Get a Literary Agent: The Complete Guide to Securing Representation for Your Work (20 page)

To get your platform started—or to take your existing platform to the next level—read this chapter. It’s a crash course in author marketing and how to make yourself more visible and discoverable in the marketplace.

“Platform,” simply put, is your
visibility as an author
.

It’s your personal ability to sell books right this instant. It is not “what you would be willing to do,” but rather “what you
can
do and what you bring to the table
right now
.” I’ve always thought of platform like this: When you speak, who is listening? In other words, when you have something to say, what legitimate channels do you have to release your message to audiences? To an agent or publisher, these audiences translate into people who will consider buying your book.

If you found yourself staring off into space, just now realizing that you have virtually no platform, fear not. Having no platform is expected. It’s the normal starting point. To build one, it will require a concerted effort to reach out to groups and individuals with the goal of building a following. If you haven’t done that yet, you’re starting from zero—but that’s quite all right.

As you get started, realize that platform is simply your personal ability to sell books through:

1. Who you are
   
2. Personal and professional connections you have
   
3. Media outlets, including blogs and social networks
   

The best platform is, of course, fame. That’s why it seems like every celebrity is writing a memoir or children’s picture book these days. Sure, the books may not be that good, but because of the celebrity’s public reach and notoriety, the books are guaranteed to sell well—and that’s why a publisher takes the project on. Celebrities have platform—and platform translates into money and success.

But noncelebrities can sell books, too. For the rest of us, the most frequent building blocks of a platform are:

1. A website and/or blog with a growing number of followers
   
2. An e-newsletter/mailing list with a growing number of followers
   
3. Article or column writing or correspondent involvement for the media—preferably for larger outlets and outlets related to the topic of your book
   
4. Guest contributions to successful websites, blogs, and periodicals
   
5. A track record of strong past book sales
   
6. Individuals of influence you know—from networking to personal contacts (organizational, media, celebrity, relatives)—who can help you market at no cost to yourself, whether through blurbs, promotion, or other means
   
7. Public speaking appearances—the bigger, the better
   
8. An impressive social media presence (Twitter, Facebook, etc.)
   
9. Membership in professional organizations that support the successes of their own
   
10. Recurring media appearances and interviews—in print, on the radio, on television, or online
    

Not all of these methods will be of interest or relevance to you. As you learn more about how to find success in each one, some will jump out at you as practical and feasible, while others will not. My advice is to choose a few and dive in deep—and don’t be afraid to concede failure in one area and then shift gears and head full speed ahead down a different avenue. It’s better to show impressive success in some areas than minimal success in all.

As you tackle these building blocks of platform, know that such tasks take time. Strive for something substantial—strong channels that will help you sell. Simply being on Twitter and having a website does not mean you have a platform. Those are just the first steps to establishing one.

Do understand that simply starting a blog, Pinterest, podcast, or any other form of marketing does little to help you unless said channel has a sizeable audience, readership, or listenership. Here are some
minimal
numbers that will impress an agent. So aim for—or better yet, beyond—these figures.

• Twitter: 5,000 followers
  
• Blog: 500 to 1,000 page views a day
  
• Newsletter: 2,000 subscribers
  
• Facebook: 1,000 likes
  

In my writing guide,
Create Your Writer Platform
, I delve into all the ins and outs of the subject and list “The 12 Fundamental Principles of Platform.” These are overarching guidelines that will help writers of any kind, who are at any stage of writing. Here I will explore three of the most important ones. The third one is a concept I’m developing as I continue my own journey with platform building.

In my experience, this concept—
it is in giving that we receive
—is the fundamental rule of platform. Building a platform means that people follow your updates, listen to your words, respect and trust you, and, yes, will consider buying whatever it is you’re selling. But they will only do that if they like you—and the way you get readers to like you is by
legitimately helping them
. Answer their questions. Give them stuff for free. Share sources of good, helpful information. Make them laugh and smile. Inform them, and make their lives easier or better. Do what they cannot do on their own: Cull together information, or share entertainment of value. Access people and places they want to learn more about. Help them achieve their goals. Enrich their lives. After they have seen the value you provide, they will want to stay in contact with you so they can get more of this good information. They’ll begin to trust your content and become
followers
. And the more followers you have, the bigger your platform becomes.

Always remember: If what you’re doing seems difficult, it’s probably valuable—and most people will not take the time to tackle difficult, valuable projects. That’s what will set you apart and make your content special—that’s where you gain an edge, because
takeaway value
=
platform
.

Let’s break down this concept of value with an example. Let’s say I spend an entire Saturday at a local park walking and relaxing. I take nice pictures of the park while walking through. Upon returning home, I decide I’m going to share my photos and thoughts about the day with the world, and I create a blog post about it. It has a bunch of good images and some commentary from me about what I did and why I shot these particular images.

Now here’s my question: Would you care about this post? Would you click through and read the entire thing? Unless you’re a close friend or relative, I’d wager your answer is no. And the reasoning is simple: This post does not provide any incentive for you to take time out of your busy day to read it. If you think about it, the post is actually more for me than you—and that’s why it will generate little to no interest.

So how do I make this an effective platform-building tool? How do I create a blog post that provides true value and attracts readers (who can become followers)? I make sure that the post is not for me but for others. So I change the focus of the post. I name it “The 5 Best Local Parks You Didn’t Know Existed.” I do mini-profiles on each park and add a Google Maps screenshot of each so you can see exactly where it is in the city. I add pictures and explain why I like each of these five locations and talk about each one just long enough to inform you but not long enough to bore you.

Now
would you read the post? Most people would say yes—because the post suddenly has value.

So honestly assess the value you offer. If blogging is part of your platform, consider your own blogging goals. What are you going to blog about? If you say, “Probably my writing journey and maybe just my general thoughts on life,” then you may be in trouble. If you want me as a follower, you have to
give me something
. I need an incentive to take time out of my day and follow your postings. My fellow Writer’s Digest editor Brian A. Klems runs a blog called
The Life of Dad
(
Thelifeofdad.com
), which is filled with stories about his adventures raising three young girls. Why do people follow his blog? Simple. He
entertains
us. He makes us
laugh
. He provides value by giving us happiness, and because he
gives
to us, he found that many of his column followers (like me) were inclined to buy his book when it came out. (You saw his query letter in
chapter seven
.)

Give people an incentive to follow you, and they will. Then when you add an occasional personal side to your outreach, you gain more followers—and loyalty from your existing followers—because you’re “giving” again: a small, purposeful glimpse into your personal life and the real you.

Creating a large and effective platform from scratch is, to say the least, a daunting task. But you don’t have to swim out into the ocean alone. You can—and are encouraged to—work with others. Don’t be afraid to team up with amateur or experienced professionals who are pursuing the same goals you are or are seeking the same audience or readership.

After I worked on my
Guide to Literary Agents
blog for a few years, it began to reach the eyes of many writer-readers each day, growing to an impressive size. At that point, it became an attractive opportunity for other writers (usually novelists) to compose guest content for the blog in exchange for promoting their books and websites with some links and images in the column. Now, instead of me writing all of my own content (which would take so much time), it’s written for me. Excellent! And those writers who create content for me get the spotlights and book promotion they seek.

This piggybacking approach applies to all forms of media. You don’t have to start your own radio show or podcast. Why can’t you be a recurring guest on existing popular shows? You don’t have to start your own newsletter when you can contribute articles to existing newsletters. Always be on the lookout for ways to work with existing individuals, publications, and websites so that everyone benefits.

If you’re starting a brand-new blog, why do you have to be the only one to start it? Can you team up with others who share the same focus? Perhaps you’re trying to sell a book on gardening, so you’re brainstorming a garden blog to increase your platform. Can you get in contact with two other up-and-coming garden writers who want to create and manage the blog with you? The content you all can produce for the blog will triple. Everyone rises together. If you choose this approach, you’re gaining visibility at the expense of personal branding. Some writers will be happy with the trade-off; others not so much. So carefully consider your goals, strengths, and time resources as you select your path.

The purpose of a platform is to sell books and yourself. Once you have a means to market yourself, you can pass along news of your books, workshops, appearances, and more.

But what if you
don’t
have a book to sell yet? What are you selling then? The answer is that you’re selling a connection to yourself. Sure, you don’t have a book for sale now, but you will in the future—so you need to link yourself to interested individuals
now
so you can inform them of the book release down the road. (And as you learned in the first item on this list, you’ll be providing them something worthwhile in the meantime.) There are several simple ways you can encourage them to stay connected to you.

• Follow you on Twitter
  
• Sign up for your free e-mail newsletter
  
• Like your Facebook fan page
  
• Subscribe to the RSS feed for your blog
  

If you get someone to connect with you in any of these ways (preferably in multiple ways), then you establish a lasting connection with that person that does not likely disappear. This means that when your book comes out in three weeks or three years, you will still have an avenue to inform them of its existence and thus possibly make a sale. This is platform, plain and simple. When you speak, these connected individuals are listening.

So if you are wrapping up a speech in front of a group of people, encourage them to connect with you through social media. Keep in mind that people need
motivation
to stay in contact with you—they need to know you’ll be giving them something of value. Here’s how I will put it at a conference: “And if you’re looking for a literary agent, I would highly urge you to check out my blog, sign up for my newsletter, and follow me on Twitter. All those channels include free information about queries, submissions, new agents, interviews, platform, and more. If you liked what you heard today, I’ve got plenty more that can help you on your journey, just as it has helped many others before you.”