Chuck Sambuchino - Create Your Writer Platform: The Key to Building an Audience, Selling More Books, and Finding Success as an Author

As a teacher of writing and publishing, I speak at a dozen writers conferences a year. At those conferences, if I had to pick the question Im asked most frequently, it would probably be: How do all the drastic changes to the publishing industry affect aspiring writers?

Before I answer, lets examine the question itself. Writers are essentially asking, Because the marketplace is changing, and Ive been told its more difficult to be an author today than it was ten or twenty years ago, how can I best be prepared as a writer? All kinds of things are at play in this question: How can we work smarter? How can we deal with industry evolution? How can we make our writing dreams come true?

Youre starting to see that this is a huge questionbut, in my opinion, a very necessary one. Its necessary because the fears behind it are absolutely justified: It is more difficult to be a successful writer now than in decades past. The ease of publishing e-books online means that more books are created now than ever before. That means more competition for younot to mention fewer brick-and-mortar bookstores, where buyers can see your work. And sure, people are reading a lot these days, as many news articles have pointed outbut that doesnt necessarily mean theyre buying books, which is what matters most to authors.

In years past, my stock answer to this question was always, Just create the best book you can. In other words, I would encourage writers to simply write, and let a publishing house worry about how best to distribute their work and maximize e-book potential in a changing industry. But now my answer has changed. Today, when presented with this huge question, my reply is, First, just write the best book you can. Second, take steps to build your writer platform.

How did a strange term like platform find its way into my answer? Lets rewind for a moment.

Because of the gravitation toward free content online, industry layoffs (hitting editors and publicists the hardest) and a slew of other factors, publishers are taking fewer chances with new writers because, simply put, their budgets cant support it. To combat dwindling sales numbers, publishers have turned to defensive tactics, such as printing fewer copies of books. But the other thing theyve begun to do to protect themselvesand the reason youre holding this bookis that theyve also started to take a close look at each writers platform. With so many books in the marketplace and few publicists to help promote, the burden now lies upon the author to make sure copies of his or her book fly off bookshelves. In other words, the pressure is on for writers to act as their own publicists and chief marketersthough few can do this successfully.

Now, authors need more than good book ideas; they must be perceived by publishers as being entrepreneurial, promotion-minded, and willing to aggressively market their books. To make those determinations, publishers look to an authors platform.

RICK FRISHMAN AND ROBYN FREEDMAN SPIZMAN, from their book, Author 101: Bestselling Book Proposals

Having an effective writer platform has never been more important than it is right now. Its because a writer platform is one of the best tools (if not the only tool) a writer can use to personally combat publishing challenges. Yes, its hard to get a book published and make sure it sells once its out thereso whats a writer to do? The first thing you can do is simply get back to basics. If you write a damn good book, people will pay it mind, sure. But if that book is nonfiction, a damn good book wont cut it. You need to prove that people will buy it by showing a comprehensive ability to market yourself through different channels such as social networking sites and traditional media. If you cant do that, a traditional publisher wont even consider your idea. Ill repeat that for emphasis: If you dont have a proven ability to promote your work and sell books, editors wont even consider your idea, no matter how clever or timely it may be.

If you want to write a nonfiction book, you must have a platform in order to get editors to consider your work. If youre writing fiction or memoir, a platform isnt mandatory, but it will certainly help your chances (especially with memoir)and it translates to more book sales and money for you once your title is released. And with the way things are trending, who knows? In five or ten years, a writer platform may be mandatory for any book. Thats why its so vital to start thinking about platform now, and thats the reason why I sat down to write this book. I wanted to create a guide for all the hardworking writers out there who want a say in their own destinies. This book is for scribes who want to do everything they can to invest in their work and guarantee themselves success. It is not for a writer who puts his first chapter on a brand new website and sits back, wondering why editors arent banging down the door with a six-figure offer.

The instruction of Create Your Writer Platform is three-fold. The first thing you will learn, in detail, is what platform means, why its important, and how utilizing broad principles will help you succeed no matter what specific path you choose. The second section of this book illuminates the nuts-and-bolts steps of how you can build up your own platform through any number of means, be that public speaking or social media or creating a blog. In the final portion, you can read case studies of those who have built their platforms from the ground upto hear expertise from a variety of sources and journeys.