Get Known Before the Book Deal

#platformchat trascript from 10/23/09 with Seth Harwood & April L. Hamilton

Did you miss today's #platformchat?

Lucky you, because it kind of went off the tracks. We couldn't get one of our guests' tweets to show up in Tweetchat. But even so, those who were there seemed to love it.

We can give all the credit to Meryl K. Evans who works double time to keep the chat running smoothly in ways I would not begin to be able to manage in my wildest dreams.

So, one round of applause for Meryl for keeping the chat going.

And another round of applause for Meryl for piecing together what the real chat should have looked like into this transcript:

Download Platformchat20091023_transcript

Three cheers for Meryl! Let's all go to her blog and add it to our readers as a way of saying thanks. :)

And remember, the transcript is in reverse chronological order, so please start at the bottom and read to the top.

We post the chat in PDF instead of cutting and pasting the entire hour-long chat into a blog post.

Hope to see everyone at the next #platformchat with guests and date TBA soon.

We are on a monthly schedule. So, look for our next chat in November.

If you'd like to suggest topics, please feel free to leave ideas in the comments.

Happy platform-building! Feel free to purchase our guests' books below:

NEXT #PLATFORMCHAT IS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23RD!

Guests: April Hamilton & Seth Harwood (more info)
If you are on Twitter, I hope you will join us for the next #platformchat. It's an expert Q&A on platform development, followed by an opportunity to ask the experts questions. Learn more about our next chat and stay tuned to the Get Known Before the Book Deal blog to stay up to date or read past chat transcripts.

HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT #PLATFORMCHAT?

If you are on Twitter, I hope you will join us for the next #platformchat. It's an expert Q&A on platform development, followed by an opportunity to ask the experts questions. Learn more about our next chat and stay tuned to the Get Known Before the Book Deal blog to stay up to date or read past chat transcripts.

Next #platformchat is Friday, October 23rd with Seth Harwood & April Hamilton

On Friday, October 23rd our #platformchat guests will be Seth Harwood & April Hamilton.

Time is: 11:00 - noon PT (noon - 1:00 MT, 1:00 - 2:00 CT, & 2:00 - 3:00 ET).

Topic: Common sense podcasting & self-publishing strategies

Anyone with a Twitter account can participate. I recommend using Tweetchat.com and plugging in our hashtag, #platformchat, to follow and participate in the chat. Once you have a Twitter account, you can use your Twitter ID and password to get a Tweetchat account very quickly.

I hope you will bring your questions on this topic and join the discussion!

Please note: #platformchat is monthly now. Stay tuned to this blog for updates. Thanks!

Here's a little more about our guests:

Seth Harwood (@SethHarwood) graduated from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and can be found online at SethHarwood.com, where his podcasts of Jack Wakes Up and its sequels have drawn a devoted following. Jack Wakes Up debuted May 5th from Three Rivers Press (Random House) and is currently available everywhere books are sold. He lives in Berkeley, with his wife, Joelle, and teaches at Stanford University and the City College of San Francisco.

April L. Hamilton (@indieauthor) is an author, blogger, Technorati BlogCritic, leading advocate and speaker for the indie author movement, and founder and Editor in Chief of Publetariat, the premier online news hub and community for indie authors and small imprints. She's a frequent conference speaker on subjects related to self-publishing, and judge for self-published book competitions. In her popular self-published reference book, The IndieAuthor Guide, she offers aspiring self-published authors a roadmap to success. She is also the author of novels available in both ebook and POD form.

#platformchat moderators are:

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. Follow Christina on Twitter at @thewritermama.

Meryl K. Evans is the author of Brilliant Outlook Pocketbook, co-author of Adapting to Web Standards: CSS and Ajax for Big Sites and contributor to many others. The long-time blogger and gamer has written and edited for a bunch of places online and off. A native Texan, she lives a heartbeat north of Dallas in Plano, Texas with her husband and three kiddos. Though born in silence, she tries to show that deaf people are just like everyone else. Follow Meryl on Twitter at @merylkevans.

If you missed our recent chats, you are welcome to peruse recent transcripts:

September11th #platformchat

August 7th #platformchat

July 24th #platformchat

July 14th #platformchat

June 26th #platformchat

Next #platformchat is September 11, 2009 at 11 a.m. PST with Literary Mama's Caroline Grant & Mom Author Cindy Hudson

Our September 11th #platformchat celebrates mom writers to coincide with my 30-day Writer Mama Back-to-School Giveaway.

On Friday, September 11th our #platformchat guests will be Literary Mama editor-in-chief, Caroline Grant & mom author and mother-daughter book club consultant, Cindy Hudson.

Time is: 11:00 - noon PT (noon - 1:00 MT, 1:00 - 2:00 CT, & 2:00 - 3:00 ET).

Topic: "The Juggle" -- How Mom Writers Balance Parenthood & Writing/Book Promotion

If you missed our recent chats, you are welcome to peruse recent transcripts:

August 7th #platformchat

July 24th #platformchat

July 14th #platformchat

June 26th #platformchat

Anyone with a Twitter account can participate. I recommend using Tweetchat.com and plugging in our hashtag, #platformchat, to follow and participate in the chat. Once you have a Twitter account, you can use your Twitter ID and password to get a Tweetchat account very quickly.

I hope you will bring your questions on this topic and join the discussion!

Please note: #platformchat is (pretty much) on an every-other-week rhythm now. Stay tuned to this blog for updates. Thanks!

Here's a little more about our guests:

Caroline Grant (@CarolineGrant) is the editor-in-chief of Literary Mama, where she also writes the column "Mama at the Movies." She is co-editor, with Elrena Evans, of the anthology Mama, PhD: Women Write About Motherhood and Academic Life (Rutgers University Press, 2008). She holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of California at Berkeley, where she taught classes on film, women's studies, American literature, and writing; she has also taught at Stanford University and the San Francisco Art Institute. Her essays have been published in a variety of anthologies and journals.  She lives in San Francisco with her husband and two sons, a life she writes about on her blog, food for thought.

Cindy Hudson (@momdtrbookclub) is a mother-daughter book club consultant, journalist, writer, and editor. She is the author of Book By Book, The Complete Guide to Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs. She has more than twenty years experience as a marketing and public relations professional, and has founded two mother-daughter book clubs of her own. Visit her online at http://www.motherdaughterbookclub.com and http://www.motherdaughterbookclub.wordpress.com.

#platformchat moderators are:

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. Follow Christina on Twitter at @thewritermama.

Meryl K. Evans is the author of Brilliant Outlook Pocketbook, co-author of Adapting to Web Standards: CSS and Ajax for Big Sites and contributor to many others. The long-time blogger and gamer has written and edited for a bunch of places online and off. A native Texan, she lives a heartbeat north of Dallas in Plano, Texas with her husband and three kiddos. Though born in silence, she tries to show that deaf people are just like everyone else. Follow Meryl on Twitter at @merylkevans.

Friday, August 7, 2009 #platformchat with Chris Brogan & Wendy Burt-Thomas

I'm very pleased to announce that on Friday, August 7th our #platformchat guests will be author and social media expert, Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan), and nonfiction author, freelance journalist & editor, Wendy Burt-Thomas (@wendyburt).

Time is: 11:00 - noon PT, noon - 1:00 MT, 1:00 - 2:00 CT, & 2:00 - 3:00 ET.

The topic is: Service without Self-sacrifice.

If you missed our recent chats, you are welcome to peruse recent transcripts: 

July 24th #platformchat

July 14th #platformchat

June 26th #platformchat

The platform-building conversation often continues even after the chat is over...which, okay, is kind of the whole point.

Anyone with a Twitter account can participate. I recommend using Tweetchat.com and plugging in our hashtag, #platformchat, to follow and participate in the chat. Once you have a Twitter account, you can use your Twitter ID and password to get a Tweetchat account very quickly.

I hope you will bring your questions on this topic and join the discussion!

Please note: #platformchat is on an every-other-week rhythm now. Thanks!

Here's a little more about our guests:

Chris Brogan is a ten year veteran of using social media and both web and mobile technologies to build digital relationships for businesses, organizations, and individuals. Chris speaks, blogs, writes articles, and makes media of all kinds at [chrisbrogan.com], a blog in the top 10 of the Advertising Age Power150, and in the top 100 on Technorati. Chris is also the cofounder of the PodCamp new media conference series, exploring the use of new media community tools to extend and build value. He recently became president of New Marketing Labs, a social media agency. He runs the Inbound Marketing Summit events with CrossTech Media. Chris frequently speaks at and attends marketing and social media events, sharing his passion for all things social media. Chris won the Mass High Tech All Stars award for thought leaders for 2008. He has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, US News & World Report, The Montreal Gazette, Newsweek, and some other places.

Wendy Burt-Thomas is a full-time freelance writer, editor and copywriter with more than 1,000 published pieces. Her work has appeared in such varied publications as MSNBC.com, NYTimes.com, Family Circle and American Fitness. She is the author of three books: Oh, Solo Mia! The Hip Chick's Guide to Fun for One (McGraw-Hill, 2001); Work It, Girl! 101 Tips for the Hip Working Chick (McGraw-Hill, 2003); and The Writer's Digest Guide to Query Letters (Writer's Digest, 2008). Visit her at http://www.GuideToQueryLetters.com or her blog, http://askWendy.wordpress.com.

#platformchat moderators are:

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. Follow Christina on Twitter at @thewritermama.

Meryl K. Evans is the author of Brilliant Outlook Pocketbook, co-author of Adapting to Web Standards: CSS and Ajax for Big Sites and contributor to many others. The long-time blogger and gamer has written and edited for a bunch of places online and off. A native Texan, she lives a heartbeat north of Dallas in Plano, Texas with her husband and three kiddos. Though born in silence, she tries to show that deaf people are just like everyone else. Follow Meryl on Twitter at @merylkevans.

#platformchat extends the author platform conversation

Well, folks, just as I'd hoped #platformchat, the bi-weekly twitter conversation with platform experts hosted by Meryl K. Evans and myself, is off to a great start.

And, also just as I'd hoped, our Twitter conversation has sparked an extended conversation. Here's a round-up of excellent posts so far:

Therese Walsh recapped some of her thoughts on platform (because let's face it, 140 characters at a time just isn't enough to say everything you'd like to say).

Writer's Digest Publisher, Jane Friedman, recapped some of her thoughts after her #platformchat experience, as well:

The Hardest Part About Developing a Platform: Who Are You Anyway?

Are You Needlessly Worrying About Your Work Getting Too Much Exposure?

Our moderator with the mostest, Meryl K. Evans, shared a great post on Jane's blog last week, as well.

10 Steps to Put Social Networking Under Your Spell

Sage Cohen commented that Twitter offers more poetic writers the gift of "compression." That's for sure!

And agent Robin Mizell claims that Twitter's forced compression is "not her style."

And yet, me thinks, we will be seeing Robin on Twitter more and more based on the great tips she offered during the last #plaformchat.

Here's the transcripts for your reading pleasure:

June 26th: The first official #platformchat with Jane Friedman and Therese Walsh.

July 10th: Making a great first impression with Sage Cohen and Robin Mizell.

Hope you will tune in on Friday July 24 when our guest experts will be best-selling author, Allison Winn Scotch and author of 29 books, Bill O'Hanlon. The topic will be Embracing Self-Promotion.

I'll be on East Coast time, so it will be fun to see what #platformchat is like at 2 p.m. instead of my usual, West Coast, 11 a.m. :)

Please spread the word while I'm toodling around New England!

July 10th #platformchat with Literary Agent Robin Mizell & author and poet Sage Cohen

I'm very pleased to announce that on Friday, July 10th our #platformchat guests will be Literary Agent, Robin Mizell (@RDMizell) and Author/Poet, Sage Cohen (@SageCohen).

Time is: 11:00 - noon PT, noon - 1:00 MT, 1:00 - 2:00 CT, & 2:00 - 3:00 ET.

The topic for our chat is: How Platform-builders Make a Great First Impression.

If you missed our June 26th #platformchat, you can view the full transcript here (thanks to co-moderator, Meryl K. Evans).

Anyone with a Twitter account can participate. I recommend using Tweetchat.com and plugging in our hashtag, #platformchat, to follow and participate in the chat. Once you have a Twitter account, you can use your Twitter ID and password to get a Tweetchat account very quickly.

I hope you will bring your questions on this topic and join the discussion!

Here's a little more about our guests:

Robin Mizell (@RDMizell) is an independent literary agent working with fiction and nonfiction authors whose ideas help bring people together. She is one of the editors of the 2009 Screenwriter's & Playwright's Market guidebook, and her advice to writers appears in the July issue of The Writer magazine. Robin is scheduled at writers conferences and book festivals throughout the year. Her blog is Treated & Released and her query guidelines can be found at RobinMizell.com.

Sage Cohen (@SageCohen) is the author of Writing the Life Poetic: An Invitation to Read and Write Poetry (Writers Digest Books, 2009) and the poetry collection Like the Heart, the World. An award-winning poet, she writes three monthly columns about the craft and business of writing and serves as Poetry Editor for VoiceCatcher 4. Sage hosts a monthly reading series at Barnes & Noble and teaches the online class Poetry for the People. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and awarded a Soapstone residency. To learn more, visit www.writingthelifepoetic.com. 

#platformchat moderators are:

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.

Meryl K. Evans is the author of Brilliant Outlook Pocketbook, co-author of Adapting to Web Standards: CSS and Ajax for Big Sites and contributor to many others. The long-time blogger and gamer has written and edited for a bunch of places online and off. A native Texan, she lives a heartbeat north of Dallas in Plano, Texas with her husband and three kiddos. Though born in silence, she tries to show that deaf people are just like everyone else. Follow Meryl on Twitter at @merylkevans.

NEWS: We are moving #platformchat into an every-other-week timeline to make room for another chat in the in-between weeks, which I'll announce next week. (Exciting!)

So our next #platformchat will take place on July 24th and our guests will be novelist and freelance writer, Allison Winn Scotch (@aswinn), and nonfiction author, Bill O'Hanlon (@possibill).

My Definition of Platform for Aspiring Authors

A platform communicates your expertise to others. It includes your Web presence, any public speaking you do, the classes you teach, the media contacts you’ve established, the articles you’ve published, and any other means you currently have for making your name and your future books known to a viable readership.

Basically, your platform is everything you do with your expertise. A platform-strong writer is a writer with influence. Once you establish a platform, it can work for you 24/7, reaching readers even as you sleep. Of course, this kind of reach takes time. If many others already recognize your expertise on a given topic or for a specific audience or both, then you likely have an active platform.

I find it helpful to define a platform as a promise writers make to not only create something to sell (like a book), but also to promote it to the specific readers who will want to purchase it. This takes both time and effort, not to mention considerable focus.

~ Christina Katz
Author of Get Known Before the Book Deal & Writer Mama
(both from Writer's Digest Books)

No #Platformchat this Friday, June 19th, Yes #Platformchat on Friday, June 26th: Happy Summer, Everyone!

I decided to cancel #platformchat this Friday, June 19th, because I'm setting up a killer chat for next week on Friday, June 26 (and I want to take a long weekend to kick summer off!).

While I'm busy canceling things, I may as well go ahead and cancel July 3rd in honor of Fourth of July weekend. Because we writers deserve some time to play!

Here are the all new and improved chat guidelines, if you would like to join us. I hope you will.

Our guests for Friday, June 26th are:

Jane Friedman is the editor of the nonfiction book, The Beginning Writer’s Answer Book. She is Publisher & Editorial Director at Writer’s Digest. Jane speaks regularly at writing conferences across the country and has been writing and publishing ever since graduating with a BFA in creative writing from the University of Evansville. Her blog is There are no rules.

Therese was a freelance health writer before she turned to fiction. She’s the co-mama of the popular writers’ blog Writer Unboxed and will have her first novel in a two-book deal published with Random House on October 13th. You can learn more about her book, The Last Will of Moira Leahy, at her website: www.ThereseWalsh.com or her blog, www.WriterUnboxed.com.

[One more guest TBA]

Moderators are:

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.

Meryl K. Evans is the author of Brilliant Outlook Pocketbook, co-author of Adapting to Web Standards: CSS and Ajax for Big Sites and contributor to many others. The long-time blogger and gamer has written and edited for a bunch of places online and off. A native Texan, she lives a heartbeat north of Dallas in Plano, Texas with her husband and three kiddos. Though born in silence, she tries to show that deaf people are just like everyone else. Follow Meryl on Twitter at @merylkevans.

Just wanted everyone to know to take the chat off your calendar this week and put it back on for next week!

Thanks! And happy official first weekend of summer!