Of course, your book is amazing. It’s AWESOME. It’s plotted to perfection, edited to oblivion and ready for readers. But is your book enough?
Competition for readers is fierce. Already, authors have to ask, “am I enough?” and build the ever-elusive platform. Now, adding value (for the people already cool enough to buy your book) is something else for authors to think about.
As part of my instructional design study, I’m translating Total Blueprint into a Moodle course. I love the idea of making the book an interactive (and ultimately, even more inspiring!) experience.
So, what else is there?
- Authors provide discussion forums, or background novellas.
- Authors promote their book with merchandising.
- Authors let readers get into their head with book playlists.
- Authors post or create teasers and trailers.
As a reader, what “extras” do you expect? Do you expect any at all?
As an author, are you giving your readers enough? Of your book, of your world, of you?
Keep kicking ass!
Hi I am in New Zealand and I was just wondering how you got a New York agent? Thanks Chrissie
ReplyDeleteHi Chrissie
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear from you, thanks for asking :)
The short version? I researched agents, sent out query letters, and (after some rejection that helped hone my skills!) was signed...
The trick (besides writing your kick ass book!) is finding an agent who represents your kind of work, and creating a query letter that will knock his / her socks off.
There’s a heap of information online* about agents and query letters - so there's really no disadvantage to being in NZ... aside from spelling differences :)
Competition is beyond fierce (agents can get more than 200 queries a day – and only take on a few clients a year) but it can absolutely be done!
Go for it!
*Agent blogs, writer forums and author sites etc. as well as Google.