Over the holidays I’ve been finalizing two nonfiction book proposals for clients, because obviously that’s what the holidays are for.
Anyway. There is a harsh reality when you’re trying to persuade agents to represent an author’s book. They’ll ask: “What is the author’s platform?”
It’s always the hardest question to answer well. And the most important.
A “platform” in agent-speak means “how many books are they going to sell?” And…the rest is nuance. Barack Obama’s platform, for example, is obvious. But this might be a good time to consider. What’s your platform?
Then, I suppose, I might ask: Are you interested in writing a book?
Perhaps you are, but perhaps it’s a few years away, yet. In which case, now’s the best time to build your platform. As you do it, I want you to know that every single person on this planet has a book in them that could sell. I truly, honestly, fully believe that to be true. So. Please don’t go saying, “but I have no standing, Matt.” “I’m not expert enough.”
You are. You just need to think about what you have to say, and how important it is that the world hears it. I’d also note that Irma Rombauer, the author of the Joy of Cooking, originally self-published the thing with the tiny insurance payout she received after her husband had committed suicide during the Great Depression. And that it went on to sell more than 18 million copies.
If Irma Rombauer can sell more books than the entire population of Guatemala, then so can you. Meanwhile, here’s how to build your platform in, say, a year:
- Know your audience—let’s hope it’s “the majority of people in the world”, but can you be more specific?
- Know your brand—what makes you stand out?
- Build a website—there’s just no way around it, I’m afraid…and it needn’t cost the Earth, either. My websites are usually built in Divi (like, $100 a year) on a WordPress base and take a week or two to finish. But if you want to go bigger, you can, of course. It’s all about your goals.
- Blog consistently—I mean, I do. And not just because I enjoy it.
- Build your email list—get an annoying pop-up. Give stuff away. Ask people to help you. Every single one of those lovely subscribers counts.
- Write op-eds and guest posts—anywhere and everywhere. I’m particularly adept at helping people think creatively about where they might get themselves published. Beyond the New York Times, which just published op-eds by The Pope and the Duchess of Sussex. Your move.
- Get people to take action with you on things you care about, aka organize.—If you care about your subject, this should be easy. It may even be chicken-and-egg. I hope it is, in fact!
- Connect one-on-one, if possible, with people who dig what you’re doing (in the Zoom era, I’ve found that Calendly really helps with this…)
- Use those social media channels. I mean, USE them.
And then at that point, you might consider contemplating a book. You can do it as part of your organization or company, or you can do it as yourself. The point is to give it some thought. Now. I’ve gained solid experience doing all of these things for people, and would be delighted to chat with you about your plans for the 2020 version of Joy of Cooking. You can easily book a quick chat with me here, any time.
Likewise, no comms subject is too big or too small for me to take on. You need a full comms strategy from scratch? Got it. I’ve done eight. You need somebody to write your Tweets? I can do that, too. In fact you’ve probably already read a bunch I wrote for one or two of my clients through the election and thought, “wow. that’s an amazing Tweet on a complex subject…I feel like responding…”
Modesty appears not to be my forte, today. But thanks for reading.
