Susan Helen Gottfried is a woman with a healthy appreciation for loud music and larger than life characters. She's also a talented writer who has channeled her passion for heavy metal music into Trevor and Mitchell, front men of the band ShapeShifter. Set in the fictional town of Riverview (a kind of Anytown, USA) the rock 'n' roll lives of ShapeShifter and their fans are chronicled in the books THE DEMO TAPES (Years One and Two) and TREVOR'S SONG. After many positive comments, but no book deals, Susan decided to quit waiting on publishing trends and took the ShapeShifter gang to Smashwords (ebook) and Lulu (print) where their stories could finally reach an audience. Self-published authors are often perceived as not good enough for traditional publishing, but Susan defies that notion. Pulling double duty as both author/editor and publicist, Susan has seen the writing life from all sides, and her experience can help any author break out of obscurity.

What led you to the decision to take the plunge into self-publishing?

Deciding to self-publish wasn't something I came into lightly. I'd spent a long time listening to the literary agents and the published authors who all screamed about the doom and gloom that would lie ahead if I self-published. The thousands of books that would fill up my garage and force my car outside into a West of Mars winter. The utter lack of respect I'd earn.

But as I debated, my readers got louder and louder. They didn't care who published my books. They wanted them, and that was all there was to it.

At the same time, I met with a literary agent (she's since left the business), who confirmed a nagging suspicion that I had: the reason I wasn't having any luck placing my novel was because historically, books about rock stars don't sell enough for publishers to sink that kind of money into -- particularly for debut writers. If I were a romance writer with a strong following, I'd maybe write a book with a rocker hero, and all would be well. But to be a nobody? Nope.

I knew I could make a profit if I self-published. And in any other business but writing, if you have a product and you have demand for a product, you find a way to get it into the hands of those who want it.

So... I did.

And as of last May (yes, May 2010), when I met a number of agents at a writer's conference, that stigma is changing. A self-published author who can demonstrate they've got a readership is a bonus. Readers will follow an author from publisher to publisher, so long as the reader can find news of the author's books. And self-published authors who are working to build a readership won't stop once they have a big publishing house behind them, getting their books into stores (or so goes the theory. I know I won't!).

Describe your online and offline media presence and/or activities that support your author's platform.

I don't have a very good offline presence, I'll admit that. I've focused entirely on the online world. Part of that is because that's where my readership was initially based. And part of that is because it's very hard to get established in this particular community I live in. The self-publishing bias is very strong and led by some very prominent writers.

Online, I have a number of methods of attack. I've got my author's blog, which is where I'd rounded up those vocal readers of mine. (I call them, quite affectionately, groupies) I participate in a few of the weekly memes and writing prompt sites to continue to grow my name. And I network. I love to drop in and leave comments on people's blogs. You never know where a new friend will come from.

Another thing I do is run a publicity blog called Win a Book. I post links to books being given away, or interviews being given by authors. My team and I are like the traffic cops, helping readers connect to books. Even though these aren't necessarily MY books or interviews being talked about, people know my name, and that's part of my strategy behind Win a Book.

Marketing experts say the average reader needs to see an author's name between five and seven times before they'll buy the book. With Win a Book, I'm trying to help authors reach those benchmarks. Too many good authors are losing their careers because not enough people are buying their books. If I can help keep an author writing, it benefits ALL of us -- writers, readers, booksellers... you name it.

What aspects of your platform have had the most success? Which have been the most fulfilling?

It's hard to answer this, because you have to define success. Is it in popularity? Is it in the fun quotient? Book sales?

Win a Book is incredibly fulfilling because I get to interact with other authors -- and with a cross-section of the book bloggers who choose to send me their links. When I hear from an author that her sales went up after she sent me a bunch of links, that's quite fulfilling. And when one of the book bloggers I deal with features me on her blog, which happens quite a bit, or buys my book instead of angling for a freebie, and THEN features me on her blog... it's super. It reinforces the value of the hours of work I put in at Win a Book.

But to be honest, one of the best things I do for myself is run my Facebook pages. I have a personal page, a West of Mars fan page, and then fan pages for two of my main characters, Mitchell and Trevor. Updating those, along with Twitter, I've seen my sales increase. More than the effects of either blog, to be honest. But that makes sense; Facebook and Twitter are fast methods of communication. A blog post takes a time investment to read and interact with. And it's easier to go viral about a sale or a discount on Twitter, especially. Many people will retweet that sort of news.

Any great successes or challenges/learning experiences along the way, or advice for people just starting their platform?

I was railing about my biggest pet peeve this morning, in fact: if you decide to run a blog, don't sit back and wait for people to come to you. If someone leaves a comment on your post, go to their blog and leave your own comment. If someone asks you a question, answer it on THEIR blog.

Blogging's a relationship with your readers (otherwise, why do it?). If you're going to sit back like a queen on her throne and wait for your minions to worship you, don't be surprised when the peasants take off for a ruler who pays attention to them.

That's been my greatest success. The personal touch... it's more important than a lot of people realize.

Another piece of advice? Don't run a blog because people tell you to. Do it because you love it. Same for Twitter and Facebook.

And be yourself. Don't follow trends, don't set yourself up for gimmicks. Be genuine, or as genuine as you can be. It really does shine through.

Do you have any plans to pursue traditional publication, or are you happy as-is?

Yes.

I know, that's not a question that can be answered that way, so let me elaborate. Yes, I love being self-published. I love having the freedom to join things like Operation e-Book Drop, where a number of us indie authors give our books away, for free, to deployed troops. It's such an easy way to say thanks to someone who's putting his or her life on the line.

But on the other hand, I'd love the experience of working with a good editor and having an agent who is concerned with my entire career and has the experience to guide me wisely. People who can push me to be a better writer, in ways that my beta readers can't.

I am working on the sequel to Trevor's Song, as well as a couple of other, new projects. Some are entirely new, and some feature characters who have appeared in some of the fiction I've posted on my author's blog over the years. Those other projects will get their chance to test the waters with agents and editors, probably in face-to-face pitch sessions at writer's conferences. If I get the same response, "Neat concept, but I don't think the publisher's going to make enough money to make this a worthwhile risk," I'll just self-publish again.

Either way, I view it as one of those situations that has no downside.

What do you say to detractors of self-publication?

I hear their complaints and often share them: poor writing, worse editing. But there are also plenty of us who have the right chops to make it. Explore. Take advantage of services like Smashwords, which runs a couple of big promotions and allows us participating authors to discount (up to 100%!) our books. If you find a new author you love for a small monetary investment, you'll be more likely to make a larger investment on that author down the road.

My e-books books are priced low -- $4.99 for the novel and $2.50 for the short story anthologies -- for a couple of reasons. One is that I personally don't think digital books should be even ten dollars, which until a few months ago was the industry standard.

But the other reason is to encourage people to take a chance on me. I get a great royalty rate on my e-books, better than I would with a big publishing house behind me. So at $2.50 for a collection of twenty-some linked short stories, I'm still making a profit. And you're not spending your entire paycheck on a book you may not like (although perish THAT thought. You'll like my fiction. You just will.)

*****

If you haven't already, I encourage all readers to check out Susan's West of Mars web site. It's a great example of different things an author can do to both promote her work and connect, on a personal level, with her audience. There you can find links to her various social media presences, character and book information, links to buy the books in various formats, and plenty of bonus material. It's like a career-spanning box set from your favorite band--not to be missed.

Other articles in this series:

• How to Build An Author's Platform: An Overview
• Building Your Author's Platform, part 1.5
• Dora Machado on Building An Author's Platform
• Georgia McBride on Platform Building for the "Pre-published" Author