I’ve been asked to do a webinar on platform-building, so decided to talk to you this morning about the importance of building a platform in this highly competitive publishing field.<\/p>\n
Hopeful authors come whining to me from time to time, saying that they can\u2019t get a publisher because they don\u2019t have a platform. So what do they do? They keep sending the same book proposal out to more and more publishers. What would I advise them to do? Start building a platform, of course.<\/p>\n
I guess it hasn\u2019t sunk in with many new authors that you don\u2019t have to wait until you\u2019re published to establish a platform. In fact, to me, this is backwards thinking. If you don\u2019t have a platform in your genre or topic, you should begin building one before you ever start writing a book.<\/p>\n
Many beginning authors come into the publishing arena with at least one of the following misconceptions.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tThey don\u2019t believe that a platform is necessary for their particular project.
\n\u2022\tThey think there\u2019s plenty of time to start building on their platform, later.
\n\u2022\tThey don\u2019t know what a platform is because they haven\u2019t bothered to study the business of publishing.<\/p>\n
To review, if you expect to land a traditional publisher (one that will invest in your project), you will need a platform\u2014a following, a way of attracting readers. If you hope to sell very many copies of your self-published book, you need a platform\u2014recognition and\/or expertise in your genre\/topic.<\/p>\n
Whose dog training book would you buy? The one by the credentialed trainer with a syndicated radio show and several training books under his belt or one by a first-time author who happens to own a couple of pit bulls? <\/p>\n
When you\u2019re in the mood to read a romance novel, which one will you pick? The novel by your favorite author, whose stories you read in magazines and who sometimes appears on Oprah or the one by an author you\u2019ve never heard of?<\/p>\n
Put yourself in the reader\u2019s\/consumer\u2019s place. What prompts you to buy a particular book? I think we all read books that we\u2019ve read about or heard about from others\u2014that have been recommended by friends or through reviews. We purchase books by authors that we meet and authors whose names are familiar. I bought a book yesterday from a first-time author after reading about it in our hometown newspaper. But I have never bought a book I didn\u2019t know about from someone I\u2019ve never heard of or never met. Have you? Yeah, I didn\u2019t think so. <\/p>\n
Perhaps now you understand why publishers shy away from new authors who don\u2019t have a platform and why I and other professionals recommend that you hold off even self-publishing until you\u2019ve established a platform.<\/p>\n
Tomorrow, I’ll give you some platform-building tips.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’ve been asked to do a webinar on platform-building, so decided to talk to you this morning about the importance of building a platform in this highly competitive publishing field. Hopeful authors come whining to me from time to time, saying that they can\u2019t get a publisher because they don\u2019t have a platform. So what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,20],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t