I have had 30 books published by major publishers such as HarperCollins, John Wiley and Sons, W.W. Norton, Penguin and others. When I first became involved in writing and publishing trade books (publishing industry jargon referring to books for a general audience), I had an author’s mindset. That is, I was thinking like an author. “Once they see my proposal, they will realize this will be a great book and they will want to publish it.” Sometimes I sold my proposed books and sometimes I didn’t.
But after some years and some experience trying to sell book ideas that didn’t sell or trying to get a new agent and failing, I began to realize that I needed to understand and speak to the agent’s needs and interests (and in turn the publisher’s needs and interests) as well.
I need to build the business case for the book as well as make sure the proposal showed how unique my book idea was and why there was a group of readers who would be likely to buy it.
These three considerations are what I call in my book writing and publishing courses:
Platform, positioning, and population.
Platform: What makes you stand head and shoulders above other potential authors
Platform is a publishing industry buzzword that roughly translates into your:
- Marketing abilities
- Marketing plans
- Marketing channels
- Credibility
- Portfolio of previous accomplishments
Think of your publishing platform as like a physical platform. If potential agents or authors (and eventually readers) came into a room with a bunch of would be authors and you happened to be standing on a platform while other would be authors were milling around on the floor, you would stand out.
You publishing platform can be built plank by plank. It is really a never-ending task. I add to mine constantly and update my proposals with new accomplishments or marketing channels as they happen. Writing this article is part of my platform in that it will get the word out about me and my work to people who had never previously heard of me (perhaps you are one of those people).
When I first started my writing career, I met with a publisher who only wanted to ask me about potential writers in an area in which I had some expertise (a new approach to hypnosis, based on the work of the late psychiatrist Milton Erickson). I mentioned a few up and coming experts and then, immodestly, mentioned myself. I told him I had a few books in mind that I would like to write. He quickly agreed to publish one of them. I was initially amazed until he explained to me that, since I regularly spoke at workshops and conferences around the country and edited a newsletter that was read by thousands of readers, I could get the word of my book out to thousands of people each year and a certain percentage of them were likely to buy the book. He was interested in my book idea, but what sold him was my platform.
You can do the same thing. Think like a publisher or agent. Which author would you rather acquire a book from, one that had 5,000 blog readers or email newsletter subscribers or someone who had neither of those?
Begin to collect physical evidence and a record of anything you have accomplished related to your specific topic or field or in general in your field and/or the accumulated evidence of your experience and ability to write books and sell them. This could include endorsements from well-known people.
I coached a guy, who, after hearing about the importance of platform, got discouraged. “I don’t have a platform,” he said dejectedly. I urged him to get creative. Before long, he came up with an idea. He had gone to three different colleges for undergraduate and graduate degrees. He contacted his alumni associations and they all agreed to put a notice in their newsletter and emails about his forthcoming book. Her also belonged to several professional organizations with email mailing lists and he persuaded them to send out notices to their members. All told, he was able to get the word out to over 1 million people using those lists. He obtained an agent and a publisher based on that platform (his book is called Life Could be Sweeter if you want to check it out). So don’t tell me you don’t have a platform. Go out and build one, plank by plank.
Here’s a checklist of some things involved in your platform that could make up the planks in yours:
- Previous media appearances
- Presentations given
- Books or other publications
- Great feedback comments from people regarding your work or writing
- Blurbs from well-known or credible experts in your topic area or writing genre
- Research you have done or that you have compiled
- Compelling and focused topic, title, subtitle
- Email newsletter/email list
- Snail mail mailing list
- Marketing avenues available
- Advertising you do
- Your degree/certifications
- Website and large number of visitors or hits
- Toll-free telephone number
- Size of the potential audience for your book
- Statistics to back up the size of audience, extent of the problem
- Publicity you are willing to do
Your Mission: Find Your Position
Positioning involves where your book will be positioned within the bookstore and the book market in general. This includes what genre the book belongs to (romance, detective/thriller, self-help, spiritual, inspirational, how-to, and so on) and how it is different from other similar books.
Population: Find your peeps
Population can be viewed as a subset of Positioning in that it helps define who exactly your readers will be. Most newbie or wannabe writers say their book is “for everyone.” It is hard to market to everyone and the publisher will not be swayed by this stance. Better to narrow your market. For example, there are lots of books about stress management out there, but how about “Stress Management for New Parents” or Stress Management for the Newly Retired”? Narrowing the population may be by age, geographic location, interest group or anything else that segments and differentiates your potential reader from all readers.
Do your research to discover how large your population is. Google is your friend here. And find out what publications they read, what websites they frequent, what blogs they read.
Mastering these three aspects of pitching your book project decreases the likelihood of agents and editors rejecting your book, not for its content or topic, but for other reasons. Please learn about these important topics before you submit your book.
Hope this helps in getting your book written and published.
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