Speaking for Profit Starts With an Author Platform

speaking for profitWe recently mentioned that mega-best selling author, Seth Godin, will no longer publish his books the traditional way through a New York publisher. What we didn’t mention is the critical idea behind his ability to go his own way, free of the constraints of the old way of doing things was because he built himself an amazing author platform first. Author platform is the buzzword in publishing circles these days, so you might as well get used to hearing it.

Author platform, author platform, author platform.

Now that you’ve heard it enough, let’s talk about what it is and how speaking for profit all begins there. An author platform is really very simple. It’s nothing more than a shorthand way to refer to all the new media avenues an author should take to build credibility and an audience on his own, without the need for an ivory-towered publisher standing behind the curtain pulling the strings and taking the lion’s share of the revenue.

An author platform starts with a regularly updated blog that (hopefully) becomes a popular and well-trafficked information portal for people interested in your topic. Next comes the speaking platform. Can you already sell out a presentation to hundreds or thousands? If so, your author platform is looking good. Now add an email list, podcasting audience, and Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace followers.

Combined you have, in simple terms, almost guaranteed sales the next time you release a book and market it through all these channels. Do this enough and your speaking for profit ability just increased because writers can become speakers and speakers can become wealthy.

The Speaking of Wealth Team

Speaking of Wealth

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