An author platform is a means of bringing your book, work, and brand to the attention of potential book buyers.

Building an author platform means figuring out how what you have to say fits in with the needs of customers—and how to get your messages out to those book buyers through public appearances, social media, and traditional media.

To start building an author platform, follow these 7 steps and begin to create a following for your book now, regardless of where you are in the process of writing it.

Step 1: Begin speaking and writing about your story and the topic of your book if you haven’t already. If you’re writing a memoir to inspire other women to take control of their finances after a financial crisis, get your thoughts together and try them out on a Facebook page or a blog attached to a simple website. If you want to write a memoir based on your experiences, start writing—and start talking about your experience with others online and in person. Discover where people interested in what you want to say congregate in the real world and in the virtual world. Summarize your topic in a few words and do a Google search. What pages come up? Where are people finding information about your topic?

Step 2: Analyze the market.  What are others with messages and stories like yours doing to get the word out? What social media do they use? How do they connect with their followers? Women over 40 are the biggest book buying demographic. They love Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. LinkedIn and Instagram are options, too, as is Twitter. Figure out where people are talking about your topic and get active on that social media site. You don’t have to have accounts on all of them or be active on all of them, but you do have to be out there and see what people are saying.

Step 3: Put down the megaphone for a minute. Communication is a two-way street. Yes, you have something to say, but you also need to listen to your followers and potential book buyers. How are you going to connect with them in such a way that you aren’t just talking AT them but WITH them? How can you use social media or a blog to hear from them? How can you do a workshop with them to hear their questions for you? What do THEY need from you, your work, and your book?

Step 4: Brand yourself, your story, and your work. If you do public speaking on a topic, or have a professional reputation that’s integral to the book you wish to write, you already have a brand, although it may need some tweaking. A brand is an identity or image. What is your public image? How do you get it across on your Facebook page, YouTube Channel, or website and blog that you showcase you to people outside of family and friends? If you have no brand and no public image that strangers who would be interested in your work and your book can access online, you need to get one—now.

Step 5: Find or tweak your tagline, hook, or title. If you write on parenting, what type of parent are you? What is your message to other parents? How can you sum it up in a few words that will resonate emotionally for other parents who would be interested in your work and your book? If you have a hook already, is it working for you? Did you outgrow it? Is it hard for people to remember? Too much like someone else’s trademark? Play with it! Get a great tagline, hook, or title.

Step 6: Develop an online presence. It’s not enough to be out and about in the real world talking about your story and your ideas. You must have an online presence that includes social media accounts. Join the conversation about your topic that is unfolding online.

Social media not only allows you to express yourself but also allows you to get feedback and questions from others. Your fans can easily share your posts and videos with others and do publicity work for you. Don’t delay creating an online presence just because you’re not sure how to go about it. You can get started with a website and blog and begin blogging. Go to WordPress.com and begin WordPress blog. Or, start with a public Facebook page for your work or idea, and ask people you know are interested in the topic to follow it and like, share, and comment on your posts. (You’ll find practical tips for making that happen in my eBook 25 Powerful Ways to Get Engagement on Facebook.) YouTube is now the #2 search engine on the web (behind Google), so create some videos and a YouTube Channel. (Here is my own YouTube channel for Nancy Peske, the Sensory Smart Parent, if you want to get some ideas.)

If you’re new to social media, do a browser search for tips on how to blog, how to make a video, how to upload a video to YouTube, and how to use Facebook. Ask a friend to help you. Take a webinar or teleseminar. Buy a book on social media. Or hire me as a book publishing consultant to help you strategize your social media and online presence. I’ll get you started!

Step 7: Pay close attention to what other, similar authors are doing. Check out some of the social media pages, websites, and blogs you follow for ideas. And take a look at these examples of hooks and brands some of my clients have created, and created an online presence for:

Author Victoria Treadwell has a website that will tell you all about her marvelous 30,000-word memoir of helping her husband triumph over brain cancer, called Love & Grit.

When Mama Can’t Kiss It Better: A Journey of Unconditional Love, Loss, and Acceptance by Lori Gertz has a Facebook page.  Her blog, where she writes pieces about her experience having to un-adopt the daughter she dearly loves, can be found at www.lorigertz.com

Intuitive counselor Tara Taylor, whose tagline is Be the Master of Your Life, has a website at http://www.tarataylor.ca and public Facebook page for herself as an author.  Tara’s personal life, which led to the coaching and counseling work she does, was fictionalized into a paranormal YA series beginning with the book Through Indigo’s Eyes which was cowritten with Lorna Nicholson Schultz.

Kathi Casey, The Healthy Boomer Body Expert, has a website at www.kathicasey.com  Her Facebook page is Kathy Casey, Your Healthy Boomer Body Expert.  And she has a YouTube channel featuring videos demonstrating her work. Her book is Stop Back Pain! and its website is www.kissbackpaingoodbye.com

Debbie Magids, psychologist, uses The Total Health Prescription as her tagline and her name as her website, www.drdebbie.com  Her Facebook page is Dr. Debbie Magids Her book, available in bookstores, in online bookstores, and through her site, is All the Good Ones AREN’T Taken. 

Elena Mannes, Mannes Productions, wrote the book The Music Instinct, available in bookstores, online, and through her website: She has a website for her work as a documentarian at www.mannesproductions.com

Carl Greer, author of Change Your Story, Change Your Life and Change the Story of Your Health from Findhorn Press, has a website at www.carlgreer.com and a Facebook page for Carl Greer, Author  as well as a Twitter account. Carl Greer began his website, blog, and Facebook page after writing his book and before creating and sending out his first book proposal.

I began creating my website, www.nancypeske.com, and this blog  in 2009 in order to help people learn about my work and get guidance on how to write a book, get it published, and market it. I have a Facebook page for my work as a ghostwriter and developmental editor, called Nancy Peske, Literary Editor.  I  love to hear what people have to say, and I solicit feedback to help me become better at serving their needs and doing what I do.

Your author platform won’t build itself, and you don’t have to wait to get your book written to start creating it. Take action now to build your following! And subscribe to my newsletter and check out my Facebook page, Nancy Peske’s Nonfiction Author Community, to receive more helpful tips on building an author platform, writing a book, and getting your book published and discovered. Just sign up at www.NancyPeske.com AND you’ll get a free report on how to find the right publisher for YOU!

(P.S. If you’re interested in author platform building, check out my ebook 25 Powerful Ways to Get Engagement on Facebook._