Get Known Before the Book Deal

Writerpreneur: Establish Expertise with an E-zine

By Gregory A. Kompes

It's essential to establish yourself as a niche topic expert with your readers. Creating and sending your own zine (also called an e-zine, or electronic newsletter) to your readers expands your credibility as a topic expert and keeps your name (and products or services) in front of your audience.

Zines come in many different forms, from simple text e-mails to formal designs that involve extensive templates. The key is delivering quality content to the readers on your list so that they'll open the e-mailed newsletter.

The frequency of your zine is up to you. The Get Known Groove arrives in your box once each month. My own zine, The Fabulist Flash is a weekly newsletter for writers. One of my Web clients delivers her grant writing zine quarterly. Another option is not having a regular schedule, but delivering new information to your list when it's relevant. This last option can be effective, but don't inundate your readers with a mountain of e-mail or you'll lose them. Also, don't let too much time pass between zines.

Getting Started

1. Decide on your content. Content is, as they say, king. Decide what type of content you'll deliver in your zine. When making this decision, keep your audience and potential readers in mind. A zine with timely, relevant content will be opened.

2. Choose your format. Will you use simple e-mail text or a formal template? You can always change your format, but you'll need a starting place. Depending on your Internet skills and software, a pleasing template can be easily created.

3. Build your mailing list. Zines are delivered electronically via e-mail and/or Real Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds. To get your zine into your reader's e-mail inbox you'll need their e-mail address. Because of spam rules, it's also a good idea to have readers "opt-in" (request to be added) to your list. A sign-up box added to your Web site or blog is the most common and easiest way to collect e-mail addresses for your list.

4. Deliver your zine. Many people who start their first zine choose to deliver it from their own e-mail account. As your list grows, this will become impractical. A better option is utilizing an autoresponder, a topic we'll look at in detail in a future column.

The great advantage of zines is that they're basically free to create and send. I say basically, because they do require your valuable time and effort. But the rewards of building a large zine following can be great. Your writer brand and related products or services will be continually reinforced, which can increase reader loyalty and help grow your audience.

Gregory A. Kompes, The Writerpreneur, is an Internet self-promotion expert. Gregory is the author of the bestselling 50 Fabulous Gay-Friendly Places to Live and the Writer's eBook Series that includes Endorsement Quest, Should You Write an eBook, and Your Online Media Kit. He is co-founder of the Patchwork Path anthology series, Presenters & Programs, the Writer's Pen & Grill, and Laudably Tarnished: A Poetry Workshop. Gregory is editor of The Fabulist Flash, an informative newsletter for writers, and the award winning Eighteen Questions, a Q&A series that collects and shares the experiences of published authors.

Know Thy Self, Know Thy Audience: Defining the Experience Your Book Will Provide

By Sage Cohen

Last month you considered how the book you intend to write compares to similar books that it will be selling against. Now that you have a good sense of what's out there and how your book measures up, we're going to dig a little deeper into why readers should purchase yours! Ask yourself:

1. How do you want your book to be perceived in the marketplace?
2. Please use as many adjectives as you can think of to describe the personality of your book.
3. Write a sentence or two (called a value proposition) that defines what is exceptional about your book and sets it apart from the rest.

For example, following are my answers to these questions for my book, Writing the Life Poetic:

1. I want my book to be regarded as an approachable DIY creative companion that anyone can easily use to start writing poems and enjoying poetry.
2. Writing the Life Poetic is: fun, friendly, inspiring, informative, whimsical, inviting, easy to understand, bite-sized (chapters), poem-generating!
3. Writing the Life Poetic offers a friendly, fun initiation into the joys of reading and writing poetry. Craft, process and content lessons are all designed to invite readers to tune into the poetry of their lives -- then get it down on the page.

Your turn! Remember: this is your chance to expand the very valuable thinking you did last month into the more abstract realm of how your book feels. Have fun defining what kind of experience it will create for readers, and why they will want to seek out such an experience!

Sage Cohen is the author of Writing the Life Poetic: An Invitation to Read and Write Poetry, forthcoming from Writer's Digest Books, and the poetry collection Like the Heart, the World. Her poetry and essays appear in journals and anthologies including Cup of Comfort for Writers, Oregon Literary Review, Greater Good and VoiceCatcher. Sage holds an MA in creative writing from New York University and teaches the email class Poetry for the People. For more than a decade, she has run the marketing communications firm Sage Communications.

Podcasting 101: Software and Music for Your Podcast

By Kati Neville

It's easy to get lost among the software options to record and edit your podcast. Packages can cost hundreds of dollars. Yet, many podcasters avoid the search and expense altogether by sticking with what's free.

Audacity is the software solution of choice for novice podcasters. This program operates on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Audacity's avid open-source community also provides extensive wiki and forum support. Be sure, however, to download the LAME library so your finished audio projects can be exported in .mp3 format.

GarageBand Apple's audio recording and editing program, comes pre-loaded on Macs. If you own a Mac, check the applications folder. I use GarageBand to record and edit my podcast. It offers solid help files and is easy to use. The program is bundled with royalty-free jingles and interfaces with other iLife applications, such as iTunes, iPhoto, and iMovie. Handy.

Experiment with one of these no-cost recording and editing software programs first. For writers with basic needs and casual audiences, they are more than adequate.

Royalty-Free Jingles and Music

Music adds professionalism and character to podcasts. Most shows use royalty-free jingles for intros, outros and transitions between segments. The track for each element may come from the same song, or all different songs. It may be the same for all shows in the series, or new each time.

Both Audacity and GarageBand allow users to import .mp3 music files. Online royalty-free music libraries catalog their .mp3 audio files and allow you to listen to tracks for free. This can be a lot of fun but it's easy to get carried away. So be sure to read the licensing agreement before purchasing your selections.

I found the music for my podcast online at Music2Hues. For their $20.00 fee, I now have the right to use their song as much as I want, without paying future royalties. I'm sure twangy banjo music turns some listeners off. But the instrument reinforces my goal to present practical tips that the everyday cook can use, without being pretentious.

Let your stylistic preferences, goals, and budget guide your music selections. Just like your logo, music helps cement and reinforce your podcast's character. Choose wisely for the best results.

Kati Neville is coauthor of the best selling cookbook, Fix, Freeze, Feast. She is a contributing editor for The Saver's Kitchen podcast and regularly blogs on The Forklift. Kati teaches cooking classes in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. When not online or teaching, Kati enjoys writing and tasting new recipes in her kitchen.

Get Known Now! The Joy of Teaching!

The Joy of Teaching
By Christina Katz

One of the greatest joys in my life over the past eight years has been teaching writers. For me, teaching and writing are inextricably connected and they are both organic, creative processes that can't be and shouldn't be rushed.

What I have done as a teacher is simple: I've learned for myself and then taught what I've learned to others. Sure, I've offered options and expanded on my own limited ideas. But ultimately, all I've done is try and share my success with others in an orderly, structured way.

I am not special. Anyone can do this. In fact, I teach others how to write about what they know in my writing classes. And now, beginning May 6th, I'll be teaching writers how to share what they've learned as teachers. I love that we are becoming a society of creators and I truly cannot wait to help writers expand their professionalism through teaching.

The combination of the writing and teaching have essentially given me the career that I enjoy today, which is the same career I have been enjoying steadily for the past eight years. Here are a few ways to identify a body of material you might teach on:

Just Got the Hang of It: Often the best teachers don't have the most years of experience in the topic they teach. Maybe this is because after a while anyone can become bored of just about any topic. So don't go that way. Choose something fresh for you instead. And then dive into your experience as a source of teaching material.

Muscle Memory: What do you know how to do so well that's it's become habitual? You might take this topic for granted but don't underestimate how your mastery can be tapped for teaching material.

Be Specific: You want your teaching topic to be specific enough to make the most of your unique expertise without being so specific that your class becomes esoteric to the masses. Think this is an easy balance? Nah. You might find that you find your niche as you teach. So give your topic your best guess and then get started. You'll learn as you go.

Or Generalize: If you already have very specific experience or expertise, you might find that it makes more sense to generalize it to appeal to the audience right in front of you. Consider whether your audience is international (this will lead to a more specific teaching topic) or more localized (this will lead to a more generalized topic) so as to appeal to the people who will show up.

When Stumped, Just Ask: With years of teaching and writing under my belt, I have gotten pretty good at identifying what topics are of interest to my audiences, writers and writer mamas. However, at the outset you will benefit from working with someone who has the experience that can help you make important decisions about what to include and what not to include in your classes. Feel free to check out my upcoming class, Turn Your Specialty Into Course Curriculum.

Teaching offers something that writing will never be able to offer. Teaching offers an alchemical process among a group of people in real time. I love the context of my teaching experience as much as I enjoy developing curriculum.

If you are going to take the time and energy to teach, make it a process that grows your mind as much as it grows your students' minds. And you will always prosper.

Christina Katz is the author of Get Known Before the Book Deal, Use Your Personal Strengths to Build an Author Platform and Writer Mama, How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids (both for Writer's Digest Books). A platform development coach and consultant, she teaches writing career development, hosts the Northwest Author Series, and is the publisher of several e-zines including Writers on the Rise. Christina blogs at The Writer Mama Riffs and Get Known Before the Book Deal, and speaks at MFA programs, literary events, and conferences around the country.

Inexpensive platform development strategies for writers

Platform development shouldn’t break the bank. My advice is don’t shell out money at the get-go. Instead educate yourself and then take small steps. Try to avoid the impulse to slap together a platform quickly to impress others. I suggest a more long-term approach and working slowly and steadily in order to spend less and save more in the long run.

Most importantly: if you don't know the three keys I covered this week on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, then wait. Don't start building your platform until you have clarity and focus. Otherwise you will likely just waste your precious time spinning your wheels. Or worse, fritter away your time with online distractions (and trust me, there are plenty!).

But once you know what your expertise is and what you are doing with it and for whom, then consider these four steps:

Start an e-mail list: Who are the people who like to hear about your writing success? Why not start a list in your address book with them and keep adding to it as time goes by. You can start by sending out simple regular announcements of good things that happen—just be sure to get permission. One way to get permission is to send an announcement about your work out to everyone you know and tell them that they can unsubscribe if they don’t want to be receive future messages from you on the topic. I strongly recommend that all writers read Permission Marketing by Seth Godin.

Create a simple website: Although social networking is fun, a proper writer’s website is not a Facebook or a Myspace page; it’s not even a blog. So save the detailed descriptions of your quirks and faves for the social networking you will do after you’ve built yourself a solid website to publicize your genuine writing credentials (creds) across the ethers while you are sleeping. And if you don’t have any genuine writing creds yet, getting some is an important first step. The step-by-step instructions are in Get Known.

Blog when it makes sense: Blogging can be great for writers assuming three things: 1) You have ample material to draw on and time to blog regularly. 2) You take the time to determine your appropriate audience, topic and your specific slant (or take) on your topic for your specific audience. 3) You don’t plan on starting a blog, blogging like mad for six weeks, and then disappearing from the face of the blogosphere without a trace. Preparation can prevent this common pitfall from happening to you.

Volunteer some time: Staying home and curling up with your pen and journal is great, but isolation is not a long-term strategy for writing success. Private time for personal reflection is vital for any writer, but equally important is taking the risk of expanding your interests to include interaction with like-minded others. Why not expand your reference points by volunteering so you can become rich with inspiration, confidence and opportunities?

Working on your writer's platform? Check out the May/June 2009 issue of Writer's Digest magazine and my new book, Get Known Before the Book Deal.

Platform? But what if I'm shy?

I would guesstimate that the majority of writers consider themselves shy or introverts. So, first, the best news: you are not alone.

The second best news: platform development is a process. Remember, nothing happens overnight. Therefore if you are shy or an introvert, this will not likely disappear all at once.

What's more likely is that you will slowly become more brave and outgoing.

I was painfully shy as a child. My mother started doing daycare in our home when I was a toddler because I was too shy to leave her side. So I’m not likely to see shyness at the end of the road. I view it as a starting point, not an ending point.

Like any speaker, when I got started, I had zero experience with public speaking at one time. Nobody is born ready for public speaking. Speaking skills are always learned—sometimes through training, sometimes through experience, most often from both.

I outline all the steps that writes can follow to become comfortable speaking in Get Known Before the Book Deal. The gist of it is start with what’s small and manageable enough for you that you won’t chicken out. Then grow the size of your audience gradually over time. This is what I did. I started with groups of three to twelve. Then grew to groups of twenty to fifty. Now I can manage two or three hundred people as long as I have ample time for preparation.

It’s human to resist what’s uncomfortable, so don't be too hard on yourself for not wanting to come out of your shell. However, speaking is something authors do. So I’m not likely to let you wriggle out of it.

If I could overcome my painful shyness, then anyone can.

Working on your writer's platform? Check out the May/June 2009 issue of Writer's Digest magazine and my new book, Get Known Before the Book Deal.

Dear Platform Builders (April 2009 Issue begins),

Cindy Hudson's interview with author Elizabeth Lyon ends this issue on this note:

One half of the job of being an author is writing, but if you want to have a career, the other half is all business.

There was a time, over a decade ago, when I did not want to hear about the business side of writing. The reason was simple: I couldn't handle it. I had too much to learn already, or so I felt.

This ended up being true, for me. I already had my work cut out to learn how to write well enough for publication and how to sell my hard-wrought efforts in exchange for money.

It took me no less than five years of concentrated effort to get those skills firing with enough piston-power to be in a position to start thinking about self-promotion and professional development on top of them.

And for the past five years, I've worked hard to develop these other two important skill sets. And every day I wake up and there is still more to learn.

Ten years ago, there was no such thing as social networking. Five years ago, an online presence still seemed optional. Today, writers are trying to learn how to write well, how to sell their words, how to market themselves, and how to grow as professionals in a constantly shifting marketplace.

I just composed a press release about myself, Sage Cohen, and Cindy Hudson publishing four books within three years by working together for mutual success. If I had to choose just a few words to describe how we all succeeded, they would be:

• Focus
• Determination
• Consistency

Strangely, I don't see very many people beating the drum of focus, determination, and consistency these days. There are so many other seemingly sexier topics to get all mixed up in. But I don't care. I'm going to keep beating it...right through the static and the get-rich-quickly scams and the uncertainty.

In the meantime, be mindful. It's chaotic out there. And chaos won't do much for your focus, determination, or consistency.

Trust in people who have an established track record of integrity and quiet authority, who aren't going to cash in their relationship with you to make a quick buck. You'll hear about them in this and all of my publications.

Make good things happen!

Christina Katz
Publisher & Editor

What's my platform? Part three

Do you have an ongoing relationship with a clearly defined audience?

This is where a lot of writers fall down because they have a clearly defined niche that sets them apart but they haven't been cultivating their audience over time.

 Typically, clarifying an audience will bring the whole platform into clearer perspective. This applies to books, blogs and everything else. Once you identify your specific audience and start speaking to them directly, the conversation will spark all kinds of ideas, connections, and opportunities.

If you are vague about your audience, the whole writing process takes longer and requires more rewriting. A good example of vague about your audience is: "Everyone is going to like my book."

 Small concrete platform-building efforts catalyze relationships over time and create community. A person who has this kind of commitment is J.A. Konrath and his Newbie's Guide to Getting Published. Check it out and you'll see what I mean.

Know your audience. Serve your audience. Sell your book.

Working on your writer's platform? Check out the May/June 2009 issue of Writer's Digest magazine and my new book, Get Known Before the Book Deal.

What's my platform? Part two

What's your distinct niche so you can stand out from others in the same field?

Platform isn’t the credentials or your resume; it’s what you currently do. It’s current, constantly evolving, and updated on an ongoing basis.

We need to know how you are different, so you’ll have to communicate who you are and what you do quickly. Attention spans are getting shorter, so writing down what you do concisely is critical.

A blog is a good example of a way a writer can authentically share what he is noticing to assist others. And then realize that a hundred people might already be blogging on the same topic and give yours even more thought.

For more examples of writers who are setting themselves apart, please check out the feature section in the latest issue of Writer's Digest magazine where I've rounded up a bunch of great examples.

Working on your writer's platform? Check out the May/June 2009 issue of Writer's Digest magazine and my new book, Get Known Before the Book Deal.

What's my platform? Part one

There are three question a writer must ask to determine what her platform is going to be. This week we'll tackle those questions one at a time:

Question One: What's your clearly defined body of expertise?

When you think about the fact that about 500 books are published each day in this country, you realize that writing a book isn’t going to set you apart. So, the first thing you need to know is what makes you and your expertise unique and communicate that. If you don’t know who you are and what you uniquely offer, how is anyone else going to know?

I call this cultivating your identity, not branding, because that word is so grossly overused these days. Identity also nods to the importance of keeping things real and staying true to yourself, while also making self-promotion a priority.

For example, I work with nonfiction writers from beginner to book-deal. That's typically an extended period of time, therefore I offer six classes designed to help writers grow along those lines.

Sure, I could offer more information products, but a lot of folks offer information products. What makes my expertise unique is that I train writers. I work with them to expand their skills so they can succeed. I write books on the topic and speak at literary events, as well, where people tell me they appreciate my grounded, practical perspective. But there are no magic wands or overnight success in writing, folks. Just what did you accomplish today?

What's your clearly defined body of expertise? It needn't be on the subject of writing. Instead it should describe what you already do ever day.

Working on your writer's platform? Check out the May/June 2009 issue of Writer's Digest magazine and my new book, Get Known Before the Book Deal.