What Is An Author Platform and How Do You Create It?

WOW! Women On Writing
Classes & Workshops

Spotlight: Creating and Building Your Author Platform

In this issue:

Article: What Is An Author Platform and How Do You Create It?

Spotlight Course: Creating and Building Your Author Online Presence

Writers,

As a writer, getting your words on the page and polishing them up is only part of the process. In order to sell what you write, people need to know about you and your work. That's why it's crucial to create and build an online presence.

Enter Karen Cioffi, a multi-award-winning author, ghostwriter, freelance writer, editor, and marketer whose specialty is online marketing. She's created a brand new class to help authors create an online presence and increase their marketing reach. If you want to be a more successful author, take advantage of her online marketing experience and find out how to better promote your work.

Creating and Building Your Author Online Presence: Website Creation to Beyond Book Sales starts Monday, September 17. In this course, you'll learn how to create an author website and blog content, write for article directories with properly formatted and optimized content, create e-books for giveaway and for sale (including how to create an e-book cover), create PayPal "Buy Now" buttons for your website, create a product line and attract customers through information marketing, and create your own PowerPoint webinars. Karen actually includes two 30-45 minute live screen-sharing webinars to help further your understanding. Karen's step-by-step instructions make it easy to take your writing dreams to the next level.

In the article below, Karen explains the bare-bottom basics of an author platform. She also shares some other great strategies you can use to further broaden your reach. It's a small sample of what you'll learn in her class.

Also, we have several great classes that start next week, including Empower Your Muse (Sept 3), Murder, We'll Write: Intro to Crime Fiction (Sept 5), Vampires Optional: Writing YA Fiction (Sept 5), The Unwilling Grammarian (Sept 5), and Writing a Middle-Grade Novel (Sept 7). Our full list of classes for the month of September (and beyond) can be found below.

We also heard from several subscribers that they are having trouble clicking on e-mail links. We're not sure why this happens to some readers (we've got a question into support and will let you know), but you can always go straight to the classroom page and see all the listings: http://wow-womenonwriting.com/WOWclasses.html

Write On!

Marcia & Angela

Marcia & Angela
Classroom Managers
WOW! Classes & Workshops

classroom@wow-womenonwriting.com

What Is An Author Platform and How Do You Create It?

By Karen Cioffi

Building a writing career can be a long, and at times, difficult road. And, many new authors think writing itself is the tough part, but that's not really the case.

Writing a story that you intend to publish traditionally or self-publish has a beginning, a middle, and an end. You can create an outline as kind of a GPS to get you from point A to point B. There are steadfast rules and tricks to help you complete your writing journey.

Bottom line, there is an end to that particular writing journey.

With marketing, that's not the way it works. Marketing your book is the roll-up-your-sleeves part of a writing career. It's the ongoing job of creating and building your online presence, your author platform. And, the rules and tricks of the game are in constant motion, always changing.

While many of the rules may change, there is one constant in your author platform, and that's visibility.

It should be noted that the definition of an author platform encompasses multiple genres, freelance writers, and even marketers who create and sell information products, so it may vary, depending on who is providing the definition. But, all-in-all, creating an online platform is pretty much the same for everyone and entails the same elements to be effective.

According to web editor for the Virginia Quarterly Review Jane Friedman, editors and agents are "looking for someone with visibility and authority who has proven reach to a target audience."

So, the bare-bottom basics of an author platform are: visibility, authority, and proven reach.

Breaking Down the Three Basic Elements of an Author Platform

1. Visibility

This is the promotional aspect of marketing. It's the element of becoming known in your particular niche and building on that presence.

With online marketing strategies and Google's updates always on the move, the face of creating visibility has changed. Today, visibility is created through ongoing connections and relationships with your target market, your audience.

2. Authority

Authority is built through ongoing communication. As an author you need to provide valuable information to your readers. Providing this information on a regular basis establishes you as an authority in your niche.

3. Your Reach

Elements one and two of your author platform help take care of number three, your reach. By using effective marketing strategies to create an online presence, such as building a website and creating your authority through ongoing information/article marketing, your reach is automatically broadened.

Other strategies you can use to further broaden your reach include:

* Guest blogging

* Article marketing

* Joint ventures

* Presenting webinars

* Presenting workshops

* Offering e-courses

Today, your author platform is about what you can offer your audience. It's not about what you're selling.

Providing ongoing "wanted or needed" information builds a relationship. In the marketing arena a general rule of thumb is to offer 75 percent free, valuable information and 25 percent promotion.

It's this ongoing author/reader relationship that will build your author platform and help sell your books, other products, and services.

Creating and Building Your Author Online Presence: Website Creation to Beyond Book Sales

Instructor: Karen Cioffi

Workshop Length: 6 Weeks
Price: $150 for the course with listserv e-mail support; $180 for the course plus a 30-minute phone consultation.
Start Date: September 17, 2012
Limit 10 Students

Course Description: As an author or writer, it's a certain bet that you have something to sell; it may be your book, your skills, or your experience and knowledge. In order to sell what you're offering, you need to create and build your online presence.

Why is this absolutely necessary?

Well, imagine being a spec in the sky . . . so tiny and far away that you're invisible to the human eye. That's you in the Internet universe. So, how do you get a flickering light going and build it into a steady strong beam?

By creating and building your author online presence.

If you're a first time author, the process should begin before your book will be available for sale. This course will take you from square one right on through to beyond book sales.

If you have one or more books under your belt and already have a website up and running, but want to extend your marketing reach and draw more traffic to your site, or you want to branch out with additional writing related products or services, weeks two through six of this class will help you achieve just that.

The class will also provide two live screen-sharing webinars to further aide in understanding. Screen-sharing allows the presenter to share her screen, so students can see how each step is done.

WEEKS AT A GLANCE:

Week One: Creating an Author Website and Blog Content

Lesson One is divided into two sections:

14 Steps to Creating an Effective Website, which includes:

Choosing a domain name
About the site's subtitle
Basic differences between Blogger and WordPress
The various website pages you'll need and what should be on them
The basics of website optimization

Effective Blog Posting, which includes:

The importance of posting regularly
Keyword basics
Anchor text basics
Tags basics
Using images and video in your posts

If you don't yet have a website or blog, this is the time to create one. The information provided in Lesson One will give you the tools needed to create a website that's reader friendly and SEO ready.

Since Lessons One, Two, and Six refer to search engine optimization (SEO), information on SEO, SEO marketing basics, and Google's latest update will be included in week one.

Note: Each lesson has an assignment.

Week Two: Article Marketing: 10 Steps to Writing for Article Directories with Properly Formatted and Optimized Content

Week two is an A - Z lesson on article marketing. It explains what article marketing is and its importance. This lesson discusses:

How to find article ideas
How to create an effective title
Types of articles you can write
The parts of an article and word counts
Using outlines or templates
Summaries needed for article directories
The resource box
Where to submit your articles

To take it further, we'll discuss how to properly format and optimize your content so search engines will easily find and index it and readers will value and share it.

Week Three: How to Create eBooks for Freebies and for Sale, including creating a cover with Microsoft Office 2010

This week offers a step-by-step lesson showing how to create your own eBook and cover. The lesson is divided into two sections:

Creating an eBook:

Creating an eBook: 5 Simple Steps
Offering an eBook for Free
Offering an eBook for Sale
About the ISBN, Copyright, and Creative Common License

Creating an eBook cover:

Basic Instructions for Microsoft Office Features
Design Your Own eBook Cover in 10 Easy Steps Using Microsoft Office 2010
Additional Tips for Designing Your Own eBook Covers
Things to Watch For
Sample Example One with Step-by-Step Instructions
Sample Example Two with Step-by-Step Instructions

In this lesson you will actually create an eBook and a cover to go with it. We'll also discuss the benefits of creating an eBook to offer as a freebie on your site.

Included in Lesson Three is a live 30-45 minute screen-sharing webinar that will demonstrate how to use Microsoft Office to create a cover.

Week Four: How to Create PayPal "Buy Now" Buttons for Your Site/s

Lesson Four provides step-by-step instructions on how to create a PayPal Buy Button and how to upload the code onto your site.

Week four covers:

The need for "Buy Now" buttons
Creating a PayPal account
The steps required to add an eBook to PayPal Merchant Services
The pros and cons of having the eBook sent automatically to the purchaser or sending it personally
Uploading the HTML code onto your website or blogsite

The lesson also goes over the eight elements needed to create an effective landing page for your eBook, if you choose to sell it.

Week Five: How to Create a Product Line and Attracting Customers Through Information Marketing

Through lessons Two and Three you will have the foundation for creating a number of products within your market. Lesson Five is divided into two sections and discusses what products you can create and how to get visitors (potential customers) to your site. It includes:

How to Create and Sell Information Products:

What is an information product and product line?
What's the benefit of creating information products?
Types of information products you can create
Types of content you can provide
What topic should you focus your product on?

Attracting Customers (Generating Visibility) Through Information Marketing

The importance and primary purpose of attracting visitors to your site
Effective strategies to generate visibility and attract visitors
The mailing list
The most effective strategy to use to increase your subscriber list

Week Six: How to Create Your Own PowerPoint Webinars

Presenting webinars is one of the top marketing tools. The final lesson will have you creating your own webinar. This lesson explains:

What a webinar is
Six reasons why you should offer webinars
What a PowerPoint webinar is
What webinar service you should use
Some technical elements of webinars
How to prepare for a PowerPoint presentation
How to present a PowerPoint webinar
A bit about enhancing your conversion rate

Lesson six will also has a 30-45 minute live screen-sharing webinar to help demonstrate the basics of creating a PowerPoint document.

Note: A replay of the webinars will be available.

We've included the week-by-week glance above for your convenience. Visit the Classroom Page for testimonials and enrollment options: http://wow-womenonwriting.com/WOWclasses.html#KarenCioffi_AuthorOnlinePresence

About the Instructor: Karen Cioffi is a former accountant who is now a multi-award-winning author, ghostwriter, freelance writer, editor, and marketer. But, her specialty is online marketing. She founded and manages Writers on the Move(a marketing group), and presents online writing and marketing workshops and webinars.

Karen has published 12 writing and marketing eBooks, the most recent, Article Marketing: Increase Website Traffic with Properly Formatted and Search Engine Optimized Content.

In addition to this, Karen's website, Karen Cioffi Writing and Marketing, was named Writer's Digest Website of the Week, June 25, 2012.

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