NOTE: Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent.

So now you know what to shoot for in terms of numbers (if you missed it, last Thursday we talked about how big an author platform should be). But as many of you pointed out, those numbers seem impossible. The time and effort required to grow such a following had some of you envisioning yourself with an impressive platform sometime in the year 2030. While others flat out admitted that they didn’t have a single sales bone in their body. You’re artists, after all. And artists don’t always make the most sociable, friendly, outgoing, spin doctoring bunch.

So what’s the secret? How can these numbers be achieved?

Let me explain it like this…most authors, when embarking on a quest to tackle the platform demon, treat it like spaghetti. They throw everything against the wall to see what sticks. They start a Facebook group, a Twitter account, a blog, a website, a Goodreads account, a newsletter and on and on and on until they feel they have all of the possible platform-building areas covered.

And then they’re surprised when nothing happens. When their Facebook group hovers around 50 followers—most of which are personal or family friends. When their Twitter account has more spam followers than real followers and their website stats don’t climb above 30 visits a day. They’re surprised by this, because they’re doing everything they’re supposed to do and nothing is working. And more than anything, they’re exhausted. They’ve spread themselves so thin, they can barely keep track of what was said where. At this point, most give up. They tried their best, and it didn’t work.

But platform is nothing like spaghetti. It’s more like a game of dominos (as in the game in

I've had a few people write to me and ask about the marketing posts I did a couple weeks ago. Several have wanted to know, "When should I consider spending my own money on my book's publicity?" 

The answer is probably, "When you feel the marketing people at your publishing house aren't doing enough," except that NO author ever really believes the marketing types are doing enough for their book. (It's true. I've seen bestselling authors who are getting full page ads complain about the lack of effort from the marketing staff.) I suppose every author would like to see the marketing department try harder, do more, be more creative, and get away from doing the same things that don't work, all for no cost. But the publishers are all trying to do their best. One young publicist might have 20 or 30 books she's working on, so your book may not get a ton of attention. 

So again, let's just work on the assumption that YOU are in charge of the marketing. Anything your publisher does is great, and by all means you should express your appreciation for them sending out review copies or setting you up on some blogs to talk about your book. Hey, at least they're doing SOMETHING. But yes, it's possible your book may need a boost when it comes to publicity if it's really going to grab some attention. Figuring out what to do next is the key.

A lot of authors want to simply hire an outside publicist. That may work, or it may be an expensive mistake. Let me suggest that the first "outside" person who needs to get involved is you. It bears repeating: YOU are in charge of marketing your book. You. Not the publisher, who will help you but may not do all that much unless you're a proven bestseller. You. Nobody else knows your message as

I've had a few people write to me and ask about the marketing posts I did a couple weeks ago. Several have wanted to know, "When should I consider spending my own money on my book's publicity?" 

The answer is probably, "When you feel the marketing people at your publishing house aren't doing enough," except that NO author ever really believes the marketing types are doing enough for their book. (It's true. I've seen bestselling authors who are getting full page ads complain about the lack of effort from the marketing staff.) I suppose every author would like to see the marketing department try harder, do more, be more creative, and get away from doing the same things that don't work, all for no cost. But the publishers are all trying to do their best. One young publicist might have 20 or 30 books she's working on, so your book may not get a ton of attention. 

So again, let's just work on the assumption that YOU are in charge of the marketing. Anything your publisher does is great, and by all means you should express your appreciation for them sending out review copies or setting you up on some blogs to talk about your book. Hey, at least they're doing SOMETHING. But yes, it's possible your book may need a boost when it comes to publicity if it's really going to grab some attention. Figuring out what to do next is the key.

A lot of authors want to simply hire an outside publicist. That may work, or it may be an expensive mistake. Let me suggest that the first "outside" person who needs to get involved is you. It bears repeating: YOU are in charge of marketing your book. You. Not the publisher, who will help you but may not do all that much unless you're a proven bestseller. You. Nobody else knows your message as

Christine wrote and asked, "Is it really possible to market yourself as a novelist?"

I definitely think it's possible for a novelist to market himself or herself. Over the past couple years, I've tried to share some thoughts on how novelists can market themselves, so you may find it helpful to meander back through my posts in order to look for ideas. But here's the big picture: In my opinion, a novelist has to begin seeing herself not just as an artist (which you, as a writer, most certainly are), but also as a brand name or commodity that deserves marketing. And that means creating a well-thought-out plan for marketing yourself and your work. (Okay, I'll admit that part of me hates writing that. I don't like talking about words as "commodities," and treating the writing arts as though they were cans of corn. But let's face facts — I'm talking with writers who want to make a living writing, and that translates to selling books.)

Non-fiction writers find it easier to do some basic marketing, since they have a topic or hot-button issue that is clearly discernable. If you were to write a book on losing weight or making money or raising kids, the potential audience for such a topic is easy to recognize. You can go onto radio programs and talk about the problem and the solutions you're offering, or write articles for magazines and e-zines that explore your particular approach to the issue. With fiction, it's tougher. Good stories are not about one topic, but explore numerous threads. And no radio or TV program wants to invite you on to re-tell your novel. So instead of focusing on the story, most fiction writers find they have to focus on the author or the genre. In other words, you and your voice becomes the focus of your marketing. This is why it's essential

Christine wrote and asked, "Is it really possible to market yourself as a novelist?"

I definitely think it's possible for a novelist to market himself or herself. Over the past couple years, I've tried to share some thoughts on how novelists can market themselves, so you may find it helpful to meander back through my posts in order to look for ideas. But here's the big picture: In my opinion, a novelist has to begin seeing herself not just as an artist (which you, as a writer, most certainly are), but also as a brand name or commodity that deserves marketing. And that means creating a well-thought-out plan for marketing yourself and your work. (Okay, I'll admit that part of me hates writing that. I don't like talking about words as "commodities," and treating the writing arts as though they were cans of corn. But let's face facts — I'm talking with writers who want to make a living writing, and that translates to selling books.)

Non-fiction writers find it easier to do some basic marketing, since they have a topic or hot-button issue that is clearly discernable. If you were to write a book on losing weight or making money or raising kids, the potential audience for such a topic is easy to recognize. You can go onto radio programs and talk about the problem and the solutions you're offering, or write articles for magazines and e-zines that explore your particular approach to the issue. With fiction, it's tougher. Good stories are not about one topic, but explore numerous threads. And no radio or TV program wants to invite you on to re-tell your novel. So instead of focusing on the story, most fiction writers find they have to focus on the author or the genre. In other words, you and your voice becomes the focus of your marketing. This is why it's essential

Tim wrote to ask, "So what's the worst stuff you've been sent this past week?"

1. A guy sent me a proposal this week detailing how we can reduce the instances of sexual abuse and the problems caused by adultery in our culture. His solution? Voluntary castration. No, I'm not kidding. Huge appeal in THAT idea. Though I suppose it would, um, trim the problem. (Sorry.) A very circumspect idea, don't you think? 

2. A woman sent me a very brief query to tell me she has written a 20,000-word memoir (that alone gets me all excited — just think of all those popular 80-page books you've been buying) about "the times I brought drugs to school." Very uplifting.

3. One poet (YES! A POET!) sent me a book of "poems about anti-terrorism." Really. And it's only 607 pages long. REALLY. 

Tim wrote to ask, "So what's the worst stuff you've been sent this past week?"

1. A guy sent me a proposal this week detailing how we can reduce the instances of sexual abuse and the problems caused by adultery in our culture. His solution? Voluntary castration. No, I'm not kidding. Huge appeal in THAT idea. Though I suppose it would, um, trim the problem. (Sorry.) A very circumspect idea, don't you think? 

2. A woman sent me a very brief query to tell me she has written a 20,000-word memoir (that alone gets me all excited — just think of all those popular 80-page books you've been buying) about "the times I brought drugs to school." Very uplifting.

3. One poet (YES! A POET!) sent me a book of "poems about anti-terrorism." Really. And it's only 607 pages long. REALLY. 

NOTE: Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent.

You've heard it before…if you really want to impress an agent, make sure you have three things: a great idea, supported by great writing and a great platform.

But let's be honest, either you're born with a knack for words or you're not.

Either a great idea drops into your head one day, or it doesn't.

But platform…platform doesn't happen by chance. Platform is all about hard work.

I think it's funny that we dedicate entire conferences and workshops and critique groups to the very components that we have the least control over (You can't make great writers out of bad writers, and no classic American novels were written by following a novel-writing template), while the the third component–the one that really can be taught into existence–gets ignored.

This really bugs me, because we've turned platform into this mysterious entity that's somehow more difficult to achieve than writing a best seller. Somewhere along the line, we've decided using social media is more nebulous than developing a plot destined for the silver screen and that growing a readership as an unpublished author is more far-fetched than an agent offering on-the-spot representation.

How we became so dillussional is lost on me, but I'd like to begin to set things straight and pull platform out of the doghouse it's been sitting in for so long.

So first things first, what do impressive social media stats look like? (Hold on, it's going to be a bumpy ride…)

The cold, hard truth is that solid author platforms come in the tens or hundreds of thousands.

Let’s get more specific…

If you have a website or blog, your monthly unique visitor count should be at least 30,000

If you have a

I've been reading a bunch of "2012 Prediction" posts from people, ranging from the insipid ("We're going to see a lot of growth in e-books") to the inane ("I see a huge comeback for westerns"). So if we leave aside the obvious stuff, and throw out the silly predictions, what is likely to happen this year? Here's my best shot at making predictions for publishing in 2012…

1. The Nook is going to prove wildly popular. I have one, and I love it. The Kindle Fire has too many problems. Realistically, somebody at Google or Facebook, or maybe the Kobe people, will try to horn in on the e-reader market, so we could all be surprised by some cool new device. But Barnes & Noble's Nook is the class of the line right now.

2. And that means Barnes & Noble will figure out a way to integrate Nook purchases to brick-and-mortar stores. Let's face it: book shopping at B&N is FAR superior to meandering around Amazon. The problem has been figuring out how to monetize that for the store. I think this is the year B&N figures it out, and takes back a bigger chunk of the e-book market.

3. Additionally, that means B&N and other bookstores become game stores, puzzle centers, curriculum markets, and educational supply houses. It's already happening, and you'll see a huge shift in 2012. 

4. To keep up, Amazon will not just start their own publishing lines, but will buy some publishing houses. I figure it's inevitable. 

5. Specifically, I think Amazon starts its own CBA imprint. There's too much money in religious books to not do this. 

6. The price of e-books will go up. I've done the math, and I can't see publishers keeping a rock-bottom price on e-books. That probably means the reading culture shifts into two broad groups — amateurs and start-ups selling very cheap e-books, and traditional publishers