Tag: how to build an author platform

Introverted? Here’s how to promote your book

by Maria

Book promotion for introverts: a literary agent on how to sell your book even if you hate self-promotion!

How was your Halloween? We had the cutest little X-Men characters (Storm and Magneto) and their parents come by for trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood, and I finally got to realize my dream of being called “That Hot Dog Family.”

(Yes, Jarrett, Pepper, and I are all dressed up like hot dogs. Yes, I forgot to get a picture. Yes, that gives us a great excuse to rock the same costumes next year.)

Anyway, one of the questions I get all the time around here is about book promotion for introverts; namely, how can writers who are shy build a following and sell books?  

So this week I’m sharing the 5 real-life tricks of book promotion for introverts: how even the most introverted authors can learn to love promoting their books. 

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How to write a book that sells

by Maria

How to write a book that sells: a literary agent on how to find and research a book idea that can sell.

In my house, I have one big white bookshelf where I keep all the books I’ve ever worked on, either as a literary agent or an editor. Some have sold well; some haven’t sold well.

My greatest wish? That they were all bestsellers.

Each of those books took 2+ years of my life to work on, and I know that the time and energy and love I put into them is only a tiny fraction of what the author put into them. So with all that hard work, shouldn’t they all have found their perfect readership? Should every author be able to write a book that sells?

It’s heartbreaking, but the truth is: most books don’t find their perfect readership. And most don’t sell as much as they could.

write a book that sells

There’s no magic bullet to fix this–in the nearly 10 years I’ve been working on books, I haven’t figured out the perfect algorithm to spit bestsellers out every time. (If you have it, send it to ME @ sell all the books .com.)

But one thing I’ve noticed…

The one thing I have noticed is that there are all kinds of ways–big and small–to inch your book closer to that zone of bestsellerdom. And so very many of them happen before one word is ever written. They happen before I sign an author, or a publisher offers a book deal, or a marketing team brainstorms a campaign.

They happen at the idea phase and at the platform phase. When you’re deciding “what is my book?” and “who am I as an author?” Those are questions no agent, editor, or publisher can answer for you, but those are the answers that will fuel each action you’ll need to write a book that sells.

So where do I tell my authors to start?

At the bookstore.

Nine times out of ten when I’m chatting with a potential author, I ask them to take a field trip to a bookstore and see what’s happening in their category or genre. I do this, too, when I’m researching a book idea or trying to help an author with positioning their book.

So today I’m sharing exactly how I research a book idea and how I tell my authors to research their own book ideas so they can write a book that sells.

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How to get a book deal with your blog

by Maria

How to go from blog to book–the 3 things publishers and literary agents look for in bloggers!

“Can you give me a number I should aim for?”

I could hear the hopefulness in her voice, the resolution to get started. I shifted in my desk chair and moved the phone to my other ear. I hate this question.

Now, don’t get me wrong: I loved this blogger and her writing. I’d admired her work for a long time, and it had been so much fun to finally talk to her and hear the behind-the-scenes of her blog.

But there was just one tiny problem.

Her author platform wasn’t big enough yet for a book deal.

from blog to book deal

She was doing all the right things—writing consistently, sharing her work, getting to know her readers and other influencers in her space. But I knew publishers would want her stats to be higher for a book deal, and I knew she would need to have a bigger readership to make a book successful.

I squirmed and gently suggested that she wait a little longer to pursue a book deal.

I knew she had a book in her, and I could just see how beautiful and inspiring it would be. But I also know I’m not doing anyone a service if we put a book out too early in an author’s career, before they have thousands of loyal fans who are clamoring to buy it. It’s worth doing a book at the right time in your career.

But how do you know if your blog can get you a book deal? How can you gauge whether you have enough readers to support a book? What are the blog traffic and social media numbers to aim for?

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7 Things You Can Do Today to Get on The Bestseller Track

by Maria

7 Ways to Become a Bestselling Author (text)

But first, the publishing stories worth reading this week:

Amazon is Quietly Eliminating List Prices (David Streitfeld for The New York Times): A fascinating look at the deterioration of the list price/discount marketing tactic and how it’s influencing online commerce, including the massive online book business. I thought this was a must-read this week, and it’s definitely a trend worth watching for anyone involved in online commerce.

Training to Be a Good Writer (Leo Babuata of Zen Habits): “You get good by doing it a lot, and caring. You’ll never be perfect at it—goodness knows I’m far from perfect — but the only way to get better is to practice. And to care about what you’re doing. Do that every day, and every step of the struggle will be an amazing one.”

My Top 5 Favorite Marketing Books (Chad Cannon): “They say that reading is a key habit for success–that our society’s leading thinkers, investors, and decision-makers must be readers. I fully believe it’s true, and I love this quote from Warren Buffet. Once, when asked what his key to success is, he pointed to a stack of books and said: ‘Read 500 pages like this every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will do it.'”

Do You Lock Your Best Ideas in a Vault? (Benjamin Percy for JaneFriedman.com/Glimmer Train): “For every story or essay or poem you write, you withdraw one image, two characters, maybe three of the metaphors you have stockpiled—and then slam shut the vault and lock it with a key shaped like a skeleton’s finger. I used to be the same way, nervously rationing out my ideas.”

 

7 Things You Can Start Doing Today to Become a Bestselling Author Tomorrow

I hope everyone had a delicious and fun Fourth of July weekend! The fireworks in DC were a bust with all the rain, but Jarrett and I spent the first half of the long weekend exploring Louisville and Lexington. We ate:

  • Brisket and smoked sausage at the Blue Door Smokehouse (picked by Ashlea Halpern of Condé Nast Traveler as one of her two favorite BBQ joints in the country!)
  • The most glorious country ham on an Eggs Benedict at Proof on Main inside the 21C Museum
  • A 4-course tasting menu of delight at Edward Lee’s fantastic 610 Magnolia
  • Really very naughty sandwiches at Ouita Michel’s Wallace Station (that Hot Country Ham and Pimento Cheese sandwich…oh my.)
  • And because we couldn’t help ourselves: more of Ouita’s food at Smithtown Seafood. They’re participating in the James Beard Foundation’s Blended Burger Project that challenges chefs to create more sustainable burgers by adding mushrooms to their patties. This makes the burger better. In fact, it was the best burger of my life. Yes, I said it. Go try it and tell me if I’m not right.

I think we did some other stuff in between there, but mostly we ate, and a lot.

Which brings me to the question: what productive things can you do as a writer or blogger when you are, say, too gut-bombed on Southern food to concentrate on your manuscript? Not every moment needs to be write-or-die, and there are so many things that can contribute to your skill-set that have nothing to do with typing away.

Here are 7 of them, which I first covered for Bustle Books, and which I hope make for some easily digestible reading no matter how gluttonous your holiday was!

7 Things You Can Start Doing Today to Become a Bestselling Author Tomorrow

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