poorest areas of the country, and at the time, they had gotten a lot of rain. Therefore, we had to cross several bridges to get into the town, Blue Creek.

One of the bridges we had to cross was almost submerged. Had that bridge been completely underwater, we would not have been able to get across. We would not have been able to get our message to the people in that village that evening. We had a big Suburban with big tires, and so even though there was several inches of water, we were still able to get across.

Is your book an island?

I want you to ask yourself these questions:

If your book is an island

- Do your readers know your book exists?

- Have you built any bridges to connect your book with your readers?

- Do you have any way for your reader to find you?

- Do you have a website?

- Do you have social media platforms and other ways to connect with your reader?

If you didn't answer yes to most or all of those questions, it will be very difficult for your readers to find you.

I want you to think about how you are creating a bridge to your readers with your author platform. You are creating a way to reach your reader.

There are three essential components of your author platform.

Your website is the first essential part of your author platform. I recommend you have a website as your hub. Your website should be the place you promote online and offline to your target audience.

Here is a list of the pages you should include on your author website (the first five are essential, the last four are optional)

1. Homepage

2. About

3. Book pages