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The Best Business Plan for a Blogged Book (or Any Book)

May 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment

http://www.freedigitalphotos.comTo conclude this series on building a business around your book, I’d like to write about business plans. Now, I’m not a great one to spout off about business plans, since my business hasn’t had one until recently–and it’s not really quite done yet, if I’m going to be totally honest. (But I’m working on it.) I do, however, know a lot about business plans for books. Yes, I do.

In fact, the best business plan for a book has been around for ages and ages. I help aspiring authors create them all the time. Usually, those aspiring authors are wanting to approach traditional publishers to ask them to invest in their books. So, they need a business plan. Aspiring independent publishers–writers planning to self-publish–in most cases don’t bother to create a business plan for their books. Big mistake. They need one even more than their traditional-hold-out friends, so I work with many to do just that.

When you come up with an ideas for a book–blogged or other wise–rather than sit down and  begin writing, create a business plan. And use the publishing industry standard: a book proposal. Yep. That’s it. A book proposal.

Here’s the deal: Not every blogged book idea (or traditionally written book) deserves to become a book. Some ideas make better articles or essays because you don’t have enough subject matter to produce a full-length blogged book. Others might be appropriate for a book but only your friends and family  might be interested in reading that book because it doesn’t have a market beyond your immediate circle of influence. Or maybe your idea simply isn’t unique—the market is flooded with other books just like it, so it isn’t going to garner a big enough readership. You may not have a large enough author’s platform (or fan base) or be well-known enough expert to attract readers to another book on the same ol’ subject.

That’s why its a worthwhile venture to evaluate your book idea’s success potential–its marketability– prior to writing a word.  If you do this using the sections of a book proposal as your guide, you will accumulate all the information necessary to put together a top-notch business plan for your blogged book. Why? Because you will be looking at your book through the eyes of an acquisitions editor and producing the type of document a publisher requires before moving forward with a new book venture. You need that document as well. That document–the book proposal–serves as a publishers business plan, and it can–and should–serve as yours. So use the publishing industry standard—the book proposal—as your guide to creating a business plan for your book. Take your idea and look at it through the lens of a book proposal, and you’ll know soon enough if your idea has the ability to make it as a print or ebook. Evaluate your idea as any agent or acquisitions editor might if they were to read your book proposal. And you’ll end up with very specific information about who you will market your book to, how you will promote your book and how to position your book in the market so it is unique and relevant to your readers.

If you don’t plan on ever approaching a publisher, your business plan can be less formally written. Just go through what I call the “proposal process” and accumulate the information necessary for a proposal and place it informally in a document.  (To learn more about this process and all the parts of a proposal, read the appropriate blogged chapter on this topic.)If you do want to do approach a traditional publisher, go through the process and then place the information in a document that you have professionally edited. You will later submit this to an agent and publishers after you have sent a query letter.

Book proposals contain a variety of sections. Some of them are:

  • Markets: This section asks you to describe your book’s markets—large groups/numbers of people who might be interested in and purchase your book. These are the people who will find your book relevant for some reason.
  • Competing Titles:  In this section you look at the previously published books and compare your book idea to them.
  • About the Author: In this section you write a bio of yourself and discuss why you are the best person to write this book. This is a chance to compare yourself to the authors of the competing books and ask yourself if you can compete with them. Are you unique? Do you have the credentials necessary?
  • Mission Statement:  Do you have a reason to write this book? Is it your purpose or mission? Will your book serve a purpose, too? Will it add benefit and offer value.
  • List of Chapters: Create a table of contents for the potential book. Does it look like you have the makings for a book? Can you see an actual structure and imagine content for a full book?
  • Chapter Summaries: Describe each chapter’s content.
  • Promotion Plan: This is the real business section (or sales plan). How will you promote your book prior to publication and after? This plan ensures your book will sell over time. It’s how you build a fan base of readers and how you create a continuous flow of buyers (readers) for you book.
  • Author’s Platform: This section describes everything you have done to create a base of potential readers for your book. If you have nothing to place in this section, normally you would wait to write your book. However, by blogging a book you build platform (pre-promote your book)–create a platform. This is about getting known before the book deal or before the release of your self-published book to ensure that it sells.

A book proposal has more sections, and all of them help you create a sound business plan for your book. Going through this process helps you see the Big Picture of your book. If you want to explore more about the book proposal process, check out my workbook, How to Evaluate Your Book for Success. If you want more information on how to write a book proposal, check out the two books below.

 

 

Don’t forget to join me and the guest bloggers who joined me this month at
Expert Platform Building 101 + Entrepreneurial Fundamentals 102
on May 19-20 in San Jose, CA. Get the details here. Please register prior to coming (if possible). I have 2  Speaker’s Special discounted tickets left… Contact me directly at nina(at)ninaamir.com, if you are interested.

Filed Under: Book Proposal, Build a Business Around Your Book, The Proposal Tagged With: , , ,

Promotion: How to Get Blurbs for Your Blogged Book

February 16, 2012 By 5 Comments

In addition to getting an expert to write a foreword for your blogged book, you will want to have authorities, authors, thought leaders, and other well-known people in your field and in related fields offer short reviews, called testimonials or blurbs, for the front and/or back cover of your book or the inside of your book. You can also use these blurbs on your website or blog and on sites like Amazon.com to help promote your book. This stamp of approval from experts helps sell books. Getting them early in the process can also help drive readers to your blog.

As I mentioned in my last post, this promotional task is one you can undertake prior to the completion of your book. I managed to get four or five testimonials with only the overview from my book proposal, the table of contents, two sample chapters, and a link to the blog.  I garnered many more—15 all counted to date—once I had a full manuscript to show. I did show the first and second draft to some people. With others, those I felt needed to see a more polished manuscript, I waited until the publisher and I had a final or almost final version.

Obtaining blurbs follows the same basic format as obtain a foreword. You will seek out those experts whose endorsement would help sell your book. Remember, their testimonial about your book is just that—an endorsement of you and of your work intended to help sell copies to readers. Ask yourself who would be a good choice to provide such an endorsement? Who are the most respected people in your field or industry? If you are writing fiction, who are well known novelists or other well-read authors in your niche? Who else writes romance or thrillers, for instance? If you write nonfiction book about business, who are the leading business experts? And if you write about a specific type of business, like real estate, who specializes in that business area? Seek out those experts. Send them an email or a letter with information about our book and ask if they might be willing to provide a testimonial.

Offer to write a testimonial for them if they like. They’ll tell you if they prefer to write one on their own or to edit something you create. Once you have one or two testimonials in hand, when you contact a new expert, you can list the names of those who have already given you blurbs. Write something like, “Here’s what some people have already said about my book.” Then list a few of the testimonials you’ve received.

Don’t forget to tell the people you contact what you will do for them! You will put their name, the name of their book, business or website (whatever they prefer) on your book, website, blog, etc., with a live link. In other words, you will become their promotional partner. Tell them you would be happy to help them promote their book, assuming they have one, in return (if you are, indeed, willing to do so). In other words, seek out the types of people with whom you would like to partner up.

Granted, some of these people will think you are some peon and realize they can do way more for you than you can do for them. It’s okay. Offer anyway.

And don’t be put off by well-known experts. You never know who might endorse you. I have a friend whose book was endorsed by Guy Kawasaki. She contacted him through LinkedIn, he agreed to look at the book, and Viola! A blurb came back that gave her book instant credibility.

And what’s the worst that can happen if you ask for Someone Really Important’s endorsement? He or she says, “No.” Want to know what? I only received two knows out of the 17 people I asked to blurb How to Blog a Book. And now I’m looking for people to actually do reviews! (That’s another subject…)

By the way, I was only able to put 10 of my blurbs in How to Blog a Book. None are going on the back cover that I know of. They will all be used (and have been used) on my website and blog. This is because the publisher only gave me two pages for testimonials. You might have more room, though. I was really bummed about this. It’s hard work getting them in, and you really want to be able to use them all.

I’ll conclude by acknowledging that some people say blurbs don’t matter. I admit that your blogged book must actually be worth endorsing. However, for some potential readers, it makes a difference that people they perceive as trustworthy have endorsed your book. Knowing that could make them purchase your book rather than one with no endorsements.

That’s why I bothered to get them. And I suggest you do, too. In fact, I suggest you get at least one or two really early on and post them prominently on your blog, so readers who show up their know your blogged book, although still being written, has gotten the stamp of approval from an expert. (You can also include these in your book proposal, if you choose to write one. Include the names of people you plan to contact for a foreword, too.)

Doing so surely can’t hurt, and it will likely help.

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Filed Under: Promoting Your Book, Promotion, What to Do When You Complete Your Blogged Book

Promotion: Getting A Foreword for Your Blogged Book

February 14, 2012 By 2 Comments

There are lots of ways to promote your book. Some of them happen long before you book is published as a print or ebook. Since my book is two or three months away from release, I’m currently gearing up for full-force promotion, which will begin in May.

Typically, promotion begins about three months before release, gets a big push for three months after release and continues for another three-to-six months after that. Of course, promotion never stops. It continues for the life of the book.

For the next two posts I’m going to discuss two important tasks you might consider undertaking prior to finishing your book: asking someone to write a foreword and getting testimonials, or cover blurbs, about your book. Today, I will discuss forewords. (Check back on Thursday to read about blurbs.)

Not every book has a foreword, but obtaining one offers your book a little extra prestige or clout, especially if it’s written by someone with a recognizable name or title in a field connected with the subject of your book. It’s a vote of confidence from a person respected by potential readers. Your foreword writer basically will tell people via his or her contribution to your book why it is an important contribution to the field and why someone should read it. You can then tell everyone this person wrote a foreword for your book! By telling the world you book has this type of endorsement, you create a buzz and build credibility for the book. Hopefully, this person also will help promote the book as well.

So, how do you get someone to agree to write you foreword? You can contact anyone you feel holds the kind of position I describe above. Call them or email them and tell them about your book. If you are still writing your book, provide them with the overview of your book and include your pitch and any additional information you feel necessary in your email. (See the category on the left called “Proposal” for more information.)

You may also offer to help the person by writing a draft of the foreword yourself; this demonstrates the type of content you desire. They might totally rewrite it or scrap it, or they may just say, “Fine! Print it.” I know that sounds weird, but experts are busy. Sometimes it’s easier for them to simply edit a piece of writing than to create one from scratch. You can also offer bullet points with points you’d like them to make or benefits of the book you’d like them to feature. Not ever authority will read your whole book (or any of it) prior to writing the foreword. In fact, sometimes they will write the foreword without the book actually being complete. Having a foreword in hand when you approach a publisher can be quite helpful actually.

So, how did I get my forewords and why does How to Blog a Book: Write, Publish, and Promote Your Work One Post at a Time, have two, which is a nontraditional approach? I actually received an offer from a particular author for the foreword who had good sales numbers for his book, which was going into its third printing. He was well-known in the publishing industry. He had a book with Writer’s Digest Books as well. My agent and I thought this would help get the book sold, so we said, “Okay,” and preceded.

The publisher, however, later suggested I pursue a second foreword, this time from someone much more notable: Julie Powell of Julie & Julia fame. (That book began as a blog.)  Why? Her name on the cover would help sell books. Well…after several months of pursuing that option, she said “no.”

I, however, decided that the idea of a second foreword from someone in the blogging world appealed to me. After all, my book straddled the world of blogging and writing/publishing. Thus, I began to look for a really great authority on blogging for a second foreword. I did a lot of waiting…and wondering if this foreword would come through. But in the end, in December Chris Garrett agreed. He is the co-author of ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income, the book, and founder of AuthorityBlogger.com, and he works with many authors and bloggers. I was thrilled to team up with him, because he understands the concep of my book, why the book will benefit bloggers, and the work he is doing aligns well with what I teach. Plus, he has way, way more expertise in blogging than I do. In fact, I have purchased his blogging products and am one of his newsletter subscribers and blog subscribers.

Along the way, as sometimes happens, things did not work out with my first foreword writer. So, I began looking for another. My agent, my editor, my publisher, and I put our heads together and came up with a list of possibilities. This time I had the opportunity to carefully choose who I thought would be the best person for the book—someone aligned with its concept and with me and my work as well as someone whom I thought would be a good promotional partner. I choose Christina Katz, author of Get Known Before The Book Deal: Use Your Personal Strengths To Grow An Author Platform and The Writer’s Workout: 366 Tips, Tasks, & Techniques From Your Writing Career Coach. And she agreed quickly on Christmas Day. I was thrilled! Christina and I do very similar work in the world, and I love her books.

You know what else? I really like both Chris and Christina. I had the opportunity to meet both of them in person, and I really like them as people. Overall, it makes me truly happy to have them affiliated with my book.

By the time these experts agreed to write the forewords, my book was in its final editing stages. I was able to give both experts a copy of the manuscript in PDF form to read. I also provided them with an overview. Chris asked me for a little bit of direction as to the points I might want him to make. Christina just went ahead and wrote her foreword with no input from me at all.

Why would these people agree to help me? When made my request, I had met Chris just once and I had never met Christina. Why would an expert take time out of his or her busy day to write a foreword for your book? Simple: First, it’s an honor to be asked. Second, it’s good promotion for them, too. They hope that by having their name on your book their their expert status will increase even more, their business will grow and they will sell more of their own books. Therefore, you have to promote them in the process as well. That’s why I always link to their books when I mention them. You can even do something like this (below) in your posts. (But put it at the end of your post.)

There you have it! That’s how How to Blog a Book ended up with two great forewords! Now, go out and get yourself at least one superb expert foreword for your blogged book.

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Filed Under: Landing an Angent or Traditional Publisher, Overview, Promoting Your Book, Promotion, Selling Books and Information Products Tagged With: , , ,

A Short, Quick Guide to Social Networking for Blog-to-Book Authors

September 21, 2011 By 1 Comment

I just came back from giving a talk at a local writer’s club. There I heard the same question I hear everywhere I go: What’s the best way for writer’s to accomplish their social networking — especially given the fact that they really don’t want to do social networking at all. They just want to write.

Here’s my very, very short and quick guide to social networking for writers: Blog. That’s right. One word. Blog.

Oh…right. And this sentence: After you publish a blog post, post a link to that post in at least two social networks (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or LinkedIn).

That’s it.

Basically, blogging simply involves writing. Every writer can blog. It’s not too hard. It’s not too techy. It doesn’t take too long. Except for the part about posting the links to social networks, which also isn’t too hard or too techy, it involves doing what you love — writing. After that, it’s all about telling people to read your writing. What writer doesn’t want to be read? A blog allows your writing to be read.

For those of you blogging a book, you’ve got it really easy. The more you work on your book, the more readers you drive to your blog. Hopefully, they share your book/posts with their social networks. Even if they don’t, as you build a fan base — unique visitors to your blog, you build a social network all your own right on your blog.

You should have plenty of good fodder to share. You have your manuscript, so you don’t need to create any additional content to post to your blog. Your book is your blog content. Pretty nice, huh?

If you aren’t on any social networks, go to Twitter.com and Facebook.com (and LinkedIn.com if you provide a service, sell a product or are an expert or professional), and sign up. This is a very easy and self-explanatory process. (LinkedIn is a bit more difficult and requires more information.) Then begin posting status updates – in other words, write a few words about your blog posts and then the link to your post. You can also offer a status update now and then simply about yourself. (On LinkedIn the real action is in the groups.)

That’s it.  You can do more, but that’s all that’s required for this short, quick blog-to-book author’s guide to social networking.

Don’t miss one howtoblogabook.com post — or any information on the  delivery date for the printed version of How to Blog. Subscribe to this blog by email below.

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Filed Under: Platform, Promotion, Publicizing Your Blog Tagged With: , , ,

How to Write a Book Proposal for Your Blogged Book

August 28, 2011 By 1 Comment

When a literary agent or an acquisition editor from a publishing company contacts you about making your blog into a book or publishing your blogged book, you want to be ready. Ready equates to having a book proposal written.

Many aspiring authors and bloggers have no idea what goes into a traditional nonfiction book proposal. For this reason, I’d like to direct your attention to a series of blog posts I’ve been writing on my other blog, Write Nonfiction Now. This series is called “Demystifying the Nonfiction Book Proposal,” and it takes you through all the sections of a proposal and tells you want to include and how to prepare it. You can read the first post in the series here. All the posts are listed here.

I’ve described each of the sections of a book proposal in this blog as well. You can find these posts in the category called “The Proposal.”

Don’t make an agent or an editor wait for you to prepare a proposal. Be ready when you and your blog get noticed.

I actually got my blog noticed by writing a book proposal and then having my agent peddle it to publishers. You can do that, too.

By the way, the new delivery date for How to Blog a book is March 23. (This could change…) If you want to be sure you know when the How to Blog a Book printed book is released–and are aware of any pre-release or post release hoohah, be sure to subscribe to this blog using the form below (Plus, doing so ensures you don’t miss any blog posts.):

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Filed Under: Book Proposal, Landing an Angent or Traditional Publisher, The Proposal Tagged With: , ,

Using Video to Drive Traffic to Your Blogged Book

July 15, 2011 By 3 Comments

An increasingly popular way to drive traffic to blogs these days involves video. YouTube has become a huge source of  information and entertainment. You may find that by posting videos to YouTube you can drive enormous amounts of traffic to your blogged book.

Most computers, especially laptops, have video capability, and flip cameras are pretty cheap and easy to use. Without going into a ton of detail, let me just say that once you have figured out how to video tape yourself, you an easily upload that video to YouTube.

Here’s what you do: Create an account on YouTube. Then sign in. Upload what you have already recorded either on your computer or with your webcam. If you don’t like the quality of your videos, you can add in lighting or a mike to your tools when video taping.

What do you record? You can record a blog post or information about your blog. You can record your mission statement or details about the benefits of reading your blogged book. You can tell people about your process. You can give them some tips or tools from your blogged book. You can create a book trailer. You can record whatever you like that you think might be fun or interesting. Who knows, maybe your video will go viral. And by all means, share it wherever you can…on all your social networks!

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Filed Under: Increasing Traffic, Promotion, Publicizing Your Blog Tagged With: , , , ,

Do You Know What Your Competition is Doing?

May 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

How long has it been since you checked out what your competition is doing? Way back when you were in the planning stages of blogging your book, I told you to check out your competition. Doing so would ensure that your blogged book would be unique in the cyber marketplace as well as in the book store. However, you want to continue checking up on your competition from time to time. Bloggers blog, after all, and their blog content may change. Book stores get new books on their shelves.

I mostly want you to be concerned right now with what other bloggers might be doing as you blog your book. Not that I don’t want you to be aware of new books on your topic hitting the market; I do. Because your book is taking shape in cyberspace, though, I want you to be in touch with what is going on in this marketplace. I want you to know what other writers are writing about when it comes to your subject.

First, do this to be sure you are continuing to blog a unique book. Stay up to date on what your fellow bloggers are writing about; this is the most current information on your topic to date. It’s probably current practically up to the moment. Compare their information to yours and to what is in your book. Are you providing something different? Are you coming at the same information from a different angle, with a different perspective or with a different process?

Second, insert yourself into their blogosphere. That’s right. Make yourself known in their world. Comment on their blogs. Email them and ask their opinion on topics you are researching. Ask them for a guest blog post on a topic about which they have more knowledge.

Why would you want to do this? Your comments left on their blogs provide back links to your blogged book. This helps increase your blog’s search engine ranking and helps drive traffic to your blog. Also, when another blogger provides a guest posts, he or she will promote that particular post, which also sends more traffic to your blog. Additionally, all of these steps help you develop relationships with those in your field who may one day be important promotional partners for your printed book.

So, make sure you know what your competition is doing–and create relationships with the competition if possible.

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Filed Under: Competing and Complementary Blogs, Publicizing Your Blog Tagged With: , , , ,

Market Your Blogged Book to an Agent or Publisher

June 22, 2010 By 1 Comment

 

Okay, so you’re a traditional publishing holdout, and this blogged book exercise managed to get you to write your whole manuscript but didn’t get you discovered. Now it’s time to get that proposal written and approach an agent or a small to mid-sized publisher.

In this case, you must do two things: write a fabulous query and write a phenomenal proposal. A query letter contains three things: a lead paragraph that entices an agent or publisher to want to read your manuscript, your pitch plus information about the length of your book and any special features, and why you are the perfect person to write the book.  The proposal contains the nine essential elements a publisher will use to determine if your book fits their list, if they feel a market exists for the book and if they feel you are both the right person to write the book and the best person to become their business partner. To learn about these elements, go back and read the earlier posts about the sections of a nonfiction book proposal. You can find the first one here; subsequent ones follow.

Put your book proposal together and have it professionally edited. The nonfiction book proposal represents the most important selling document you will ever create. They say you only have one chance to make a first impressions; that holds true when pitching a book. Let a professional help you make the best first impression possible. Make every word count and present an error-free document. Also, be sure that the editor you choose knows what goes into a nonfiction book proposal. Don’t just use any editor.

Also have your query letter professionally edited and proofread.

Then send out the query letter to agents and publishers. Large publishing houses typically only want agented submissions. You can submit to small and some mid-sized publishers without an agent.

Once you get a positive response from an agent or publisher, you can send in your proposal with a cover letter.

Check publisher’s and agent’s submission guidelines. For submission guidelines or to find agents and publishers, check Writer’s Market or Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, and Literary Agents.

Don’t give up if you are rejected many times. Even the best authors have been rejected hundreds of times. I’ve heard this advice: When you get a rejection letter, just say, “Next.” Or say, “I must have sent that query to the wrong address. Next time I’ll send it to the right address.”

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Filed Under: Landing an Angent or Traditional Publisher, Query Letter, The Proposal Tagged With: , , , ,

Planning Your Posts or Screen-Sized Content

April 26, 2010 By 3 Comments

At this point in the planning process, you know what your book is about and you’ve outlined its features and benefits. You know who is going to read it and in which what markets you will promote it. You know the competition and how to differentiate your blogged book from other blogs and books on the market already. You’re ready…ready to consider the contents of your book.

However, a blogged book must follow the guidelines of a blog. No long chapters here, only short 200-500 word posts (with a few exceptions). Most blog readers only want to read approximately one computer screen’s worth of copy.

Your task now involves coming up with what in nonfiction book proposal terms is called the “List of Chapters.” This equates to the table of contents for your book and is the first of two sections included in the “Outline” of the proposal.

Once you have your table of contents, chunk the chapters down into bite-sized, or screen-sized, pieces. Each chapter must be broken down into subheads that can be written as short blog posts.

To be sure you remember exactly what you are supposed to write when the time comes to compose those posts, take the time now also to write “Chapter Summaries,” the second and last section of the nonfiction book proposal. This entails a short but detailed description of each post. This will serve not only as a reminder (It’s not unusual after a month or two to find you have forgotten what you had in mind for many of your posts.) but also as a basic outline for each post.

Wow! Great job! You are now ready to create your blog so you can start blogging your book. That’s your next task.

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Filed Under: Chapter Summaries, Introduction, List of Chapters, Parts of the Proposal, The Outline Tagged With: , , , , ,

Creating a Platform for You and Your Book

April 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The publishing world has changed dramatically over the last decade. No longer can you simply present an agent or a publisher with a good idea and good writing and expect to get a contract in return. You must prove that you already have people ready and waiting to purchase your book as soon as it is released. In other words, you have built a platform of prospective readers.

As I’ve mentioned before, platform equates to how many people you know or who know you who potentially will buy your book. These people can be followers on Facebook, tweeple on Twitter, blog subscribers, newsletter subscribers, podcast listeners, people reached via magazines, e-zines and on-line publications for which you write, attendees at your talks and workshops, publicity partners, and on-line and offline association memberships. You build a platform through speaking, writing, social media, networking, media gigs, etc. And you must build platform before they will come–”they” meaning agents and publishers.

In today’s publishing world the most important parts of a nonfiction book proposal are the Promotion section and the “Platform” section. Both show the publisher you will help sell your book. They want a business partner, not just a writer.

Why do you, a blogger care about platform? First, if you want your blog to be discovered and turned into a book by a publishing house, you need blog readers. Blog readers=platform (if enough of them exist). Second, if you would like to write another traditional book, or you plan on expanding your blogged book into a longer and more in-depth print version, then your blog serves as a way to promote that book and to build platform (i.e. potential buyers).

Either way, the more you build platform via guest blog posts on other blogs, articles published on your topic, news releases, press releases, media appearances, etc., the more readers will show up at your blog. All of these efforts become platform elements.

The Platform section of your nonfiction book proposal—if you were to write one—would include a list of all the things you have done to date to develop a platform. It would include statistics, such as how many unique visitors visit your blog each day, how many places you have spoken, where you have appeared as a guest blogger, and how many upcoming media appearances you have scheduled

Even if you don’t write the actual proposal, it’s a great idea to write your platform-building activities down, so you remember what you’ve done and keep track of your blog’s statistics to see if your readership is growing. Also, keep working on building your platform; don’t let a month go by when you don’t have some type of platform-building activity scheduled.

By the way, the platform section of a proposal can make or break an aspiring author’s chance of getting a publishing deal. It’s that important. As for having your blog discovered, don’t think the exposure you get for your blogged book via platform-building activities won’t be taking into consideration by an agent or acquisitions editor trolling around the Internet.

At this point, I’ve covered all the sections included in the Introduction of a nonfiction proposal. Next, we move on to the “Outline.”

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Filed Under: Parts of the Proposal, Platform Tagged With: , , , ,
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