Your platform is the number of people that you can directly influence in favor of your book. It’s not the number of people you can force to buy your book. It is the number of people  you have developed relationships with who look to you as a valuable source of ideas.

Rachelle Gardner, a literary agent and blogger, explained it this way:

It’s really important to understand the purpose of a “platform” in publishing terms. It’s to begin building an audience for your book. It’s to have a large group of people who already know your name and are interested in your topic and may be predisposed to buy your book.

Here are some of the common errors authors fall into when it comes to platform:

1. It’s best to build a platform after your book comes out.

The English language is great – we have really great, analogous uses of language. Take the term platform, here. What is a platform, anyway? Oh, it’s a thing you stand on, either to get a better look at something or to raise your visibility so that you can make your message clearer. Have you ever seen a street preacher standing on a soap box? That’s someone using a real platform in a practical way.

When do you need a platform most? When you have something big to say! Launching your book definitely qualifies as something big. Waiting until your book launches to start building your platform is definitely waiting too long.

2. Your publisher won’t help you with marketing / platform.

It’s possibly accurate to say that your publisher won’t help you as much as you’d like with marketing and platform. It’s definitely accurate to say that your publisher will expect you to bring your a-game when it comes to marketing and platform. But,

But, it’s not accurate to think that your publisher doesn’t care about marketing your book. Publishers are interested in both the ministry and business aspects of launching a book. It’s in their best interests to market your book. It’s in their best interests, if they’re publishing your book, for you to do well. If it’s a good day for you, it’s a good day for them. If it’s a bad day for you, it’s a bad day for them.

3. All you need is twitter and facebook to build your platform.

I’m right in the demographic that you’d expect to hear crazy promotion of social networks from. I think Twitter and Facebook can be a good part of your platform building efforts, but they should be the exclusive or even the primary way that you’re building your platform.

Rob Eagar is a marketing guru. He recently guest posted on Chip Macgregor’s blog, talking about the costs of social media.

At Book Expo 2009, John Sargent, the CEO of Macmillan Publishing stated, “Viral marketing doesn’t sell a ton of books.” He mentioned a video based on a Macmillan book that spent time in the # 1 spot on YouTube in the U.K. Yet it wound up only selling a whopping 200 extra copies

One of my author clients has a blog with over 50,000 monthly readers. He spends a lot of time maintaining his huge social network. However, none of his new books have surpassed the sales of his older titles. Instead his book sales attributed to social networking activities represent a trickle, rather than a torrent of revenue. Ironically, this author is continually surprised by how many books he sells via more traditional activities, such as public speaking, sending newsletters, or national radio and TV interview. I remind him to stay balanced and keep the lion’s share of resources dedicated on tactics that truly work.

4. It’s all who you know.

It may feel that way sometimes. It’s crossed my mind in moments of frustration. But, the reality is, it’s all who you connect with. There is nothing (except for fear) stopping you from connecting with all the right people. You might have the occasional bad experience as you try to do so, but overwhelmingly, if your experience is like mine, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the response you get. Reach out. Get to know people. Make connections.

There are great resources available to help you develop your platform. Check out Rob Eagar’s Speaking and Selling Books course and Sheila Wray Gregoire’s “Launching Your Speaking Ministry” course.