Marketing

The Dreaded Author Platform

Last week at the Write-To-Publish conference, the one topic that kept coming up in conversations, panels, and workshops was AUTHOR PLATFORM. Yes, the hated p-word! I explained again and again that publishing just ain’t what it used to be. Gone are the days when publishers were solely responsible for the marketing of a book. Today’s…
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Answering Questions about Platform

Good morning and happy Monday! Let’s address some of the platform issues that have been coming my way lately: Q: If you have developed this wonderful platform and can do all the promotion you suggest, why would you want to give the lion’s share of the profits to a publisher? Why not use a Publish…
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The Competitive Advantage

Last April, Michael Hyatt ran a series of blog posts about the importance of the Competitive Advantage. I can’t possibly summarize it all, but there are a couple of really important thoughts I want to share with you. It seems the biggest worry of the unpublished author is (understandably), “Will there be room for the…
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Fiction Platform

Today we’re going to talk about platform for fiction writers. As I mentioned a couple of days ago, a platform isn’t necessary in order to sell your novel to a publisher (although it’s a definite plus). Publishers and agents are still looking for great stories. If you’ve written a wonderful novel, everything else is icing.…
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Non-Fiction Platforms

I’ve had some people tell me lately that they’re starting to hate that word platform. I’ll let you in on a little secret: I feel the same way. I sometimes wish the whole idea of platform would just go away and we’d be free to simply publish the books we love. Like you, I wish…
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Let’s Talk About PLATFORM

I seem to receive more questions about platform than anything else, so I’m doing 3 whole days of posts to try and clear up some mysteries. What is a platform? Your platform refers to the means by which YOU will help sell your book by your presence in the media and/or the public sphere, or…
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How Agents & Editors Decide

When you submit your proposal to an agent or publishing house, you may wonder how they make their decisions as to which books to reject and which to accept. Obviously there are numerous considerations that vary from person to person, from publisher to publisher. But there is a simple three-tiered approach we all use to…
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Guest Blogger: Sue Brower from Zondervan

Internet Marketing for Authors I can only be described as “technology challenged” when it comes to the latest and greatest on the Internet. Yet, I know that the Internet offers a multitude of ways to promote your books and to develop a community of fans. It’s more than just gathering email addresses for a newsletter,…
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To Blog or Not to Blog?

That is the question I’m getting a lot these days. Many authors are being advised that they must have a blog as the first step to marketing themselves. But I think that advice is getting outdated. Here’s why: → According to Technorati, there are nearly 113 million active blogs. That’s not a typo. Considering there…
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Afternoon in a Bookstore

Last week my youngest daughter turned 9, and one of the things she wanted to do for her birthday was go to Barnes & Noble. (Cool, huh?) So my girls and I spent part of an afternoon hanging out in the bookstore. They love to browse the stacks, grabbing books off the shelf, sitting on…
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Do You Have the Competitive Advantage?

I hope you all have read the posts and comments from the last several days over at Michael Hyatt’s blog, From Where I Sit. I can’t possibly summarize it all, but there are a couple of really important thoughts I want to share with you. It seems the biggest worry of the unpublished author is…
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FICTION Platform

Today we’re going to talk about platform for fiction writers. As I mentioned a couple of days ago, a platform isn’t necessary in order to sell your novel to a publisher (although it’s a definite plus). Publishers and agents are still looking for great stories. If you’ve written a wonderful novel, everything else is icing.…
Read More