Dealing with Platform
Notes from the Columbus Writer's Conference, presentation led by Peter Lynch, Sourcebooks, Inc.
What is a Platform?
1.) Your credentials in a particular subject area
2.) Your marketing ability and marketability
3.) Your publishing track record in this area
Questions to Ask:
- Are you willing to buy your own books and sell them on your own?
- Do you have a built-in fan base of guaranteed sales?
- Do you have the ability to take on marketing and PR in place of the publisher?
Acquisitions Decisions:
There are over 250K books published each year. Not all of them sell well - and publishers want to make money. The quality of your writing is most important. However, if a publisher is lukewarm about your book or leery because you are a first-time writer, platform will be a reason for them to take the risk and build you as an author.
Bookstore Chains:
Platform carries weight with bookstore chains as well. In Barnes & Noble, for example, there is one book-buyer for each subject category. That one person is responsible for how many books are sold by B&N for that category and where each of those books are placed in the bookstore for every Barnes & Nobel store in the country.
Author Credentials:
- Are you an expert in the field about which you are writing?
- Where did you study? What awards have you won? What is your position?
- Do you have some degree of fame in the field that you are writing?
- If you don't have a degree in this field, perhaps you have a co-author who does?
Author Marketing:
- Energy to promote your own book
- Marketing know-how
- Online presence: Build-in fan base
- Realistic expectations
- Willingness to contribute to publisher's marketing campaign
- PR presence, PR history, willing to do PR appearances
Publishing History:
- How many books published?
- How well did they sell?
- Are they in the same subject area?
- A good sales history always helps
- Self-publishing history is okay, as long as you sold well
How to Build Platform:
1.) Increase your experience: degrees, work experience
2.) Blurbs from famous authors or credentialed figures
3.) Co-author with a credentialed person
How to Build Marketing:
1.) Author marketing and PR seminars
2.) Attend writer's conferences
3.) Get an agent with market savvy
Book Recommendations:
Savvy Author's Guide to Book Publicity
1001 Ways to Market Your Book
How to Build Author History:
- Write for magazines
- Develop an online presence
- Write for hire projects (ads in writer's magazines, e.g. Chicken Soup for the Soul)
What is a Platform?
1.) Your credentials in a particular subject area
2.) Your marketing ability and marketability
3.) Your publishing track record in this area
Questions to Ask:
- Are you willing to buy your own books and sell them on your own?
- Do you have a built-in fan base of guaranteed sales?
- Do you have the ability to take on marketing and PR in place of the publisher?
Acquisitions Decisions:
There are over 250K books published each year. Not all of them sell well - and publishers want to make money. The quality of your writing is most important. However, if a publisher is lukewarm about your book or leery because you are a first-time writer, platform will be a reason for them to take the risk and build you as an author.
Bookstore Chains:
Platform carries weight with bookstore chains as well. In Barnes & Noble, for example, there is one book-buyer for each subject category. That one person is responsible for how many books are sold by B&N for that category and where each of those books are placed in the bookstore for every Barnes & Nobel store in the country.
Author Credentials:
- Are you an expert in the field about which you are writing?
- Where did you study? What awards have you won? What is your position?
- Do you have some degree of fame in the field that you are writing?
- If you don't have a degree in this field, perhaps you have a co-author who does?
Author Marketing:
- Energy to promote your own book
- Marketing know-how
- Online presence: Build-in fan base
- Realistic expectations
- Willingness to contribute to publisher's marketing campaign
- PR presence, PR history, willing to do PR appearances
Publishing History:
- How many books published?
- How well did they sell?
- Are they in the same subject area?
- A good sales history always helps
- Self-publishing history is okay, as long as you sold well
How to Build Platform:
1.) Increase your experience: degrees, work experience
2.) Blurbs from famous authors or credentialed figures
3.) Co-author with a credentialed person
How to Build Marketing:
1.) Author marketing and PR seminars
2.) Attend writer's conferences
3.) Get an agent with market savvy
Book Recommendations:
Savvy Author's Guide to Book Publicity
1001 Ways to Market Your Book
How to Build Author History:
- Write for magazines
- Develop an online presence
- Write for hire projects (ads in writer's magazines, e.g. Chicken Soup for the Soul)
posted by Lisa | 5:24 AM
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