Skip to main content

The Road to Creating a Great Book

Tips from Writer’s Digest and a few Words from Me!

Every writer who has ever submitted his work to an agent, editor or publisher in the hopes of getting it published has at one time or another received the dreaded “rejection letter.” But do you wonder how other writers are doing it…getting published? Some will tell you they self-published or started their own publishing house. Others may say they have a friend, who has a friend, who has a friend in publishing. You may wonder if they just happened to scratch the winning lottery ticket. In most cases, these are all true but the one thing they also have done is called the softer side of marketing…or as I like to call it…selling yourself!

Writing is more than creating a great book, article, poem or short story. It is about sharing yourself with the world. A great way to do that is by building your author platform. If you are like most of us, you want to devote most of your time to writing. However, it is just as important to build your platform as an author if you want to reach your target readership and build a fan base. 

Most writers get queasy even imagining having to sell themselves but without a plan, you cannot truly figure out a way to sell your book. You need to think of this as your business plan, after all—this is your new business (writing and publishing), so you need to put a road map together for your book and/or business’ (you the author) success. You also should have this in place, or at least working on it, the moment you begin writing, especially if it is a new book.

In the publishing industry, not having a road map to detail your goals, book’s message and marketing plan will only land you lost among all the other books in the slush pile or on the selves trying to find a potential reader. Nevertheless, your map will keep this from happening by guiding you from staving writer to successful author. I talk about this often on my blog talk radio show, “What is Success” every Friday and this last month,  Writer’s Digest also had an article on this very subject: “50 Simple Ways to Build Your Platform in 5 Minutes a Day.”

With that in mind, you must be wondering, “What do I put in my author business plan?” A very good question, so let’s start with...what do you need to write a book? Now I know you must be thinking “imagination”, however, we both know you need more than that. What you will need is a “WOW” factor and some talent. To get started you will need some paper and a pen or if you are like me, a computer (laptop or desk) will do. However, what happens next?

So to get you started, here is a short list of ideas:
  1. Outline who you want to reach with your book. Knowing your target readership is important, not only in writing but in also knowing whom you need to market to after you are published, and better yet…before your book even hits the bookstores. Time to jot down all those people who will want your book and how effective they will be at getting more people to want it; after all, if you hit the right target market, they will be more than happy to share about you and your writing with others who like the same things they do. Nothing beats word of mouth marketing.
  2. Sign up for Google Alerts. Google Alerts (google.com/alerts) can help you track who is following and talking about you or your book. I use this for not only myself as an author and my books, but also for Stories for Children Magazine, the World of Ink Tours and everything else I do. Why is this important? So I can make sure I am reaching my target readership or a group I might not have thought about to begin with. The other important thing to do is send a "Thank You" when you see they have posted, twitted or shared about you. Remember…Network!
  3. If you have a blog/social network site, post pictures of you out promoting your book and at writing events. Readers like to know you are actively involved with your writing. Trust me; I know how hard this can be. I am not the best about this either, but my goal in 2012 is to be better. I have a blog, I have a newsletter and I should be posting my picture at writing and community events. So get ready to see more of me in 2012, even if I hate having my picture taken.
  4. Hold your own local event. This one is not as tough as we make it out to be. There are many local businesses that are willing and happy to host a book signing or author event. You just need to ask, but I would first build a networking connection with the business first and also offer something in return for their help. Make it a partnership.
  5. Offer guest posts to those who have blogs or websites on writing or topic of your book. This helps build a fan base or following. Those of you who have been reading or following me for sometime know that I write guest post for a few blogs and websites (free of cost). I do this because I love sharing about writing, marketing and publishing.
  6. Be a guest on a talk radio show. This is a great way to show your expertise as a writer or on a topic in your writing/book. I have my own blog talk show but before I become a blog talk radio host, I was a guest on many different talk radio shows local and on blog talk radio. This helped me build a following and fan base for my writing and my services.
If you want more tips and suggestions, read the Writer’s Digest article: “50 Simple Ways to Build Your Platform in 5 Minutes a Day.” The tips I shared are also listed along with 45 more!

Wishing you much success in 2012.


Also, don’t forget to check out the January SFC World of Ink Tours. We have some great authors touring with us every month. You can learn more about our World of Ink Tours and the authors we are currently hosting and have hosted at http://storiesforchildrenpublishing.com/WorldofInkTours.aspx.

In addition, tune in to blog talk radio’s World of Ink Network every other Friday where I’ll be hosting the “What is Success” show on Fridays and the “Stories for Children” show on Mondays. You can also catch me monthly on the “Families Matter” show, which airs live on the 3rd Wednesday of every month. You can learn more about BTR’s World of Ink Network, our guest and hosts, and our shows at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/worldofinknetwork or on our blog http://worldofinknetwork.blogspot.com. 
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Interview Friday with J.D. Holiday

J.D. Holiday is the author and illustrator of two children’s books: Janoose the Goose, picture book and a chapter book for six to eight year olds, THE GREAT SNOWBALL ESCAPADE. A chapbook of her short stories called, Trespasses was published in 1994 and she has had short stories printed in literary magazines and numerous articles about writing and publishing published.  She is a member of both The Society of Children’s Writers and Illustrators, (SCBWI) and Small Publishers of North America, (SPAN.)  J.D. Holiday lives in the Delaware Valley of Pennsylvania. VS : I want to thank you for being my guest here on The Writing Mama today. It is so exciting because you are my first World of Ink Tour Guest. It’s been a fun couple of days and the tour is only getting started. Okay, so I know your children are grown and out of the house, but I’m sure you’ve had to balance your writing life around them at one time or another. I know being a parent and writer can be hard and I find ...
Read more

Interview Friday with Connie Arnold

Connie Arnold is an author and poet residing in Winston-Salem, North Carolina with her husband, has two married children and three young grandsons. She is the author of three inspirational poetry books. Animal Sound Mix-up is her first published children’s book. Her writing appears in several anthologies, magazines and newsletters. VS: Connie, I want to thank you for being my guest here on The Writing Mama today. I know being a parent and writer can be hard. I find myself asking if I am giving my three children enough attention throughout the day. So to start my first question is . . . what is a typical writing day like for you? Connie: Since my children and grandchildren live far away, I don’t have the distraction of them needing my attention through the day, although I’d love to have much more of that! On a writing day, I usually begin first thing in the morning while I’m sitting at the dining room table with a banana and juice. That’s my most creative time. Sometimes I have ...
Read more

I'm a Guest Blogger on The Children's and Teens' Book Connection

Picking the Right Words for a Picture Book by VS Grenier First, let me say there are four types of picture books. Story Books: Most of us grew up on this traditional picture book. This type of picture book is by far the most popular and is usually fiction based. You will have a series of events with strong character development. Story books tend to have more text on each page vs. other types of picture books. Concept Books: This type of picture book helps to promote a child’s understanding. You see this type of picture book for toddlers or as a “My First” book series. These books can be fiction or nonfiction and have very few words. The illustrations tend to be the focus. Novelty Books: A great example of this type of book is The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. This picture book relies on some short of gimmick to tell the book’s story. Modern Picture Books: This type of picture book is a lot like the story picture book, but uses both the illustrations and ...
Read more