Get Known Before the Book Deal

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...

Keeping Platform Development Real: The Blog-to-Book Deal

I see articles, like this one from Typepad all over the Web and traditional media. It's another article that will undoubtedly raise the hopes of bloggers everywhere that they too can land a six-figure book deal simply by choosing a topic and blogging about it.

I don't want to be a party-pooper. I really don't. But I feel the need to point out that while these three bloggers were landing book deals using the blog-to-book method, hundreds, if not thousands, of other writers were getting deals in the traditional manner by pitching themselves to agents and editors.

I was so happy to see popular blogger Penelope Trunk keeping the blog-to-book fantasy grounded for her fellow bloggers. You can see from her suggestions in this article, that while the goal of blog-to-book may sound oh-so much easier than going the traditional route, Trunk has no delusions about it. Platform building and marketing, which is how agents and editors typically view blogging, is actually not a substitute for all of the usual skill sets (like writing well and book proposal writing, which is the selling your writing part) that writers have to learn to clinch a book deal.

One of trickiest parts of what I do as a writing-for-publication instructor is help my students assess the value of their platform accomplishments through the eyes of agents and editors. Because yes, platform development through the Internet is very important for writers of every stripe, who wish achieve traditional publication. But their is a straighter, shorter path and that is to be the one who delivers your pitch to the agents and editors themselves, instead of waiting to be discovered.