Patricia Fry’s blog
Call it popularity, prominence, visibility or expertise. In publishing, it’s what you need in order to succeed.
How many people will rush out to buy your book as soon as it lands in Borders and B&N? Why would anyone choose your novel, cookbook, poetry, children’s story or self-help book over the competition? Before you produce that book, you really must answer these questions. If you can’t come up with answers, I suggest that you start creating some. How?
Even before writing the book, if you don’t have a following, start attracting one. If your name is not known in your field or genre, take steps to become known. If you are not already an expert or authority, begin the process of establishing yourself as such.
Start now, building your platform.
Don’t suddenly emerge from your writing cave into the bright lights of publishing with a manuscript and hope to get it produced. Publishers, today, care more about what you can bring to the promotional table than whether you’ve dotted all of your i’s and crossed all of your t’s. What is a hopeful author to do? Take your responsibility as promoter as seriously as you do the task of writing an excellent book. Here are some tips:
• Write about what you know. This long-held rule is even more important now because your expertise in the topic and your visibility can mean a big difference in sales.
• If you are not known in the subject or genre of your book, take steps to become known before you attempt to publish. Build a web site, start a blog, present workshops and circulate a newsletter, for example.
• Launch or become involved in an organization related to the topic or genre of your book—a poetry association, a national medical support group, a therapy dog organization or a major horror/thriller web site, for example.
• Make news and report it. Start a charity or a contest related to the theme of your book. If your novel features a child with Downs syndrome, create an annual fundraiser for the National Downs Syndrome Society, for example.
• Write articles on your topic or stories in your genre for appropriate magazines, ezines and web sites.
For more about establishing your platform, book promotion, locating and working with an agent/publisher, how to get your book into major bookstores, distribution, etc. read The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. http://www.matilijapress.com
Sign up for Patricia Fry’s Courses on Demand. Choose from courses on self-publishing, article-writing and writing a book proposal. http://www.matilijapress.com/courses.htm