Focus and Today's Writer - A Blogshop with Literary Agent Bree Ogden

The topic of author platform came up in a professional editorial group I'm in (doesn't it always?). The hot button issue was when do writers need to build their web presence - before, while or after they finish their manuscript?

Today I give the floor to literary agent, Bree Ogden with Martin Literary Management Group to shed some perspective on the what comes first, the author or the platform issue as we continue our focus on FOCUS in a writer's life this month.

BO: Aspiring young adult writers, I’m talking to you. How many Twitter followers do you have? High hundreds? In the thousands, you say? What about blog followers? You’re kidding me! 600?? Wow! Impressive!

So…where can I buy your book? Oh it’s not published? I see…

So admittedly, that was a bratty introduction. But sometimes you have to be bratty to get a point across (Sorry, mom). While creating a huge and loyal fan base is just the bee’s knees, it won’t necessarily help you get you manuscript published. And that’s what I want to talk to you about today.

Where is your focus and is it in the right place?

All the followers in the world aren’t going to write that manuscript for you. They aren’t going to query that agent and they sure aren’t going to convince an editor to shell out upwards of 60K for a manuscript that you neglected because you were too busy tweeting and blogging.

It’s a bit of a vicious cycle, it is. Your fan base doesn’t matter until you have a book deal, but once you have a book deal you are too busy editing to build a fan base. There is, however, one social media outlet that will help you when your agent is trying to get you that coveted book deal or even more importantly, when you are trying to land an agent.

Blogs/Web sites!

A word about blogs; it’s not about how many followers you have who have actually “subscribed” to your blog. It’s all about the stats. How many hits do you get a month? Where are those hits directed? Are they going to that guest post Stephanie Meyer wrote for you, or are they directed to the page about your manuscript. (The latter is a more beneficial place for them to be hitting).

Are you following?

Editors care more that your blog is getting attention because of the product they might possibly spend thousands of dollars on. If I may use one of my clients as an example: He has a Web site that generates an insane amount of hits a month. But he has a variety of his other projects and work on his Web site and only a small portion of it is dedication to his manuscript that I represent. However, 47% of his Web site hits go straight to that particular section. Now that’s something to write home about. Of the 20 or so other pages that people can explore on his Web site, nearly half his hits go to his manuscript page.

I know. I’ve just told you to focus on your manuscript before worrying too much about a fan base, and then I tell you how impressive it is to have a ton of hits on your site. Here is the distinction. And it’s a big one.

His work is completed.

Once you’ve written, rewritten, rewritten, edited, reedited, reedited and perfected your manuscript, that’s when you focus on a fan base. That’s not to say you can’t slowly build it up while you are working on you manuscript. But I know how tempting it is to get distracted with all the fun social media. And that, my friends, without a completed manuscript, is a road to nowhere.

TLC: Writers, publishers expect a lot from you. They want a knock-out manuscript, they want you to publicize yourself and sell your book in a very big way. Don't lose your focus, my dears. You've got to have something to sell before you can sell it and something to talk about before you go social.

About the Contributor

Holding a master’s degree in Journalism from Northeastern University, Bree Ogden of Martin Literary Management represents graphic novels, children’s books and young adult. Bree has a passion for the middle grade genre, especially boy-centric fiction. She loves dark and quirky humor, as well as dark writing in general. While she is not a huge fan of paranormal or supernatural in young adult, she loves sci-fi and horror. Bree finds inspiration in the television shows Dexter and the late Pushing Daisies, classical music, authors that can entertain while building the imagination and writers without egos. She loves anything that will make her scream in terror or laugh in delight.

http://www.AgentBree.Wordpress.com

http://www.MartinLiteraryManagement.com

http://www.Twitter.com/Breeogden

Flashback Friday: Creative Platforming with BenBella Publisher, Glen Yeffeth

This post originally published 7/25 /10. Looking back on this year's worth of work with authors in this new age of ebusiness - two things about the process of publishing remain the same: editing and platform building; both take time to do correctly and build with quality, respectively.

In publishing, the evergreen issue of Author Platform is one more and more savvy writers are finally becoming familiar with. Ah yes, the P word. The very short and sweet definition of platform from a publishing perspective is how you reach your audience; columns, articles, journal pieces, newsletters, blogs, workshops and regular appearances on TV (or your own show!) are considered platform. Pick up a reputable publishing trade magazine and no doubt you’ll see a “how to” article on crafting a successful platform. Head to your local bookseller and you’ll find a few books on the hot topic. The bottom line is, if you want to attract an agent or editor’s attention, you must possess a strong platform, period! Clearly, I see aspiring authors are listening to this “must have platform” message when I scroll through their social media pages and read their status updates about their projects and blogs – another building block of the author platform.

Relatively new to the social media scene, I’m totally fascinated by how today’s author is using this tool as a means to promote their work and broaden their network and influence. Authors don’t just have a website anymore, as they did when I was agenting, they’re now updating their status (stati?) on several social media and professional networking sites. They’re blog, blog, blogging away. Some even have pages for the main characters of their books, which I find fascinating. What agent or editor wouldn’t love an already strong following of a character that hasn’t even been formally introduced to its book cover yet?! Brilliant! Caveat: You better make good on your promise to deliver your exciting character and get that book published one way or another or suffer some very public professional humiliation not to mention loss of integrity.

Looking around my city, I see the majority of people’s attention turned downward to the glowing rectangle in their hands. Scrolling through scads of info, suddenly “more important” things are happening online in real time. We’re getting used to this, aren’t we? This new speed of instant connection, communication and gratification? Push button publishing is easy! Sweet validation!

So does all this super quick online activity affect the speed of successful platform building, which traditionally takes years to build? Amazon has so far successfully proven self publishing through e-books has saved many writers from years of traditional publishing anguish. Will we experience the same evolution in platform crafting?

I asked Glenn Yeffeth, Publisher at BenBella Books:

"Since an author's platform is so critical to their publishing success, how have writers become more creative with their platform building? How are you seeing writers use social media to boost their platform?"

GY: There has been an enormous amount of nonsense posted about social media and the need for a platform and I think this has taken a lot of writers in the wrong direction. So here are a few realities about social media and building a platform.

Your book has to be strong, original and fascinating to your target market. I see a lot of proposals by folks who seem to have put a lot more thought into their platform building activities than their book. Everything you do with platform building and social media is simply to light the kindling underneath the big logs – word of mouth. If your book isn’t great your social media efforts will be fairly pointless.

Having said that, using social media effectively takes as much effort and creativity as writing a book. It takes focus and passion. “Everyone should blog” is nonsense. Authors should blog if they have something unique to say and if they are prepared to invest years in building an audience. A platform transcends any given book; in fact it transcends books altogether. A strong platform drives opportunities for speaking, consulting, free-lancing, selling non-book products, career-enhancement, etc. Whipping up a platform for a book proposal is pretty much impossible. It takes time – calendar time as well as hours.

Figure out what you are really good at – speaking, television, essay writing, radio, short pithy blog posts, whatever – and what you really know a lot about and leverage these two things to build your platform. Focus is important, and don’t feel like you need to do everything. If twitter doesn’t fit your strengths, don’t tweet. Originality and creativity are less important than finding your strengths and focusing around them. Once you’ve done that, creativity will come a lot more readily.

TLC: So, dear writers, you may have more options and opportunity to connect than 5 years ago, but this new connection speed doesn’t necessarily change the speed or quality of platform building. It doesn’t mean your book will write itself, either (check out Inkygirl’s apropos cartoon, First Things First for some comic perspective). Take heed and take a breather – good books are still good books no matter the format. A well written book by an author who has taken years to build an impressive platform will still distinguish itself well above the slosh in the marketplace. And stellar platforms are built slower than you can say, What’s your status update?

Your Exercise This Week: Do a little research on your favorite author (this century, please. Even more preferable, no later than the last 20 years). How did they get their start? How long did it take them to build their successful writing career? What was their first publishing success? What do they do (other than write books) that makes them uniquely qualified to be THE EXPERT in their field (for nonfiction work)?

Have any platform building tips or success stories? Share them with the group! I want to hear all about it!

Have a fruitful day, writers!

TLC

Glenn Yeffeth is Publisher of BenBella Books. Before BenBella, Glenn was a corporate strategist and marketer who ran companies in Chicago, London and Dallas. BenBella Books, named after Glenn’s children Benjamin and Isabella, publishing boutique that aims to be the publisher of choice for a select group of authors who value personal attention, a partnership philosophy, flexibility and a creative approach to marketing. Glenn has an MBA in marketing and finance from the University of Chicago and a BA in history from Oberlin College.

"Connect and Collect to Broaden Your Social Media Base" - A Blogshop with Robert Lee Brewer

Nothing excites this former literary agent more than seeing new, confident and enterprising authors capture their audience by being savvy about how to use social media. Not only are they attracting readers, they're connecting with other writers and publishing industry professionals who inevitably bring more awareness and opportunity their way.

Yet there are those writers who are reluctant to dip their toe into the vast social media waters. The idea of spending time online, twittering and updating status (stati?) bars, connecting with others, pimping their novel/blog/website/services seems self-centered, conceited or disingenuous.

Writers, to sell books, to make a living with this writing thing you've got going on, you MUST connect by any means necessary. The good news is, using the most basic social media is free and totally effective, depending how you use it. If the act of writing is about self-expression, let the act of telling the world about it (and making lots of friends along the way) be an extension of your expression and passion behind what you do! All you have to do is create a profile and start connecting.

I asked Robert Lee Brewer, blogger, poet and Senior Content Editor for The Writer's Digest Writing Community, to share his thoughts on the importance of social media in a writer's life. Here's what he submitted.

"Writing is the most important thing a writer can be doing. After all, writing is what makes a writer a writer, right? But let’s forget about the whole writing side of things for a moment, because many writers also long to share their writing and/or make some form of income from their writing eventually.

One of the most cost effective ways to find an audience now is through the use of social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, WordPress, etc. After giving my own social media strategy some thought, I’ve realized that it can best be summed up as a “connect and collect” strategy.

Connect

Social media sites make connecting with other people online easier than ever. In literally seconds, I can “friend” other writers on Facebook and “follow” other people on Twitter. This is a connection, but it’s not a strong one, which is why I advise communicating with people on these sites.

There are many ways to communicate. Update your status on Facebook, tweet on Twitter, make a new post on your blog. However, the more personal your communication the more meaningful it is to your audience.

Of course, there may come a point when you have to balance your quantity of connections with your quality of connections. This post by Jane Friedman helps illustrate the price of popularity.

(http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/2011/01/11/TheEvolutionOfHowIUseTwitter.aspx)

Collect

Of course, popularity is the name of the game when you’re trying to develop a readership. If your writing is great, then popularity should follow, right? Well, yes, if you have advocates pushing others to read your work. The smart use of social media strategies can help you find these “grassroots” readers who will spread the word when you do something great—like publish a book or speak at an event.

In a way, you’ll be collecting these people as friends and followers on sites like Facebook and Twitter. At the same time, you should be collecting valuable information from these followers and those who you follow. In other words, social media isn’t a one-way street and shouldn’t be approached as if it is.

I doubt many think of it as collecting—even I didn’t before I sat down to write this guest post, and it still kind of sounds icky—but that’s exactly what we’re doing. At the same time, we are being collected by others. If our tweets and blog posts are interesting and insightful, our information will also be collected by our readership and distributed to their friends and followers.

If you’re able to collect information such as e-mail addresses and/or physical addresses, you’ll have an even stronger platform for reaching these potential readers when you have really big news to report.

So which comes first?

Do you collect friends and followers first, and then connect? Or do you connect first? Actually, you should be doing both at the same time—always.

If you’re collecting friends and followers, many will not be advocates for your work if you don’t make meaningful connections with them—either personally or through the information you provide (and no, an automated message when they first follow you on Twitter does not count as a meaningful connection). If you’re connecting with people but not collecting them as friends or followers, how are you going to let them know that you just released your novel?

By collecting and connecting, you should be able to build a solid foundation for your social media platform that also gives you time to do what’s most important. Ahem, the actual writing!"

Robert touches on a feeling I know many of you have - feeling "icky" about marketing your work, essentially. Let's finally put an end to this brand of thinking. Consider collecting data in these terms: when you submit your novel or nonfiction proposal to an agent or editor, especially in these times, where the volume of your pre-pub audience plays a major role in their decision making, they want to see numbers. Sure, an agent or editor wants the work to be GREAT, but they want to be assured you have the platform, the audience to support the sale of your book and the stamina to keep it up after the book pubs. Even if you were to self-publish, you'll still need to connect and collect to sell your book. I cannot underscore this message enough, writers.

That said, connecting and collecting should come into balance with your writing life. If your writing isn't there, the chances of you getting published are pretty close to zero. If you decide to self-pub, the chances of you selling your book are just as slim.

So, keep it in balance, folks.

Your Action: Check out the sites Robert suggests and consider which are best suited for you. Write, connect, collect, repeat. Embrace it!

For those of you already connecting and collecting, is your writing life in balance or do you need to spend a little time on the craft?

Here's to a productive week!

TLC

About the Contributor:

Robert Lee Brewer is a Senior Content Editor for the Writer’s Digest Writing Community, focusing mainly on Writer’s Market, Poet’s Market, and WritersMarket.com. He also maintains the Poetic Asides (http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides) and My Name Is Not Bob (http://robertleebrewer.blogspot.com/) blogs. He is married to the poet Tammy Foster Brewer, who helps him keep track of their four boys. Robert welcomes contacts via e-mail at robertleebrewer@gmail.com or via Twitter @robertleebrewer (http://twitter.com/robertleebrewer).