Thanks to author Roger Harris for this guest post!

Great, you’re working on a manuscript… While you’re polishing up your prose with the help of an editor (highly recommended), don’t forget to start on marketing activities that will pave the way to successfully launching your book.

Building your author platform is the first step to find your readers. The goal is to create and launch a platform that quickly communicates your genre and entertainment value if you’re writing fiction, and your expertise and credibility if you’re writing non-fiction, such as a self-help guide.

Here are seven steps to building your own author platform:

• Build your bio – Succinctly tell people about you and your work, including credentials, credits and awards. Turn it into a one-pager to use in your book, whenever you pitch your book, in your publicity package, on Amazon Author Central and on your website.

• Author website – You need a hub, a place to connect with your audience, offer free information and excerpts of your book, and sell your book and other services. If you use a blog-based site, such as WordPress.org, which is easy to set up and use, you don’t need an expensive setup or a webmaster to update your site – you can get going immediately (but do know that you won’t control the real estate without your own domain name and hosting).

• Author blog – Your blog is an important place to connect, enlighten, entertain, and capture a following of readers interested in learning more about you, your topic and your books.

• A signup list – Create a list of future readers by offering a free excerpt of your work, a newsletter, eBook, or video/audio product on your website/blog. This allows you to start building a tribe of followers who are interested in your book or product. Check out Aweber or Mail Chimp to handle your lists, emails, autoresponders, and newsletters.

• Follow other blogs – Stay up-to-date with the latest information in the industry and to leave comments that establish your platform.

• Join professional associations – Seek out and join ones related to your topic, target audience or professional goals.

• Establish your expert status – Teach through workshops, online webinars, podcasts and/or videos, in-person speaking engagements, articles using tips from your book to industry publications and other print and online media sources. This provides you the ability to establish yourself as an expert, and market your book in the author’s information box.

If you’ve started writing, it’s never too early to start building your Author Platform. Download your Free Book Marketing Checklist on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/IndieAuthorCounsel.

Happy Writing!

R.R. Harris

P.S. Check out our summer sale on services at www.IndieAuthorCounsel.com.

Guest blogger Roger Harris is an editor/marketing adviser at Indie Author Counsel, a consortium of writers, editors and marketing experts in self-publishing. Here, he offers his first tip from his free giveaway – the Book Marketing Checklist.