This is a great book about building your platform as an author. For NZ readers I see that Fishpond has it at a good price at the moment - only $31.95 - well worth it!

Get Known Before the Book Deal: Use Your Personal Strengths to Grow an Author Platform
Get Known Before the Book Deal had me reaching for my notebook to take notes as I read it, giving me many ideas to work on. Continuing on her theme of showing readers how they can make a career of writing, Christina Katz, the author of
Writer Mama: How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids, offers a practical tips on how to build the all important ‘platform’.
What is an author's platform?
Billed as a way to develop a sustainable writing career, Get Known Before the Book Deal offers a step-by-step plan on how to create and maintain a platform to help you get a book deal. Katz defines ‘platform’ as ‘all the ways you are visible and appealing to your future, potential, or actual readership.’ This includes your presence on the web, classes you might teach, the media contacts you have, published articles that you have written or where you have been interviewed, and any public speaking you have done.
The first steps
The early chapters of the book were repetitive as she initially drove home the platform idea. She also tackles issues such as focusing on your niche, narrowing your topic, finding your style and discovering your target market at this time (she also includes information for fiction writers) – all necessary topics for someone early in their book process. I found myself skimming, but I imagine that there are people that need convincing of the importance of platforms and finding your niche.
Once Katz reaches the second part in this book–
setting up your platform – she shows her strengths. She offers an abundance of ideas of how to develop your platform, with each chapter including easy to follow, step-by-step activities. She includes chapters on networking including joining professional and writing organizations and the benefits of volunteering at related events. She then delves into teaching, hosting events, writing articles, consulting and public speaking, giving basic but sound advice.
She covers detailed activities
She then moves on to growing your platform, looking at branding and marketing issues that authors may face that include bigger issues like:
- building your bio
- using testimonials
- writing a mission statement.
She also goes into the smaller detailed activities including:
- writing a tag line
- developing email signature
- having a photographs at the ready.
She then looks at developing your web presence, including your professional site – which includes a thorough check-list of what to include. She also looks at blogging, email newsletters and building your mailing list. Again she goes through each activity in detail, leaving the reader with many items on their to-do list. She is down to earth about the new technology, warning to: ‘put the lion’s share of your energy into the work you do that earns you money, and keep your blog growing slowly and steadily on the side.’
Clearly structured with many examples
The structure of each chapter is very clear with an overview, then the content signposted with frequent sub-headings, and then a short activity to stimulate the reader to think about their situation. It is a book to be used rather than just to be read, and if the reader works through the steps, I would imagine that they would have a very workable project plan to get started.
Katz focuses on doing – giving many suggestions under each topic. In the public speaking/performance chapter, she offers seventeen different suggestions to how to get involved, from children’s story time to appearing in voice-overs. In the writing articles chapter, she gives twelve steps to working out what to write, and who to query. This includes finding the right kind of publication and working out what types of articles your target publications accept from freelancers, encouraging you to find the patterns (length, style, topics) in the publication. Like most of this book, it is useful, practical advice that the reader can apply immediately.
A book I recommend to any aspiring writer. Now I just have to find the time to do all she writes about!
Katz's other books include:

And for people wanting to order from Amazon - here are the links (in US$)
Recent Comments