Category: Platform

Read, Eat, Drink: The First Chapter of Harper Lee’s GO SET A WATCHMAN! Plus a Cherry Wine Sangria Recipe

by Maria

How to get published

Read:

The First Chapter of Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee Releases Today [!!!] (The Wall Street Journal): IT IS HERE. The day has come. The world’s first look at Harper Lee’s long-lost manuscript was published at 12 am today, exclusively by The Wall Street Journal in the US and The Guardian in the UK. You’ll have to wait until Tuesday to read the full book, but what’s a greater gift to yourself on a sunny summer Friday than sinking into a comfy chair with this first chapter? I plan on reading first the straightforward version on the WSJ, then enjoying the gorgeous interactive version The Guardian created. Here’s hoping everyone has some time today or this weekend to savor this historic literary event!

How Publishers Make Decisions About What to Publish: The Book P&L (Jane Friedman): This is a must-read for aspiring authors. The P&L is the key calculation used at publishers to make acquisitions decisions. I remember when I was an editor and bringing proposals to Pub Board, we’d always hit a certain point where the conversation shifted from what-is-the-book-and-who-is-the-author to talking numbers. That’s when sales managers and marketing managers start estimating how many copies they think the book will sell, and therefore how much they can offer as an advance. That’s why I’m always nagging my authors to put every single relevant thing they’ve done into their proposals–it’s usually the only document brought into Pub Board meetings, and so it’s the only voice the author and agent have at the table. So make sure your proposal is knocking their socks off, Charlie-Brown-strikeout style. (And lucky you, this month I’m running a new series on What to Expect When You’re Expecting a Book, and next week’s post is about writing a proposal! Hooray. Here’s where you can catch up on Part 1 and Part 2 of the series.)

21 Content Marketing Predictions for the 2nd Half of 2015 (Joe Lazauskas for Contently): If you’re a writer or blogger, guess what: You are in content marketing. Congratulations, and welcome to your inauguration. Yes, books are the ultimate piece of content marketing, since before anyone even thought to call them that. And if we’re going to gussy things up by slapping some corporate-lingo over things that have been happening for millenia, then let’s really have some fun with it. This prediction for content marketing in 2015 made me burst out laughing: “More and more brands will hire full-time editors. They’ll call them something absurd though, like ‘global audience strategists.'” I just hope we get to call Literary Agents something hilarious too, like Content Development Czars. (Feel free to start calling me this until the end of time.)

3 Common Author Platform Mistakes, Plus How to Fix Them (Maria Ribas for Writer’s Digest): Oh well, lookee here, an article by yours truly. To quote myself, which yes, is an odd thing to do: “Platform-building is not about getting up on your soapbox and asking people to buy your book. It’s actually not about promoting your work at all. The true purpose of a platform is to create a community of like-minded readers—to find the people who like dystopian YA, or historical romances, or the paleo diet just as much as you, and then finding ways to help them. It’s about serving, not selling.”

Eat & Drink:

Cherry Wine Sangria

Cherry wine sangria recipe

Over to Jarrett for some refreshment:

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Stage One of Publishing a Book: The One Thing That Will Guarantee Your Success

by Maria

How to publish a book

This month I’m running a series [update: Intro; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4] on how the publishing process works and how you can successfully navigate each stage of the journey, with zero bewilderment and maximum fun.

And believe it or not, this first stage in the publishing process is the absolute most important. It’s really more like Step 0 than Step 1—if you don’t have this in place, chances are slim you’ll be able to embark on the rest of the stages.

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Read, Eat, Drink: How Should Authors Tell Fans About Their Book?, Plus a Fourth of July Menu

by Maria

How to get published

Read:

5 Real Reasons Agents Are So Darn Picky (Carly Watters): Agents are known for being “no” people. No, no, no, we say to query after query after query. But the funny thing is that we want to be “yes” people. But it needs to be a big enthusiastic “YES!” or no “yes” at all. As Carly Watters explains: “We’re picky because we have to be. We wouldn’t be able to stay in business unless we were choosy about everything we signed up.” Reason #1 on her list is especially important: We’re picky because every single person in the value chain–from the agent to the editor to the marketer to the bookstore buyer to the media producer to, ultimately, the reader–is also extremely picky.

5 Reasons Publishers LOVE Bloggers: Why Blogging Might Be Your Fastest Way to Secure a Book Deal (Chad R. Allen, Editorial Director for Baker Publishing Group, at MichaelHyatt.com): A big “amen!” to every single one of these reasons. As Allen writes: “Anyone who is serious about getting published should consider blogging. It’s a great way to build an audience, field-test ideas, cultivate social credibility, learn the publishing process, and hone your writing skills.”

When Reporters Write Books, Does The Times Win, Too? (Margaret Sullivan, Public Editor for The New York Times):  Well, here’s an interesting one. The case at hand is David Brooks’s new bestseller The Road to Character and his use of outbound links in his column. The links lead to his book’s website, where he invites readers to participate in further discussion and, if they’d like, to purchase his book. Apparently, some readers of the Times are “appalled” by this. Is his column relevant to the topic of his book? Yes. Would his book further an interested reader’s understanding of the topic? Yes. Did he mention his book in a conversational, unpushy way? Yes. It’s hard to see how this is harming readers rather than helping them find ways to learn more about the topic.

It’s interesting because this is a completely acceptable (and encouraged!) practice in nearly every single other media outlet–after all, David Brooks’s platform as an author is the column itself, and his book is an opportunity for his column readership to engage with him in a deeper, longer format (making them more likely to increase their devotion to reading his column and subscribing to the paper). Yet, the Times called foul. As the editorial page editor, Andrew Rosenthal says, “It’s tricky. Books are inherently a commercial enterprise.” (And what are newspapers? Both books and newspapers are commercial enterprises, but they are also in service to the public discourse. And you cannot serve the public well by ignoring a new, important contribution to a topic.)

Eat & Drink:

Is it possible that the Fourth of July is becoming our country’s second most important food holiday? We can all agree that Thanksgiving is THE holiday for thinking of nothing but what we’ll cook, how much we’ll eat, in what order, and with how many extra helpings, but I think the Fourth of July is racing hot for the #2 spot. I determine this ranking by counting how many days I’ve spent daydreaming about the food.

And now it’s been about 4 days of visions of perfectly charred brauts, sauced up ribs, and juicy tomatoes dancing in my head.  I think it’s safe to say my brain is more food matter than grey matter at this point.

Jarrett and I are off to the Leelanau Peninsula in northern Michigan for a long weekend, and we’ll be blissfully in the hands of superior cooks (and I’ll be blissfully facedown in a bowl of black bean salsa that I’ve been dreaming about for two years).

But if anyone else is still scrambling for menu ideas…

How about RIBS? Done 13 different ways on Bon Appétit.

Ribs recipe bon appetit

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The 4 Stages of Publishing a Book–New Series!

by Maria

How to publish a book

It’s one of the first questions I get on introductory phone calls with aspiring authors: What does the publishing process entail? So this month I’m running a 4-part series on how the publishing process works and how you can navigate each stage of the journey with zero bewilderment and maximum fun. Consider this your required reading if you’re thinking about birthing a book, but you need to know how to do it without losing your marbles.

It’s no coincidence that everyone in the publishing industry compares publishing a book to birthing a baby—they’re both deeply personal experiences, fraught with questions, doubts, and ultimately, huge rewards. But both experiences are worthwhile because they bring more meaning to our lives, either by growing our immediate family or by growing our extended family: the people out there in the world who you feel called to help. Publishing a book is one of the best ways to get your message and your mission out into the world and to use it as a way to help your readers, rather than as a way to just help yourself.

Over the next 4 Tuesday mornings, I’ll walk you through the 4 key stages of publishing a book, covering everything from how to get in the door, to how to introduce your new book baby to the world.  Here’s what we’ll cover [updated with links]:

As a heads up, this series will be discussing only the way things work in the traditional publishing world. If you’re looking for a comprehensive look at how the self-publishing process works, I highly recommend Jane Friedman’s wonderful article found here. And while much of the series emphasizes why a platform matters, I’m a big believer that platform will only become increasingly important for fiction writers, too. (It’s already a must for nonfiction authors.)

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