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The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » Platform » Page 3

Platform

Why I Represent the Author: Agent Edition

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon October 14, 2021
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My reasons for representing an author may differ from why I read a certain book.

  1. Content: When I see something fresh and different, but not so far out that no one can relate, an author has my attention.
  2. Talent: Although my office must decline talented authors every day, writing talent will get authors a close look.
  3. Proposal: A professional proposal shows me the author has taken the time to learn how to write a proposal and cares enough to include one with the project. The proposal doesn’t have to be perfect, whatever that means. The proposal needs to present the author and book in the best possible light.
  4. Social Media Presence: A professional online presence is a plus. Strive for a mix of writing and personal tidbits online. Be sure to have appealing headshots. No one cares who takes the pictures or where, as long as they offer the type of image the author wants to convey to readers.
  5. Platform: An author who is well-known will get my attention. While this aspect may frustrate authors today, a well-known author who is already popular always has been and always will be easier to sell to editors and readers than a debut author. However, every author starts as a debut author! I give debut authors thoughtful attention.
  6. Market: I’m more likely to offer representation when I know editors who can give your book serious consideration. You may have written the world’s best horror novel, but I don’t have those editorial contacts. Knowing which agents specialize in the type of project you are pitching saves you time and effort in your agent search.
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Category: Book Proposals, Career, Pitching, Platform

Books, Hooks, and Good Looks

By Bob Hostetleron September 30, 2021
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I love hooks. As a writer, I work hard on my hooks. When I was a magazine editor, the hook was often the best way for a writer to make a good first impression on me. And now, for me as a literary agent, the hook is the first and one of the most important criteria I use in evaluating a book pitch, proposal, or manuscript. A good book hook will often prompt me to give a project a more careful, …

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Category: Book Business, Book Proposals, Career, Get Published, Pitch, Pitching, Platform, Self-Publishing, Social Media, The Writing Life

What if Platform Is the Goal?

By Dan Balowon September 16, 2021
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We’ve been here before on this blog, discussing author platforms and how to get one. It’s a never-ending process, and it has always been a requirement for authors. If you find yourself talking about author platforms and believe “Gone are the days when an author could just write,” you are not completely accurate. Top authors from the “old days” were magazine or newspaper columnists with tens of …

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Category: Platform

A Literary Agent’s Wish List

By Bob Hostetleron May 27, 2021
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People often ask me, “What are you looking for?” It’s a natural question to ask a literary agent, even when the questioner knows that the agent has offered a detailed answer on the agency website (here, for example). After all, something could’ve changed. I may, since updating my interests, have suddenly decided to get bold, branch out, and try to sell a systematic theology in iambic pentameter. …

Read moreA Literary Agent’s Wish List
Category: Agents, Book Proposals, Craft, Grammar, Pitching, Platform, The Publishing Life, The Writing Life

Platform Planning

By Dan Balowon May 26, 2021
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The never-ending struggle of an aspiring author to meet the requirement of publishers for a big enough “platform” can be frustrating at best, or worse, discourage someone from writing at all. Platforms are always built on content, not the container. Social media doesn’t give you a platform; it is the content that causes it to grow–or not. All medias are simply channels to people, and using …

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Category: Branding, Marketing, Platform

Every Book Doesn’t Need to Shake the Earth

By Dan Balowon March 11, 2021
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If you look at any list of best-selling books expecting every one of them to be a literary masterpiece, you are probably setting yourself up for disappointment. “Are you kidding me? A book about famous racehorses of the 20th century is a bestseller? People bought that instead of my 1,200-page book on linguistic anomalies in Hebrew and Greek biblical texts? For Pete’s sake, half of the horse book …

Read moreEvery Book Doesn’t Need to Shake the Earth
Category: Encouragement, Inspiration, Pitching, Platform

Free Webinar on Building Your Author Platform

By Steve Laubeon October 19, 2020
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Why write a book no one will read? I have a theory that a book has no impact unless the book is read. But a book won’t be read until it is purchased. Even if it was given to you, someone bought it. Thus the power of your words begin at the point of sale. In today’s world, that means the book has to be discovered. No matter how good your book is, if someone doesn’t know about it, …

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Category: PlatformTag: Author Platform, Platform, Webinar

Writing in Multiple Genres, Okay? Not Okay?

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon September 17, 2020
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The “Your Questions Answered” Series __________ In a recent Q & A, Steve Laube talked about how writers will pitch different projects to him in the same meeting:  a novel, a nonfiction, a devotional, etc.  He said that writers need to decide “what they want to be when they grow up.”  I’d like some clarity on why writing in different genres is discouraged.  As ideas come to …

Read moreWriting in Multiple Genres, Okay? Not Okay?
Category: Agents, Genre, Pitching, Platform, Your Questions Answered Series

How Big Should an Author’s Platform Be?

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon August 13, 2020
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The “Your Questions Answered” Series __________ PLATFORM. I read a lot of conflicting ideas about the importance of having a substantial platform: (1) It used to matter more but its importance is declining, but also that (2) a writer must have at least 5k followers on social media to even be considered for agent representation, and (3) some kinds of social media “count” more than …

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Category: Platform, Your Questions Answered Series

12 Steps to Publication

By Steve Laubeon August 10, 2020
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It takes 12 strikes to achieve a perfect game in bowling. (See last Friday’s video.) It made me think there are 12 things that need to happen in the publication process. Each must knock down all the pins to achieve publishing success. With that simplistic idea in mind, I came up with the following: Idea – A book has to start somewhere Write chapter – if not the whole book …

Read more12 Steps to Publication
Category: Book Proposals, Common Questoins, Editing, Get Published, Marketing, Pitching, Platform
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