So your ability to ‘break out’, as it’s known in media, is not about nobility of your cause or even, ultimately … sigh … depth and quality of your work. It’s all about how many people already know who you are and what you do. Like right this minute. Before all that great TV and magazine exposure even begins. This has to be this century’s biggest catch-22, because how can your work actually get known unless you impress all those folks listed above?

It can, in fact, if you're methodical about self-marketing and you plan to put a good year into it Ultimately, platform for beginners is all about your ezine list - and how many people are actively signing up to hear from you on a regular basis.

Here's a list of ten things media and pUblishers look for in good platform. These items are not only thing you might offer these folks. And you certainly don't have to have all of them in place to be appealing to publishers and TV producers. But they are a help.

A healthy platform should include:

1. A hearty ezine list of 5-10K 2. A distinctive brand name or position (i.e. Dr. Phil, Fly Lady, Frugal Gourmet) 3. A website that has energy and style, and reflects brand heavily 4. Optimized methods for capturing names on website that help grow ezine list 5. A blog linked to website, and a blog promotion program 6. Major media clips, or regional ones that can inspire stories in major media 7. A video of excerpts from TV appearances (for more senior platform builders) 8. A tightly put together media kit 9. Excellent quality, high resolution black & white and color headshots that can be downloaded from site 10. A book or audio CD produced by a major publisher

How does your own work measure up? Have you got good platform yet?

Suzanne Falter-Barns is an internationally known author and speaker who's work has been featured in Woman's Day, SELF, More, Fitness, and more than 100 radio and TV shows. Pick up her free database of platform building contacts at www.getknownnow.com

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The key to making more money off your report is to make sure you put in affiliate links within your report. I wouldn't use more than two. I would advise using text links, that way you can blend them within report text. Once you create your text links, they will be long, so go to www.tinyurl.com. This is a great site that can shorten link for you.

Once you have your affiliate links shortened, blend them in within your report and hype them up a bit to promote sale. But don't overdue it. If you push it too much, people will realize that you are just trying to make a sale.

Lastly, when your report is complete with content and links, make sure you put in PDF format. If you don't want to write report yourself, just go to Elance.com and find someone who will write it for you. For a small report, it should only cost you around $20-$40. Remeber, you can sell this report over and over again on eBay and you have exclusive rights to it!

That's it! Now, you have opportunity to make $5.99 from one sale on eBay and maybe even MORE with your affiliate links...and you didn't even have to go hunting for items to sell! Just think if you get 10 reports selling on eBay. The profit potential can be huge!