An author needs a platform to build their image. For example you can look at Angela Meyer's website: https://literaryminded.com.au/about/
On this site she has information about herself, such as her awards and her career history. She promotes her book here. We can see her debut novel mentioned almost at the very start with a link to purchase it. Her platform is a major way for her to advertise her book. The good thing about an author platform is that you can cultivate your own image. Your can be whoever you want. You can pretend to have a personality that you don't, you can make a nice aesthetic to draw readers in when in reality your room is a mess.Your platform is like your brand. It's also a form of automedia. Emma Maguir tells us that while it is hard to attribute terms like autobiography to an avatar, for example, the term automedia fits. An author's platform is a bit like an avatar as it is how they choose to present themselves in the virtual space of the internet.
Let's talk about two different types of publishing - self-publishing and traditional publishing. Self publishing has a lot of bad stigma. People think of stories with no real plot and lots of spelling errors. I have read a book that was not self-published but had no plot, however I will not name it here. I've also read some good and bad self-published books. I think I lean more towards traditionally published works as self-published books can be hit-or-miss. However, self-publishing is by no means bad. People say that it diminishes the value of books, but I don't think so. I don't think having some bad books devalues good ones.
Bad reasons for self-publishing were brought up this week. I think the most common one we see is people thinking it's easy. But it sounds hard - making your own cover, editing, printing - it's expensive! Another reason is people thinking that publishers do not want to publish new authors - this isn't true, as some of the best novels come from new authors. Lots of people have had success with their first book, like Angela Meyer who I mentioned above. Some people also think their writing is perfect and shouldn't be tampered with. No one is perfect, except dogs.
Enough negativity. Let's move onto the good things about self publishing. In 2007 a new platform named Kindle Direct appeared in the internet. It let authors self-publish for free. They could have control over their work and pricing. This was a huge step for self-publishing. It meant that a wider range of people could tell their stories. I have heard of it being a problem that authors of a certain demographic struggle in certain genres. For example female science fiction writers tend to have more difficulty than male ones.
And finally, we got warned about vanity publishers - publishers who will prey on up and coming authors. 'Oh, we love your work, we want to publish it!' they will say, then suddenly it's 'Oh by the way give us $30000. Thanks.' Be careful out there!
I want to say thanks to everyone for a great semester, let's hope that the world will be in a much better state next semester.
Here is a silly picture of my dog to cheer you up!
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Works Cited:
Maguire, Emma. "Home, About, Shop, Contact: Constructing an Authorial Persona via the Author Website." M/C Journal [Online], 17.3 (2014): n. pag. Web. 5 Jun. 2020
Angela Meyer. "About Angela Meyer". Literaryminded, 2020, https://literaryminded.com.au/about/. Accessed 5 June 2020.
