Question: I have just heard the phrase AUTHOR PLATFORM for the first time. I have recently published Osteo-Yoga: 30 Days to a Healthier You, a book I market at lectures and yoga classes which I present at the YMCA. Please advise what is generally meant in publishing, by AUTHOR PLATFORM.
John's Answer: An author platform is something the author already has done that's created an audience for her book. Examples are hosting a radio show, writing a syndicated column, giving speeches, publishing a newsletter, webmaster of a popular web site on her topic, contributing reporter on another popular web site, well-known blogger, and magazine columnist. Your teaching at a local YMCA would be a small platform. Your teaching at many YMCAs and being paid big bucks for it would be a larger platform.
Another way to develop a platform is guilt by association :)). For example, if you were the yoga guru for Hollywood stars. Or, think big, the yoga guru for Oprah Winfrey.
John Kremer, http://www.promotingyourbooks.com
