I was reading a blog the other day about author platform and one thing this author said struck me as doable. If you google yourself (go ahead), and you find your name and your novel, business, etc. at the top of the page, you “got it”. You have struck gold and you have the proverbial “platform”. You have answered the bridge troll’s three questions…you get to go across the bridge to …ummmm. Okay, you get to go across. Be happy.

Okay, I’m all for easy, so I googled Rebecca Nolen. I find my name up at the top of the page, several links to me at my “social media” sites and about half-way down the page there it is again… “The Real Rebecca Nolen”.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

The link goes nowhere, meaning that there is no information of what and who this “real” Rebecca Nolen is except that she is a total mystery. The only nugget of gold information that can be scraped up is that she lives in Dallas. I should pay her a visit.

Knocking on door…woman opens door, “Yes?”

Me. “Are you the real Rebecca Nolen?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I’ve been researching Rebecca Nolen and I see that you are the real one, or so it says on Google.”

Door slams.

Well, and that’s as far as I got trying to figure her out on Google, too.

So, I scroll down the Rebecca Nolen google page and find a lot of obituaries. There are a lot of dead Rebecca Nolens. Sad.

And more scrolling, Rebecca Nolen’s arrest record in Ohio. Hmmm. Haven’t been there in thirty years, no worries. Wait! What’s this??? Rebecca Nolen arrested in Galveston. Whoa! That’s too close to home. Ouch, she even looks a tad bit like me … if I had no teeth… and red hair. Okay, she doesn’t look much like me.

And more scrolling –  found lots of references for The Dry. That’s fantastic!! The Dry is showing up, people! Get it while its hot. And what’s this? A link to Rundstedt’s flicker page…where… he is showing all his friends my novel THE DRY!!!! Wow! Bing. Bing. Bing. Jackpot! Rundstedt is the WASP photographer who lives in Australia and kindly, I say KINDLY let me use his amazing photo for the book cover. Wow. He is showing everyone the book. Wow.

Who cares about platform when you have a world-famous photographer showing his friends your book?