platform

You’ve probably seen them: those interviews where there is no energy and the guest is as placid as the polar ice cap. Or worse: the guest is talkative—too talkative—and  runs over the host with wanton disregard. Guests like these are rarely invited back. The key to becoming a media darling and keeping the publicity coming is to be a great interviewee. Here are a few tips to help you do just that:

• Keep it short and sweet: Whether your appearance is in print, radio, television, or otherwise, the publication or broadcast program will have a limited amount of space and airtime allotted for each item. Be respectful and keep your answers brief.
• Develop your talking points: Though questions may vary from interview to interview, there will be some basic questions asked over and over again (e.g., what is your book about, why did you start writing, what advice do you have for writers, etc.). So, develop a few key talking points that you can easily integrate into every interview. Also, customize a few for each venue. This means doing your research before you show up to the interview.
• Mention your book often!: The point of publicity is to get your name and the name of your book out there. Mention your book, website, and contact information often. Here is a short video demonstrating how to easily work that information in to the conversation.
• Dress and act professionally: The majority of a person's impression of you is formulated before you even open your mouth. To make the best first impression, dress like you care about the interview. If it’s an online or phone interview, make sure your website and social media are professional and clean; be on time and courteous; and don’t tie up the long-distance line any longer than necessary.
• Tempo: Speak quickly enough to finish your talking point, but don't speak so fast that no one can understand you. Take deep breaths, wait for the host to complete his or her question before answering, and actively listen to yourself so you can catch any acceleration in pace.
• Be gracious: Especially if you are a first-time author, don't continually correct the host or editor, don't constantly nag, and by all means say thank you!

Being polite, brief, and professional will take you far with the media. And remember to prepare beforehand so you can work in all of your talking points and sell more books!

If you have written a book, or even if you haven’t, you may have heard the term “author platform.” Many authors overlook this seemingly vague and often misunderstood term. However, it is by far the most important element of your writing career, aside from the book itself.  So what is an author platform? Essentially, it’s the base of people who have a built-in interest in your book and who would regard you as an authority in your field. Your platform is your audience, your publicity plans and other promotional activities will be targeted at them.

The author platform is essential because it is what sets you apart from every other author in your genre. Publishers and media always look at author platform, sometimes even before they look to the content of the book itself. The platform is what will cut through all of the millions of advertising and media messages and carry your book to readers, and in turn drive sales. If your platform is not strong, active, and growing, publishers and media will move on to the next author who does have one.

How do you develop a platform? Before you determine that, there is an even bigger question that needs to be addressed. First, you need to start by defining your target reader. Who are you writing for? Who would be interested in the information you have to share? You need to be as specific as possible in stating your target audience. You can’t just say “anyone who reads.” Not everyone who reads is interested in every topic on the market. Instead you need to hone the target down to something like “work-from-home moms” or “twenty-something executives.” Once your audience is identified, you can start developing your platform.

Now that you have your target reader in mind, you need to define how you’ll build a group of them to serve as your platform. Using the “twenty-something executive” audience, possible outreach strategies include “tips to break the executive ceiling,” “profiles of young achievers,” “strategies for success,” etc. Whatever the focus is, it needs to relate to both your audience and your book. If your book is about underwater basket weaving, you won’t have much luck driving sales using a platform geared toward young executives.

There are many ways to connect with your potential readers so you can build a platform, including: a website (both for you and your book itself), blogs, social media, speaking, teaching, appearances, organizational involvement (e.g. writers and trade groups, charities, local organizations), book signings, articles—just about any activity you can think of. However, in order to successfully grow your platform, each of these activities needs to be cohesive and relevant to the overall topic and consistent with your message. Be sure to keep your activities manageable and linked to book sales. This mean sharing your blog posts through social media accounts, promoting events through all of your media channels, participating in organizations that cater to your audience, referring to your book frequently in interviews and conversations, and linking to the book website anywhere you have an Internet presence, among others.

If you are still unsure about the strength of your platform and how to develop it, your publicist is the best resource to help you. You might also want to look at the following resources:

Christina Katz “Get Known Before The Book Deal” (hyperlink)

Jane Freidman's Blog  “There Are No Rules”

Writers Digest