Author platforms are a big deal in publishing. What exactly is a platform? A platform is how you reach your readers by gaining exposure and establishing notoriety. An author who can reach out to a network of readers and followers before, during and after his or her book is published has a huge advantage for marketing and selling that book.

Haven’t written the first word of your book yet? That’s actually GREAT news when it comes to building a platform. You don’t need to be a celebrity or gain celebrity-status fame. If you can position yourself as an expert and become familiar to your prospective audience, you’ll impress your agent and/or publisher… which can translate into a bigger advance and more royalties for you.

Luckily, by using the Internet, it is easier than ever to build your platform—and increase your profit power. Here’s how: Read the rest of this entry

Pay attention to your surroundings.

Do you stay abreast of what’s going on in the writing community? Do you track what your colleagues are doing? Do you keep up with emerging trends? Writing is your business. Stay in touch with the “who, what, when, where, why and how” of what’s going on in it. Join online writing communities, read your colleagues’ blogs, attend meet-and-greets at local events, conferences and training programs. Read industry publications. Do these things and suddenly you’ll find yourself in the right place at the right time for new assignments, learn what to charge for your services, and position yourself on the leading edge of new areas of specialty.

Optimize the power of your influencers.

Whenever you complete an assignment, you are in a “top of the mind” position with your best influencer—the client or editor you just worked with. This is the prime time to suggest another assignment, mention additional services, or ask for a referral. Satisfied editors will welcome you into their pool of professionals, and clients will be happy to refer you to others. It’s up to you to take the initiative and ASK. Successful writers listen carefully for upcoming opportunities while working on a project. Take advantage of the power of your influencers and you’ll find yourself earning immediate dividends instead of spending your time chasing your next assignment.

Turn up your nose at the garbage.

Please, please, please… be picky when taking assignments. Do not accept grunt work. If an assignment is going to consume all of your time and offer little compensation for a high volume of work, just say ‘no’ – or you will never—never—advance your freelance writing career.

Early on in my freelance writing career (and marriage) I hit a particularly dry spell of attracting profitable writing projects and assignments. After complaining to my husband that my long hours of working were returning a less than respectable income, he said to me, “Maybe you need to do something different.” I was immediately defensive. “Freelance writing is a fluid profession,” I retorted. “Getting good assignments is like a tide that ebbs and flows—there is no constant.”

After sulking for about half an hour (and despite the fact that there is some validity to my ebb-and-flow analogy) I knew he was right—I had to do something different. However “something different” did not mean finding a different profession, just a different plan for the one I had. In the following weeks, I tested this “secret” to getting paid more for projects and assignments: Read the rest of this entry

Whether you self-publish your book or are published by a publishing house, you know that the majority of promotion for your book falls squarely on your shoulders. In the “old days” the traditional bookstore book signing event was paramount to every author’s marketing plan. Over the years, authors have found that it is increasingly more difficult to secure book signing events in bookstores. Authors not only clamor to get space for their books on the bookshelf, but jockey for space on the bookstore’s floor for book signings. The more well known the author, the greater chance for securing a bookstore book signing event.

Don’t despair! If you use your imagination and apply a little “smarts” to match venue with your book topic, you can attract success with book signing events. Here is a five-step process to increase book sale profits by appearing in unusual places: Read the rest of this entry