To be successful as a creative – author, speaker, musician, entrepreneur, or any other type of creative work – we must have both excellent content/product/services as well as an excellent platform.

Michael Hyatt, Chairman of Thomas Nelson Publishers, published an excellent write-up, 3 Benefits of Building Your Own Platform.

Without the platform, your quality creative work will not get the attention it deserves.

For Hyatt, the short definition of platform is: “The means by which you connect with your existing and potential fans.”  Don’t let the word “fans” throw you.  These are simply individuals who begin to follow your work.  They begin to discover value in what you are offering.

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The world’s largest bookseller, Amazon, is now selling more eBooks than paperbacks and hardbacks combined.  Successful communicators and business people see trends coming.  They anticipate change and make the most of it.

We are in the middle of an exciting transformation in publishing.  Authors, both established and emerging, are empowered.  Mary Jaksch of Write to Done interviews Jim Kukral, a best-selling author and internet entrepreneur.  He teaches at the University of San Francisco and is a top expert on eBook marketing.

Would you like to publish an eBook that’s a runaway success?

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A huge infographic here from pushingsocial.com, but I think it’s worth the space.  As an author/communicator/influencer, your website is key to your online presence and your “platform” in general.  7 great perspectives here to consider when creating or tweaking your site to make it more effective.  Explore the complete article.

TrueNorth Publish can get you started with an author website built on WordPress.  Let us know if we can help.

Facebook is the planet’s most popular social network – now over 750 million users (wasn’t it news not too long ago when it passed 1/2 billion?).  Like it or not, with a user base this ginormous (I just like the word), a big part of your target audience is using Facebook to make connections, network, and get the information they need.

As an emerging author with an entrepreneurial edge, social media like Facebook will be a key part of your online presence.  Good news – Hubspot is offering a free eBook on getting started with Facebook for business.

DOWNLOAD HERE