Whether you are preparing to launch your new book, still writing the manuscript, or marketing your book a year after its release, you can’t ignore the importance of your author platform for your success as an author. Today you need to demonstrate to a publisher you have built a big enough platform to sell a sufficient number of books before they’ll offer you a contract. And if you pursue self-publishing, it is even more important. How else will readers find your book? An author platform isn’t measured by the number of followers on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram, but on the size and scope of readers who know you already and are interested in what you have to say. Taking stock of your efforts to attract readers will help you determine where to put your efforts into growing your customer base. Building your author platform requires a consistent, focused effort to make incremental improvements in extending your reach through expanding your social networks. Whether you use an Excel or Google spreadsheet, or a whiteboard on your wall, create a grid for assessing your current author platform. Channels: Make a list of all the ways you communicate with (potential) readers and places where you can be reached by someone who is trying to connect with you   Mailing address Email address Agent’s contact information Publisher’s contact information Publicist’s contact information Website Blog Newsletter Amazon profile Goodreads profile LinkedIn profile Facebook Page and/or personal profile Twitter profile Instagram profile Pinterest profile Previous publications…

Ravelry is a social media platform with 8 million members of the knitting and crochet community. It’s a place for knitters, crocheters, designers, spinners, felters, and dyers to keep track of their yarn, tools, and patterns, and share ideas and inspiration. Knitting has always been a part of my life. Grandma Swenson knit me Barbie Doll outfits out of fine sock yarn. I learned to crochet from Grandma Kling. During college and graduate school, I knit through most of my lecture classes. My best friend from college, Amy E. Anderson, is a designer whose patterns for sweaters, hats, slippers, mittens, and bags I’ve knit and felted over the years. During several winters in the oughts, I taught knitting classes at the Finger Lakes Fiber Arts yarn shop in Watkins Glen, NY. I’ve taken dyeing classes and been a member of the Black Sheep Fiber Guild. I still spin. It is a form of meditation, a discipline. Craft for many, art for some. For pattern designers who author knitting books, Ravelry is a key platform in their business plan. It’s a quick way to find your target audience. It’s a marketplace of goods and services for the fiber arts and crafts community and free to the user. It’s not a place where you’d expect to find a lot of hate speech. But on Sunday, June 23rd, Ravelry implemented a new policy. “Do Not Post In Support of Trump or his Administration.” They aren’t endorsing Democrats or banning Republicans. The incivility in…

The single most effective marketing method for book sales remains the power of a personal recommendation. It’s advertising you just can’t buy. Hence so much focus on reviews and endorsements for your book. This also explains the current appeal of social media marketing in an author’s marketing toolkit.  If your friend on Facebook likes a book, you might too. Pinterest, Instagram, Vine, Tumblr, and Twitter are sexy new ways to gain exposure for you and your book. LinkedIn and especially GoodReads rely on the sales principle of recommendations for books through your professional networks and social circles. But authors shouldn’t be distracted by bright shiny objects over the power of personalized email messages. Publicity is one thing. Sales are another. A personal email closes a book sales deal better than social media. Converting hits into sales is most effective with email. Email is effective because it’s permission-based. Sending out unsolicited emails is called spam. An author needs to start building a list of email contacts who opt-in to receive messages about you and your writing projects. People on your email list have given you a green light. They’ve already bought into your project and are invested in its success. Authors need to invite visitors to their website and blog to subscribe by email. All those contacts are potential customers and you and your publisher will work together toward getting your book into the hands of these readers. One of the most effective ways of converting contacts into book buyers is…