This post is by Valerie Khoo, National Director of the Australian Writers’ Centre
I’m a little bit cranky. Why? Well, I was talking to an author the other day and she was bemoaning the fact that her books aren’t selling to her expectations. I tried to explain to her that it was very hard to find any evidence of her online – and that didn’t do her book sales any favours. I gave her lots of examples of other authors who are doing extremely well with their book sales – and it’s no coincidence that they have a strong online presence. That’s what the above author was missing.
I’m talking about an author platform. These days, if you want to give your book(s) the best chance of success, you need a strong author platform (which is just a fancy way of referring to your profile). But here’s the thing… you need to start building your author platform long before you finish writing your book.
You read that correctly. Even if you only have aspirations to being an author, it’s advisable to seriously consider starting to build your author platform now.
The good news is that it’s not hard. You just need to know HOW to do it. That’s where our new course comes in. Talented and successful author Allison Tait (her latest books are The Mapmaker Chronicles) has designed a blueprint to build an author platform that boosts your profile and sells more books. She knows how it’s done because she’s done it herself. And she outlines everything you need to know so you can do it for yourself.
