Warning: This post contains tough love.

Here’s a few points I hope to share about platform at the AWP 2010 Conference:

Understand what platform means. Here’s my official definition:

“A platform communicates your expertise to others. It includes your Web presence, any public speaking you do, the classes you teach, the media contacts you’ve established, the articles you’ve published, and any other means you currently have for making your name and your future books known to a viable readership.”

“Basically, your platform is everything you DO with your expertise. A platform-strong writer is a writer with influence. Once you establish a platform, it can work for you 24/7, reaching readers even as you sleep. Of course, this kind of reach takes time. If many others already recognize your expertise on a given topic or for a specific audience or both, then you likely have an active platform.”

“I find it helpful to define a platform as a promise writers make to not only create something to sell (like a book), but also to promote it to the specific readers who will want to purchase it. This takes both time and effort, not to mention considerable focus.”

What is a legitimate platform? A big diversion I’ve noticed is that writers are willing to acknowledge that nonfiction writers need platforms but want to endlessly debate whether or not fiction writers, memoir writers, children’s writers, etc. need one.

I can clear this up: Every writer, who plans to publish or be published, needs a platform. It doesn’t matter what you write. As with most things, the sooner you get started the better. Because platforms take time to establish, cultivate and build. No exceptions.

Understand that platform applies to every kind of writer. Don’t get platform confused with what you’d like it to mean. Man, there is a lot of misinformation and quibbling about about what platform is and isn’t whether or not writers need to work on building one. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…in all the time spent debating, a writer could have actually built a platform!

To clarify, debating about whether or not you need a platform should not be confused with actually taking concrete steps towards building a legitimate platform. Get out of the debate club and get into the platform-building club instead. I hope you will all take the No Whining Oath (it’s in Get Known) and get to work building a productive platform that offers folks value.

Need examples? Here are a handful of writer/author platform examples. None of them are the super-fast, slap it together overnight kind because the staying power of those kinds of platforms has not yet passed the test of time. This explains why someone who is classified as a “Lift-off,” in my estimation, has actually been working at this platform stuff for years (I’m keeping things real because that’s what I’m known for):

Nonfiction (how-to):

Master: Eric Maisel

Up-and-coming: Cami Walker

Lift-off: Arnie Bernstein

Fiction:

Master: Sandra Cisneros

Up-and-coming: Joe Meno

Lift-off: Kristin Bair O’Keeffe

Poetry:

Master: Gary Snyder

Up-and-coming: Kim Stafford

Lift-off: Guy LeCharles Gonzales

Memoir:

Master: Dave Eggers

Up-and-coming: Kelly Corrigan

Lift-off: Cheryl Strayed

Remember, you won’t witness the sweat that these folks have invested into their writing careers over the years when you click on these links. Instead you view the results of all their years of hard and steady work. Don’t wish for someone else’s success. Roll up your sleeves and go do your own. Carve out your own distinct niche in the literary world.

Now go. Build your own darn platform. [Sound of whip cracking!]

And remember, no whining while you do it…except maybe to your closest writer friends, who are likely in the same platform-less boat.

So why not pull together and encourage each other to take concrete platform-building steps? You’ll find them in Get Known Before the Book Deal, Use Your Personal Strengths to Grow an Author Platform (Writer’s Digest Books 2008).

And if you have taken concrete steps to start building an author-worthy platform, good for you! It’s a fun and expansive process, isn’t it? Almost as much fun as writing…if you let yourself have fun with it.

Resources:

How to Build A Marketing Platform by Christina Katz (Writer’s Digest magazine)

Excerpt from Get Known Before the Book Deal, Why All Authors Need Platforms

Online Tools Every Author Can and Should Master

~ Photo by Isolino

I want to start a conversation about traditionally published authors and e-publishing. I’m very interested in hearing what you think on this topic.

Yesterday, I published my first e-book. The fact that e-book technology and e-book acceptance have arrived at the place where they are today makes it possible for authors, like J.A. Konrath, to put to our “backlists” into print and distribute them to a wider marketplace. When I refer to an author’s backlist, I mean something different than what a publisher means when they say “backlist.”

When a publisher says “backlist,” they are referring to all of the content that has been contracted into their ownership. A publisher can  leverage content of an author’s if that content still falls under a valid contract between the two parties (or three parties, if there is also an agent).

Therefore, if an author’s traditionally published title went out of print ten years ago and the publisher reverted the rights to the author some time during the last decade that means the author now has the opportunity to e-publish that work and keep the profits without sharing any with the publisher, who originally published the work. The author could collect a bunch of different works into one collection or publish each title separately or basically do whatever he or she wants, because he or she owns the rights.

However, if a traditionally published title is still under contract, then the publishing house will convert the title into electronic forms, or not, and the author will receive a royalty, or small percentage of the profits, sometimes only of the net profits.

Now, when I say “author backlist” what I am referring to is the typically huge backlog of quality content often languishing on an author’s hard drive, because the author devotes the lion’s share of his or her energy to landing and fulfilling his or her next traditionally published book deal (or fulfilling a multi-book contract).

Like many traditionally published authors, writing instructors, and speakers, I have cultivated more helpful content over the course of the past decade than I could probably ever publish. Also more than any one or even ten publishers would ever be interested in publishing since much of it does not address a large enough audience for a trade publisher.

I would not want to publish every single bit of this content, anyway, for a variety of reasons, the most important being that I plan to hold some of it back for my next traditionally published book (because my books tend to grow out of and be an extension of my ongoing professional experience).

The head’s up to authors today, then, is that thanks to the technology that is available and a more widespread acceptance of e-publishing and e-reading, an author can take whatever high-quality content he or she has already curated, put it into e-formats, and share it with his or her readership fairly simply, although large amounts of time and effort are still involved. Whether or not an author’s readership will be interested in what the author e-publishes is a whole other discussion that I won’t get into right now. Let’s just assume that some readers only want the traditionally published books and other readers are interested in both, since that’s likely to be the case.

So publishers are not the only ones today who have an opportunity to share their backlists with readers. Authors also have an opportunity today to e-publish and share their “backlists” as well. If this is confusing to you, then call what the publishers have a backlist and what the authors have a backlog. Because that’s often how it feels…like more good stuff than you can manage to whip into shape to share with your readers.

What I’m discovering is that it’s worth transforming your “backlog” into your own backlist. This is what I have done with Author Mama. Along the way I’ve realized that just like traditional books, every e-book has its own story. If you are interested, you can now read the complete story of Author Mama as I’ve posted the dedication and acknowledgments page.

I’d like to hear from you on this topic.

Did I do a good job explaining the difference between a publisher’s backlist and an author’s backlist (backlog)?

How do you feel about either or both?

Thoughts, complaints, aha moments?

Photo by Jordan

Ta-da! I did it. I published my first e-book!

Today marks the beginning of the second phase of development. Right now Author Mama is launched in “Beta” format, which means it’s cheaper than the final price and you are invited to  participate in making it even better, if you want to help.

As of May 1st, the price will double and the book will go into other e-book formats like Kindle, etc.

My first e-books represents the beginning of fulfilling a promise I made to writers last year. I said I would work hard to provide more teaching/learning options beyond my classes, which have a high price tag, my dream teams, which are only available for former students, and my coaching, ditto the high price tag.

So, here you go, mamas! In Author Mama, I share my personal journey of walking through the traditional book-deal process and book-writing experience and offer tips along the way, address common myths and challenge writers to get ready for the marathon that is writing a book.

This e-book is chock full of the parts of my first-book story that I think you will find relevant to your decision-making process. I sincerely hope Author Mama will be helpful to you.

I worked really hard on Author Mama for an extended period of time (more on that when I share the dedication and introduction, which I plan to post later today). But right now, I have a newsletter to get out. So, I’ll be back soon.

Thanks for helping me celebrate the official launch of Author Mama.

Here’s how to be one of the first to purchase a copy.

Happy New Year!

This seems like the perfect day to share a free e-book, Author’s Toolkit, that my agent, Rita Rosenkranz of Rita Rosenkranz Literary Agency, has written.

I contributed to the effort as did several folks who work in the industry.

This is just another example of how the folks who really care in this business are willing to share what they know with others. I hope you enjoy it!

Author’s Toolkit 2009

I look forward to making a big announcement about my new identity and direction for 2010.

Happy celebrating. See you next year!

Did you know that if you live in, say, Australia or China or Russia, you can still read my books without having to worry about tracking down someone who will expensively ship them to you?

That’s right, my books are digital!

They are not yet available for the Kindle, but they are available as PDF digital downloads from The Writer’s Digest Shop.

In the search box, type in “Christina Katz” and then choose the digital download versions of Get Known and Writer Mama.

You’ll be reading in minutes! Enjoy.

Today kicks off the discussion of Therese Walsh’s amazing debut novel, The Last Will of Moira Leahy. (Amazon link)

If you read the book (like I asked on October 13th) and you would like to join the discussion, please swing on by The Writer Mama Riffs blog today and chime in about your initial thoughts.

Then tomorrow, we will pick up on a month-long discussion back here.

It’s the holidays, so I wanted us to take our time.

Everywhere else is hectic. But not here. Thankfully, not here.

Resting…not thinking about work at all for five blissful days. Not even checking e-mail, or Twitter, or Facebook (okay, there was just one e-mail that didn’t go through, but that was it!).

Reading…an amazing book by an amazing writer and author friend. More on it and her soon. As in tomorrow.

Gathering strength for a big and exciting push that is happening over the next three weeks right here…until the next vacation, which I am going to totally deserve.

Just watch and see what I am going to do…