By Rachel M. Anderson, Publicist, RMA Publicity

Whenever I get a call from an author who is wondering what can be done to help promote a book that has been out for a while and just isn’t gaining traction, one of the first questions I ask is, “What have you done already to build your book’s promotional platform?”

Oftentimes, the answer to that question is, “I don’t know. What is a promotional platform?” 

A promotional platform—also known as the author platform—is the collection of relevant resources you will leverage to promote your book. These are often determined while putting your marketing plan together.

If you don’t have one, or do and it’s not working for you, here are 5 things you can do on your own, or with the help of a publicist, to get people in your target audience to know you, like you, trust you and want to buy your book.

1. Position yourself as an expert in your field by submitting articles to high-traffic websites like ezinearticles.com or Yahoo! Voices (voices.yahoo.com). Another way to do this is to introduce yourself to newspaper, television, radio and online reporters, and let them know you are available for interviews the next time they are looking for a comment from an expert in your area of expertise.

2. Create a book-selling Web site or add a sales letter to your business Web site. When your article readers visit your site, they also need a reason to buy, so be sure to put up a strong, short sales letter with plenty of testimonials. 



3. Install a blogging program on your website and contribute content to it daily if you can. Posting content that illustrates your expertise can’t help but drive people who are interested in what you have to say to buy a book.

4. Contribute to conversations on other high-traffic blogs that reach your particular audience or join a few social networking groups through Facebook and LinkedIn and comment when you can to show your wisdom. 



5. Create a Twitter account and start sharing information found in your book. Be sure to include a link to your website with everything you post.

 

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