Revised - Frugal Book Promoter: Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Carolyn Howard-Johnson has just released the revised, second edition of her award winning book, The Frugal Book Promoter.
Carolyn joins us today to tell us more about this updated title.

Your first edition of The Frugal Book Promoter changed the way authors view their role in marketing their titles. What can we expect in this revised edition?

The content has been expanded to include simple ways to promote books using newer technology--always considering promotion and marketing techniques that are easy on the pocketbook and frugal of time. It also includes a multitude of ways for authors and publishers to promote the so-called hard-to-promote genres.

You'll also learn to write media releases, query letters and a knock 'em dead media kit--all tools that help an author find a publisher and sell their book once it's in print.

Specific updates include:

~ The basics that make you into an on-your-own publicist or a great partner

~ Chapters on what I call the "game changers"

~ Information on using online bookstores to your benefit

~ Making your blog actually work for you

Wow... this sounds amazing! You mentioned offering suggestions on how to work with technology. Can you share some of that information?

Sure, this new edition covers how to use the e-book format to promote sales, provides information on how to use Google Alerts to their full advantage and how to put together Power Point presentations. All very timely promotional tips.

I understand you have received rave reviews for this new edition including one from self-publishing guru Dan Poynter.

Yes, here are a few.

"If you're going to read only one book to get other people to read your book, it should be this one."
~ Tim Bete, director Dayton University's Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop

" Unlike other books and articles on the subject, this one is detailed--and it's chock full of ideas that even seasoned book promoters will not have tried."
~ Dallas Hodder Franklin, editor of SellWritingOnline.com

"Howard-Johnson has the comforting tone of a mentor and writes with the precision of a surgeon."
~ Francine Silverman, author and editor of Book Promotion Newsletter

"The most expensive parts of book promotion are the mistakes. This book will save you time and money."
~ Dan Poynter, author of The Self-Pubishing Manual

Carolyn, thank you for joining us today to share your exciting news! How can we order a copy of the revised book?

You can order it online through my web site Frugal Book Promoter and through Amazon.com.

You can also visit Carolyn online at HowtodoitFrugally.com. She also offers a newsletter and blog filled with useful information.

Writing Resources

Writers often contact me to ask about resources. There are many options on the Internet, but which ones are reputable? Here are a few of my favorite sites.

1. Savvy Authors
Savvy Authors strives to provide the best tools, classes, and networking opportunities for authors in all stages of their writing careers, from aspiring novelists to multi-published authors.

2. Funds For Writers
Funds for Writers emphasizes finding money to make writing a realistic career. Other websites provide guidance on how to write, how to query or how to format manuscripts, but Funds for Writers gives you direction on the funding streams. They focus on markets, competitions, awards, grants, publishers, agents, and jobs for your writing abilities.

3. Christina Katz, The Writer's Workout Coach
Christina Katz is the author of three books from Writer’s Digest: The Writer’s Workout, Get Known Before the Book Deal, and Writer Mama. Through her site she teaches writers to prosper by building solid, saleable, life-long career skills via classes and training groups that work even in a rapidly evolving publishing marketplace.

4. Well-Fed Writer
Peter Bowerman is the author of several titles including The Well-Fed Writer. He offers one-on-one coaching, classes, seminars, newsletter and a blog providing information on how to succeed as a writer.

5. Carolyn Howard-Johnson-How To do It Frugally Series of Books"Author of several books on promoting & marketing your book within a budget, Carolyn offers a newsletter, seminars, workshops and ebooks.



6. Publicity Hound
Publicity expert Joan Stewart shows you how to use free publicity to establish your credibility, enhance your reputation, position yourself as an expert and sell more products. Her site offers workshops, seminars, blog, and newsletter which can be used to promote your writing.

7. Para Publishing
Wherever you are in the development of your book (thinking, planning, writing, producing or promoting stage), Para Publishing has the tools to make your venture faster, easier and more successful. Dan Poynter is the author of more than 76 books and provides consulting, seminars and a variety of reports writers will find useful.

This list is by no means comprehensive, but it's a start. What are some of your favorite sites?

Author Marketing Experts - Comprehensive PR for your book!

Today we welcome Penny Sansevieri to Writers in Business. Penny is the CEO and founder of Author Marketing Experts, Inc. (AME), a best-selling author and internationally recognized book marketing and media relations expert. Her company is one of the leaders in the publishing industry and has developed some of the most cutting-edge book marketing campaigns.

Author Marketing Experts, Inc. is described as a full-service marketing and PR firm specializing in customized campaigns and Internet Marketing. Can you tell us some of the tools you utilize to create a book campaign?
Interestingly enough the biggest and most important tool is creativity. In a world where there are 1,000 books published each day in the US, you must be creative to stand apart from the crowd. The other piece is that you must know how your book benefits your readers. Readers don’t buy books they buy benefits.

AME’s clients have been featured on The View, CBS The Early Show, The Today Show, Entertainment Tonight, CNN, National Public Radio, Reader’s Digest, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Essence Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, MSNBC and many others.

Your company has some fantastic connections! I understand this exposure is not guaranteed, but what are the chances of a fiction or non-fiction book realizing this form of promotion through AME? What percent of your clients achieve this level of exposure?

You know it really depends, we tend to focus much more on Internet than we do traditional PR anymore – the reason? The Return on Investment (ROI) tends to be better with Internet marketing and in the end, authors want to sell books. The odds though of getting on a show tend to increase with a significant platform, what this means is that the author can’t pop out with a book and say “please feature me on your show” there has so be some “legs” to the book and the campaign before any of these shows will even consider it. As to the percentage – that’s a very tough question. If we have a solid book, meaning a book that’s got a good foothold in its market, and an author who has a great platform then the chances are very good that they’ll get major exposure, sometimes as high as 90%.

Traveling to promote our books can get expensive. Can you tell us about Virtual Author Buzz Tour?

Yes, and thanks for asking. When it comes to marketing there are two types of promotion: push and pull. Push-marketing is where you “push” your message out to the media, so you push it to radio, TV, print, etc. That’s good, but not always effective. Pull-marketing is where you “pull” readers into your site via incoming links to your website. That’s where we shine. Our Virtual Author Buzz Tour is a combination of aggressive online blog pitching, social networking, Twitter – all of the latest and hottest online venues to pull readers to your book and to your website.

AME offers extensive online resources visitors can access through the Internet at A Marketing Expert. These resources include a bi-weekly online newsletter. What topics covered in your newsletter? How can we sign up to receive it?

You can go to the site to get the newsletter and thank you for mentioning it, I love it – we get tons of compliments on it. We also have a ton of free teleclasses that we offer through our AME-University. I believe in free resources. I think authors are looking for help and guidance and frankly, an educated author makes better choices for themselves and their book and in the long run, the more you know the more money you’ll save in promoting your book!

Penny’s career in the publicity, book marketing, and literary field spans over 15 years. During that time she has been an author, freelance writer, publicist, and instructor. Her diverse background enables her to bring a multitude of talents to the table. I encourage you to visit AME A Marketing Expert to learn more about how they can create the buzz you want to get your book flying off from bookstore shelves.

15 Commandments for Getting FREE Publicity by Carolyn Howard-Johnson

A huge retailer once said that advertising works, we just don't know how, why, or where it works best. What we do know is that advertising's less mysterious cousin, publicity, works even better. It is the more reliable relative because it is judged on its merit alone and carries the cachet of an editor's approval. It also is surrounded by the ever-magic word free. The two are easily identified as kin.

15 Commandments for Getting FREE Publicity (An excerpt from The Frugal Book Promoter) By Carolyn Howard-Johnson

1. Educate yourself: Study other press releases. Read a book like Publicity Advice & How-To Handbook, by UCLA Marketing Instructor, Rolf Gompertz, a SPAN member. Order it by calling 818-980-3576. Join publicity oriented e-groups.

2. Read, read, read: Your newspaper. Your e-zines. Even your junk mail, a wonderful newsletter put out by the Small Publishers of North America (www.spannet.org) and one called The Publicity Hound (www.publicityhound.com.) My daughter found a flier from the local library in the Sunday paper stuffed between grocery coupons. It mentioned a display done by a local merchant in the library window. My second book, HARKENING: A COLLECTION OF STORIES REMEMBERED, became a super model in their lobby and I became a seminar speaker for their author series. Rubbish (and that includes SPAM) can be the goose that laid the golden egg.

3. Keep an open mind for promotion ideas: Look at the different themes in your book. There are angles there you can exploit when you're talking to editors. My first book, THIS IS THE PLACE is sort of romantic (a romance website will like it) but it is also set in Salt Lake City, the site where the winter games were played in 2002 and, though that's a reach, I found sports desks and feature editors open to it as Olympics© fervor grew and even as it waned because they were desperate for material as the zeal for the games wound down.

4. Cull contacts: Develop your Rolodex by adding quality recipients from media directories. The website www.gebbieinc.com has an All-in-One Directory that gives links to others such as Editor, Publisher Year Book, and Burrell's. Some partial directories on the web are free and so are your yellow pages. Ask for help from your librarian - a good research librarian is like a shark; she'll keep biting until she's got exactly what she wants.

5. Etiquette counts: Send thank-you notes to contacts after they've featured you or your book. This happens so rarely they are sure to be impressed and to pay attention to the next idea you have, even if it's just a listing in a calendar for your next book signing.

6. Partner with your publicist and publisher: Ask for help from their promotion department even if it's just for a sample press release.

7. Publicize who you are, what you do: Reviews aren't the only way to go. E-books are big news right now. Katy Walls, author of The Last Step, coordinated an anthology of recipes from authors who mention food in their books (yes, some of my family's ancient recipes from polygamist times are in it). It is a free e-book, a promotional CD, and great fodder for the local newspapers. You can download it at http://authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com (click on the Free E-books tab). Use it as a cookbook and as a sample for your own e-book promotion.

Think of angles for human interest stories, not only about your book but about you as its author. Are you very young? Is writing a book a new endeavor for you? Several editors have liked the idea that I wrote my first book at an age when most are thinking of retiring, that I think of myself as an example of the fact that it is never too late to follow a dream.

8. Develop new activities to publicize: Don't do just book signings. Use your imagination for a spectacular launch. Get charities involved. Think in terms of ways to help your community.

9. Send professional photos with your release: Request guidelines from your target media. Local editors won't mind if you send homey Kodak moment--properly labeled--along with your release. Some will use it; it may pique the interest of others and they'll send out their own photographers. It's best, however, to send only professional photos to the big guys.

10. Frequency is important: The editor who ignores your first release may pay more attention to your second or twenty-fifth. She will come to view you as a source and call you when she needs to quote an expert. This can work for novels as well as nonfiction. I received a nice referral in my local newspaper because I am now an expert on prejudice, even though my book is a novel and not a how-to or self-help piece.

11. Follow Up: Shel Horowitz, author of Marketing Without Megabucks (www.frugalfun.com), reports that follow-up calls boost the chances of a press release being published. Voice contact builds relationships better than any other means of communication.

12. Keep clippings: Professional publicists like Debra Gold of Gold & Company do this for their clients; you do it so you'll know what's working and what isn't.

13. Evaluate: One year after your first release, add up the column inches. Measure the number of inches any paper gave you free including headlines and pictures. If the piece is three columns wide and each column of your story is six inches long, that is 18 column inches. How much does that newspaper charge per inch for their ads? Multiply the column inches by that rate to know what the piece is worth in advertising dollars. Now add 20% for the additional trust the reader puts in editorial material.

14. Set goals: You now have a total of what your year's efforts have reaped. New publicist-authors should set a goal to increase that amount by 100% in the next year. If you already have a track record, aim for 20%.

15: Observe progress: Publicity is like planting bulbs. It proliferates even when you aren't trying very hard. By watching for unintended results, you learn how to make them happen in the future.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the author of THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER: HOW TO DO WHAT YOUR PUBLISHER WON'T. For a little over 2 cents a day THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER assures your book the best possible start in life. Full of nitty gritty how-tos for getting nearly free publicity, Carolyn Howard-Johnson shares her professional experience as well as practical tips gleaned from the successes of her own book campaigns. She is a former publicist for a New York PR firm and a marketing instructor for UCLA's Writers' Program. Learn more about the author at CarolynHoward-Johnson.com or HowToDoItFrugally.com.

Frugal Marketing Guru Carolyn-Howard Johnson

Award winning writer and frugal marketing expert, Carolyn Howard-Johnson joins us today at Writers in Business.

Carolyn is a prolific writer of fiction and non-fiction books and a marketing guru referred to in writer’s networks as the Queen of Frugal Book Promotion. Her new series of books, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success have both won USA Book News’ awards and are certain to become frequently read favorites in the writing world. She is also an instructor at UCLA Extension's world renown Writers' Program and a popular speaker.

In order to prepare for this interview, I spent many hours over several days learning about Carolyn and the work she is doing to help writers and editors discover affordable marketing. I’m amazed at what she has accomplished and all the information she has to share. Today I’d like to focus on Carolyn’s book, The Frugal Book Promoter.

~As a former publicist and current author, you have spent a lot of time honing your marketing skills. What are some important concepts writers should utilize when promoting a book?

Ha! Well, I did write a whole book about this--just because I wanted to share that information. I think the most important concept is "branding." Branding is at the root of all marketing. Too many writers publicize their book. Most writers will not be one-title wonders. Think about who you are and brand your name--or your pen name. The other most important concept is that it is never too early to start. If an author gets this message a year or two before her work is published--well, that is not too early to start.

~ There are hundreds of low cost promotional ideas listed in your book. Can you share three of these ideas with us and why they work well?

My favorite ways to promote, in order of importance are:

1. Speaking. That can be reading at book signings (not just book signings) or speaking on themes related to your book at conferences, tradeshows or anywhere else. If speaking scares you, take a class now. At a minimum you'll need to know how to talk to people from book fair booths at bookstore events.

2. Teaching. Not only is it enormously satisfying, it gives you credibility as an expert. Even novelists need credibility. Yep, even poets.

3. Online promotions. Because they're very, very frugal. Of course, that is a broad category. If I have to narrow it down, I choose blogging--and then promoting the blog. If you'd like to know more about how to go about that, go to FictionMarketing.com and download a chapter for a future book I'm writing with partner Phyllis Zimbler Miller.

~ What key components should writers include in their media kit?

The list is very long. Kits should include whatever an editor or agent (or whoever else you're sending your kit to) needs to do their job quickly and easily. Then once all the elements are prepared, the author should prune what won't help a particular recipient from their kit.

Picture this: It's deadline. A harried editor is looking for a story. She comes across a query you sent her two weeks ago. It includes a complete kit. In it is a first person essay with permission to print it. On her desk she also has a famous person's pitch but there is almost nothing there for her to work with. Guess who will get their story printed? If you guessed the famous person, you're wrong. She's on deadline. She has to be ready when the presses roll.

~ There are travel costs and other fees associated with attending a writers conference or book fair. In terms of promotion, do you feel these events are cost effective?

I adore conferences because they can make such a difference in a writer's career. Networking. Finding agents. Learning more about our craft. Giving us a needed break from our computers. Having said that, they are expensive. So, Lea Schizas and I sponsor an online conference. I'd like to see writers go to real hands-on conferences but when they can't, this one can work well, too. You'll find it at:
TheMuseOnlineWritersConference.com.

You'll also find a list of writers' conferences, book fairs and even some tradeshows on my Web site in the Resources for Writers section:

Book Fairs & Trade Shows

Carolyn, thank you for the very informative interview. Your insight and experience with book promotion are valuable resources that we can all benefit from. The Frugal Book Promoter is a must-have book for every author! Please visit Carolyn’s web site at CarolynHoward-Johnson.com or HowToDoItFrugally.com.

Coming Soon! Carolyn will share her "15 Commandments for Getting FREE Publicity" with us at Writers In Business.

Marketing Expert Patrysha Korchinski Shares Tips for Writers

Patrysha Korchinski joins us today from Whitecourt in Canada. She is an entrepreneur, author, freelance writers and speaker.

Her journey to entrepreneurship began nearly 12 years ago, with the birth of her first child. Jumping from home childcare and direct sales into freelance writing and website management & editing and then into copywriting, ghostwriting and eventually into public relations, she picked up on marketing, web development & social marketing along the way until one day it all exploded and PK Marketing Solutions was born.

~ As a writer, being able to promote your work is integral to success. Can you share one key part of a solid marketing campaign for a writer?

It is the same for writers as it is for any other business. Know your target market. Without this foundation, any marketing you do will be a long shot at best.

In writing, that means knowing your goals and then defining the best ways to get there and from there identifying your target market.

That means if you want to be a traditional freelance writing, then you know you have to perfect your query letters and employ strategic networking to develop relationships with editors in your field that can hire you. If you want to focus on copywriting and ghostwriting, you'd work towards developing and communicating your unique skills in an effort to attract and develop relationships with business owners that can hire you.

Your first market is those who hire you, your second market is those who read you after you are published.

~ Your new digital book, Profitable Marketing: Foundations for Busy Business Owners, is an informative 81 page guide. Can you tell us a bit about the book? How can we get a copy?

Well, the book was not actually intended to be digital. It was developed as a print book that I gave away at a local tradeshow as an introduction to who I am and what I believe in marketing. It can be very hard to sum up everything I do in a few words. Add to that, the business owners I target with my services tend to be very busy.

They aren't going to make the time to sift through long articles or bounce around my website unless they already have a genuine need in mind. Even then it is iffy as to whether they read enough to know what I am about.

But that's marketing. You have to think about the potential ways your target market is going to act based on the behaviors you know about. I know that people pick up brochures, fully intending to follow up, but then life gets in the way and they misplace them or otherwise shuffle them out of top of mind awareness. My theory was a book would be less likely to be forgotten and even harder to throw away. Of course, I might be projecting there, but I would have an awfully hard time justifying throwing away a book.

I only made the digital copy available to share with my online friends because shipping on hard copies is a killer and the only other option was to charge shipping, which seemed kind of skeezy for a free book.

I'll send the link to the digital version of the book to anyone who asks as long as you tell me where you heard of it. Just send me an email at info (at) pkmaretingsolutions (dot) com.

~ I like the format of your book. You provide powerful statements in a direct format meant to convey a message as efficiently as possible. This was one of the many statements that caught my eye, “Letting people know does not have to cost much...Just remember the three P's- publicity, printing, promotions.” Can you elaborate on this?

Keep in mind that the book was intended for more traditional small business owners, so I really think the final P for promotions would be out of place for most writers starting out.

Publicity is basically the process of getting free media coverage. Rather than placing an ad in a particular media outlet, you go in through the back door to become the news. This is a particularly important skill for writers who specialize in niche topics, whether it's weight loss, divorce, or spiritual matters or whatever. By getting covered in the media, you establish yourself as an expert. Which can be very handy when you are looking at a book deal for a non-fiction book and they ask you about your platform. You'll have already established your following and proven your publicity skills. How you go about getting that publicity and what media you target, that is going to vary depending on your goals and your target market.

Printing is all about making the right impression. It's one area where it was vital for me to shed my tightwad tendencies. Projecting a pulled together, professional image is essential in many writing markets. I believe that this is a case of "start as you mean to go". You very seldom get a chance to make a second first impression.

I know many writers feel that because they can do business cards at home on their inkjet that is good enough. For some it can be, if your target market is not concerned with such things. Regional parenting markets and volunteer driven magazines come to mind.

However, for most of those targeting a business audience, as is the case with ghostwriting, copywriting and publicity, home printed cards broadcast that we are cheap and unsuccessful. Not quite the statement you want to be making. For those on a tight budget there are ways to establish your image without breaking the bank. It can take a bit of digging, but look for a local printer who is willing to do short print runs. There is no need to print 500 cards at a whack if you find a printer that specializes in small business. The price, even for a small run, may make you gasp the first time around if you are used to home printing. Keep in mind that unless you are making changes you only have to pay the typesetting fees once and it also helps to remember that this is a marketing investment. You can opt for black and white instead of full color, and one side instead of double sided to keep costs down. Avoid thermographic on linen styles unless you are targeting a really well heeled clientele like doctors, lawyers and interior designers. No one else is likely to care.

Most writers don't need much more than business cards and possibly a brochure. You may want to consider customized thank you cards, but in most cases a high quality commercial card set will be adequate for your needs. Other businesses often need fliers and direct mail pieces developed with their printer and for them I always advise getting the best they can afford (if the budget is tight) or what it takes to get the job done right (if money is less of an issue...you still don't want to overpay by getting bells and whistles that don't matter to your target market.)

~ In your book you provide three tips for increasing sales & profits. What are those tips and how can we apply them to our writing businesses?

In any business there are only three ways to increase your profits, get more customers to buy from you, increase the amount customers spend with you, and get your customers to buy more often.

Now the first point is the hardest and most expensive. For traditional writers it means sending more queries and unearthing new markets. For those in the business market it means more networking, more proposals and more of whatever you are doing to attract new clients. You can reduce acquisition expenses by actively seeking and encouraging referrals amongst your satisfied clients.

Increasing the amount customers spend with you can take on various forms. In some cases, it can be as simple as raising your rates. Most clients are willing to pay more for proven talent that they can rely on you to deliver.

In other cases it can be about the classic upsell - "Do you want fries with that?" writer style. For example, you might suggest an article series to go along with a press release. You might suggest two brochures, each for a different target market and a differing "compelling reason why" rather than an all purpose one that will ultimately be less successful in converting. You might suggest an email autoresponder series to go with a special report or whitepaper. What can you suggest that will complement and strengthen the original or primary project?

Finally, getting clients to buy more often.

First of all, you should have a system of ongoing communication with your prospects and existing clients. An online newsletter or email list works wonders for keeping you and your services top of mind. When you are top of mind, your name will be the one they remember when they need you. Of course, this primarily applies to those writing directly for business, not so much for magazines.

Second you should have a system of follow up once a job is completed. Remind clients when it's been more than six weeks since their last press release. Touch base with retail clients when you know they should be getting new stock in for their change of season - time for another flier. Keep in the loop of what is going on with your clients as much as possible, and keep your eyes open for opportunities to work together again. Not in a pushy or stalker-like way, of course, but as professional courtesy and follow up.

Patrysha provides writing services through her business, PK Marketing Solutions, and has worked as a freelance writer and ghost writer. To learn more about how she can help your writing career, contact her at PK Marketing.com.

Interview with Christina Katz

Christina Katz is the author of Get Known Before the Book Deal, Use Your Personal Strengths to Grow an Author Platform (Writer’s Digest Books). She started her platform “for fun” seven years ago and ended up on “Good Morning America.” Christina teaches e-courses on platform development and writing nonfiction for publication. Her students are published in national magazines and land agents and book deals.

Christina has been encouraging reluctant platform builders via her e-zines for five years, has written hundreds of articles for national, regional, and online publications, and is a monthly columnist for the Willamette Writer. A popular speaker at writing conferences, writing programs, libraries, and bookstores, she hosts the Northwest Author Series in Wilsonville, Oregon. She is also the author of Writer Mama, How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids (Writer’s Digest Books).

- What is a platform?

Long story short: Your platform communicates your expertise to others, and it works all the time so you don’t have to. Your platform includes your Web presence, any public speaking you do, the classes you teach, the media contacts you’ve established, the articles you’ve published, and any other means you currently have for making your name and your future books known to a viable readership. If others already recognize your expertise on a given topic or for a specific audience or both, then that is your platform.

A platform-strong writer is a writer with influence. Get Known explains in plain English, without buzzwords, how any writer can stand out from the crowd of other writers and get the book deal. The book clears an easy-to-follow path through a formerly confusing forest of ideas so any writer can do the necessary platform development they need to do.

- Why is platform development important for writers today?

Learning about and working on a solid platform plan gives writers an edge. Agents and editors have known this for years and have been looking for platform-strong writers and getting them book deals. But from the writer’s point-of-view, there has not been enough information on platform development to help unprepared writers put their best platform forward.

Now suddenly, there is a flood of information on platform, not all necessarily comprehensive, useful or well organized for folks who don’t have a platform yet. Writers can promote themselves in a gradual, grounded manner without feeling like they are selling out. I do it, I teach other writers to do it, I write about it on an ongoing basis, and I encourage all writers to heed the trend. And hopefully, I communicate how in a practical, step-by-step manner that can serve any writer. Because ultimately, before you actively begin promoting yourself, platform development is an inside job requiring concentration, thoughtfulness and a consideration of personal values.

- What is the key idea behind Get Known Before the Book Deal?

Getting known doesn’t take a lot of money, but it does take an in-depth understanding of platform, and then the investment of time, skills and consistent effort to build one. Marketing experience and technological expertise are also not necessary. I show how to avoid the biggest time and money-waster, which is not understanding who your platform is for and why – and hopefully save writers from the confusion and inertia that can result from either information overload or not taking the big picture into account before they jump into writing for traditional publication.
Often writers with weak platforms are over-confident that they can impress agents and editors, while others with decent platforms are under-confident or aren’t stressing their platform-strength enough. Writers have to wear so many hats these days, we can use all the help we can get. Platform development is a muscle, and the more you use it, the stronger it gets. Anyone can do it, but most don’t or won’t because they either don’t understand what is being asked for, or they haven’t overcome their own resistance to the idea. Get Known offers a concrete plan that can help any writer make gains in the rapidly changing and increasingly competitive publishing landscape.

- What are some common platform mistakes writers make?

· They don’t spend time clarifying who they are to others.
· They don’t zoom in specifically on what they offer.
· They confuse socializing with platform development.
· They think about themselves too much and their audience not enough.
· They don’t precisely articulate all they offer so others get it immediately.
· They don’t create a plan before they jump online.

I’ll stop there. Suffice it to say that many writers promise publishers they have the ability to make readers seek out and purchase their book. But when it comes time to demonstrate this ability, they can’t deliver.

My mission is to empower writers to be 100 percent responsible for their writing career success and stop looking to others to do their promotional work for them. Get Known shows writers of every stripe how to become the writer who can not only land a book deal, but also influence future readers to plunk down ten or twenty bucks to purchase their book. It all starts with a little preparation and planning. The rest unfolds from there.

Christina, Thank you for visiting Writers In Business today and for telling us about the importance of platforms.

Get Known Before the Book Deal is available through Amazon.com.

You can visit Christina at www.ChristinaKatz.com.