Get Known Before the Book Deal

Classes for Aspiring Authors Begin in January

Platform Building 101: Discover your Specialty

(Formerly "Targeting Your Best Writing Markets")
Class Begins on January 14th
Prerequisites: None
Identifying your writing specialty is one of the trickiest and most necessary steps in launching a writing career today. This class will help you find your best audiences, cultivate your expertise, manage your ideas, develop marketing skills, claim your path, serve editors and become portfolio-minded. You'll learn how to become the professional you've always wanted to be and, most importantly, how to take your writing career more seriously.
Cost: $199.00.
Register at Christinakatz.com

Craft A Saleable Nonfiction Book Proposal
Winter Class Begins on January 14th
Prerequisites: Former student or Permission from Instructor
Most writers underestimate the comprehensiveness needed in a book proposal that will garner the interest of agents and editors. They also mistake the definition of platform and importance of alining their proposal to a solid track record. A two-time author, Christina has helped hundreds of nonfiction writers succeed over the past seven years. Now she's making her proposal-writing advice available in a six-week e-mail course to aspiring authors who want to nail the proposal the first time around. The best way to have a short, tight proposal that will impress agents and editors is to start now!
Cost: $299.00 [Priority to former students]
Register at Christinakatz.com

COME LEARN HOW TO GRADUALLY GET KNOWN!

If you are in the area, I'd love to meet you in person. I'll be speaking at:

Willamette Writers Monthly Meeting, Portland, Oregon Chapter

A Platform Development Checklist

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008

Northwest Author Series, Wilsonville, Oregon

A Platform Primer

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Meeting Schedulers/Event Planners:

If you would like to invite me to your conference or event, please email me at writermama@earthlink.net.

In December, I'll be announcing several online opportunities to connect, as well as my 2009 touring schedule.

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Two Live Classes Meeting at the Wilsonville Public Library:

• December 6, 2008: Three-hour Book Promotion Strategy Session For First-time Authors [NEW!]
• January 10, 2009: The Empowered Non-fiction Writer, One-day Intensive [NEW!]

Take All Five of Christina's Classes:

• Writing and Publishing the Short Stuff
• Platform 101: Discover Your Specialty
• Pitching Practice: Write Six Queries in Six Weeks
• Platform 102: Grow An Online Platform
• Craft a Saleable Nonfiction Proposal
• Transform Your Specialty Into an E-course [NEW!]

All the latest offerings at www.christinakatz.com.

Ready to Get Known, Writers? Come to Salem, Oregon Tonight!

I'll be speaking at the Salem branch of Willamette Writers tonight at 7 p.m.

Hope to see all the writers from our state's capital who want to get known there!

Have you heard? I'm on a mission...to help writers get known. :)

Get Known Before the Book Deal: A Platform Development Checklist

Even if you are not yet known and you don't have a writing specialty, you will enjoy this lively presentation about how to name, claim, cultivate and explain your all-important writer's platform from scratch. Becoming visible is more crucial to landing a book deal than ever, according to agents and editors in every facet of the publishing industry. Simply churning out a book isn't enough. Aspiring authors need to develop a platform in order to get noticed. Based on her book, Get Known Before the Book Deal, Christina Katz, will help you see the bigger platform picture and then take the small steps every writer must in order to get known and land a book deal.

Info is here.

For a Limited Time: Order Signed Copies of "Get Known" or "Writer Mama"

I will be visiting all the bookstores in the greater Portland area and signing their stock of Get Known in time for the holidays. I'll be sure to let you know when that happens, so that you can support your favorite bookstore.

But what if you live further away and you really, really want signed copies of my books?

Well, now for a limited time, you can order them directly from me!

Until December 30th, I will Priority Mail single copies of Get Known or Writer Mama right to your home.

E-mail me at christina katz at earthlink dot net or sign up for one of my e-zines for details. :)

And on that note, I know what I'm giving for holiday gifts this year...bookstore gift cards!

Why? Because I support bookstores, publishers and authors, that's why.

Now that the election is over, it's important for all of us to remember that every dollar we spend is a vote.

Won't you join me in voting for books and magazines this holiday season?

Playing Catch-up: Link Roundup

Sorry to be MIA. I was working with my designer on the banner for this blog and the upcoming website. What do you think? A pretty big contrast from the look over at The Writer Mama Riffs, but that's okay! Speaking of my other blog, have you heard about the Writer Mama Back to School Giveaway? It's a daily writing book/stuff giveaway that starts tomorrow, September 1st. Here's the complete round-up of giveaway items and the "Da Rules."

Here's a few posts on platform that are worth your time:

Joe Wikert's Publishing 2020 blog has an interesting post about author's e-book rights.

Amazon is reportedly acquiring Shelfari. Interesting.

Chuck Sambuchino recently interviewed Jeffery McGraw of The August Agency, LLC and he has a few valuable things to say about author platform. Why not read the whole interview since it's a way down?

If you are a fitness pro, you'll be interested in this post on platform development from Amanda Vogel over at Active Voice Fitness Writing and Marketing. (Clever blog name, too.)

Joe Wikert also mentioned, "Penguin Group USA offers a free 64-page document called Internet Advice for Authors: Getting Started, Getting Online, and Getting Noticed. [Ed. Note: This link will download the PDF to your computer.]  This is an excellent resource for any author who doesn't know the first thing about websites, blogs as well as building a solid author platform and online presence.  It's great to see a major publisher sharing this sort of information with the world, not just their own authors."

Thanks, Joe and thanks Penguin!

And finally, my advice for aspiring authors who are considering cracking open their checkbooks and laying down a big chunk of dough for platform growing advice this fall. Save your money! Wait until October when my book, Get Known Before the Book Deal, Use Your Personal Strengths to Grow an Author Platform, will be rolling off the presses.

Can't wait to hear what you think about it. In the meantime, the praise has started rolling in. I'll post a taste next time...

So you need help getting known?

You've come to the right place.

Be sure to bookmark this blog and sign up for the Get Known Before the Book Deal zine, coming Summer 2008.

You can sign up by clicking on the button below (if you are NOT already a Writer's on the Rise subscriber). You'll be asked which zines you want to sign up for AFTER you put in your email address:

Subscribe to our FREE zines

For Email Marketing you can trust

Getting known is easy when you break the process down into simple steps and take them one step at a time.

I'll tell you everything I know about how to go from being totally unknown to getting known for all the right reasons.

Even if you are still confused about what platform is vs. what platform isn't, by leveraging your strengths into a solid platform, you'll finally land that ever-elusive book contract or agent.

Get Known Before the Book Deal, Use your personal strengths to grow an author platform is my next book coming out from Writer's Digest in October 2008.

In the meantime, you might want to visit my other blogs:

The Writer Mama: www.thewritermama.wordpress.com

Writers on the Rise: www.writersontherise.wordpress.com

More coming soon. But first, back to the book for me!