"Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book." ~Cicero, 106-43 BC Many people mistakenly think that selling and marketing are the same - they aren't. Selling is the “instant gratification” we all like—you hand someone a book and they hand you money. I sell about 90% of my books in person, by hand.  Marketing is a little like planting seeds in your garden. You put them out there and water and fertilize and you hope they will bear fruit (or vegetables.) With marketing you are putting your name or your books out there and maybe some people will buy it right away and maybe two years from now, someone will come across your name and decide to buy. You may not be able to tell how many sales you make from a website or a virtual book tour until you receive a royalty check from your publisher or from Amazon. Global management consultant Alan Weiss says, "There is no music if you don‘t blow your own horn." Like it or n...

Platform One at Minehad Railway Station Photo by Ross Hawkes , via Flickr. One thing that agents and acquiring editors often look for is whether the author has a platform.   Exactly what a platform is can cause people to stutter while trying to explain the term. Some say it means you have a cause. Your book is about curing cancer. Or your protagonist is a recovering alcoholic. Or … you have something to talk about that might get you publicity. Even more so, if you yourself have conquered cancer or been sober for twenty years.   Some think it means that your book touches on a topic that is hot, like the politics in the Middle East or the two lovers end up together because of their work on global warming. Because those topics are relevant, you could get on talk shows. Although all of that would most likely be a help in promoting your book and can be part of a platform, it’s not really THE platform. Your platform is your ability to get publicity and sell your book. ...

Yesterday we looked at some of the reasons you might want to consider building a mailing list and starting an email newsletter. Today we’ll cover the frequency and content questions that arose from Dani’s introductory post . How Often Should You Send a Newsletter? Susan Wittig Albert has a long-standing weekly newsletter, as does Angela Hoy of WritersWeekly and Hope Clark of Funds for Writers . Our own Terry Odell told us she sends her newsletter out quarterly, which she has found to be sufficient (and Terry will tell us more about her strategies and the email service she uses on the 18th). However, Terry blogs daily , so she already has the element of predictability and reliability with which to draw her readers. Sending a newsletter weekly is a good strategy. You can become part of your reader’s weekly habits. For example, she knows your email pitches up in her inbox on the same day she goes to the gym and it’s ideal for a quick read while she finishes her coffee. An i...

Last month, we talked about what an Author Platform is . Our project plan is to build the platform, bit by bit, each month. I could start this project by telling you to draw out your blueprint for the platform, but I won’t. I could, but I’m afraid we’d all end up huddled in a dark closet. Let’s just take it step-by-step. If you haven’t already done it, create a web page for yourself. The URL should include your name. Mine is: http://helenginger.com/ . You could also call it something like authorhelenginger.com , but I think it’s easiest to just use your name. If you call it something like, wildwriterintheskyblueyonder.com , you won’t pop up on an Internet search as easily when someone Googles your name to try to find you. If you call it the name of your book, how many websites will you have to maintain by the time your fifth or fifteenth book comes out? Create the site yourself or pay someone to do it. Which you do depends on your skill and/or finances. If you’re going to build you...

What is a “platform” when it pertains to a book? This can be confusing – with good reason. The confusion is because what used to be meant by platform has morphed into something more. In the past, when someone said you needed a platform for your book, they, first off, meant your nonfiction book. Only nonfiction books were required to have platforms. What it basically meant was that you, the author, were an expert on some subject others want to learn about. Expert + important topic = platform. Over the last few years, platform has come to mean more than that. It no longer is enough to be an expert on some subject people want to read about. You now have to have a built-in audience or a way to get publicity. Expert + important topic + ready audience = platform. The sad thing is this last part of the equation (the ready audience) has taken on great significance, so much so that it can be more important than the other two parts. That’s why you see so many celebrities writing books...