Platform

What Makes You Click?

By Steve Laubeon April 29, 2019

Out of curiosity, I researched recent Internet usage statistics. The following were found at The Statistics Portal (I’m assuming these are statistics for North American usage only):

Internet Usage Statistics PER MINUTE in June 2018

Forecast requests received by The Weather Channel	18,055,555
Text messages sent	12,986,111
Videos watched by YouTube users	4,333,560
Google searches conducted	3,788,140
Gigabytes of internet traffic generated by Americans	3,138,420
Snaps shared by Snapchat users	2,083,333
Songs streamed on Spotify	750,000
Tweets sent by Twitter users	473,400
Calls made by Skype users	176,220

Twenty-one years ago I wrote a chapter for a writing book on how to use the Internet for research. I reread that article recently–and laughed. Back then, Google didn’t even exist (founded in September 1998, after the book was published), much less Wikipedia (where the jury is still out if it is a reliable source for verifiable facts).

We swim in a sea of data. So how do you discern what to read or view? In other words, what makes you click? Feel free to discuss in the comments below.

Take that same mindset and apply it to your next book idea or article. What would make the consumer buy or click it, especially when faced with a plethora of competing options? Can your idea, your novel, your insight withstand competitive scrutiny? Obscurity equals no audience. That is why publishers are pushing authors to make their platforms bigger before they will publish them.

Are You a “Christian Writer?”

By Bob Hostetleron November 21, 2018

I am a Christian writer. Sure. To some, that confession implies that I write Christian books. That happens to be true, but that’s not the only possibility. Others might infer that I am a writer of cheesy, preachy prose and poetry. I hope not, but I must leave it to others to judge. Still others may interpret the phrase “Christian writer” as referring to someone who writes only on Christian …

Category: Inspiration, Platform, The Writing Life, Theology

Lessons Learned As a Literary Agent

By Dan Balowon October 23, 2018

Dan is leaving the agency at the end of this month to focus his attention on the work of Gilead Publishing, the company he started in 2016. Here are some parting thoughts. _____ I’ve been a literary agent for about 2,000 of the 13,000 total days spent working with and for book publishers over the last thirty-five years. It’s been a great experience, for sure; but as I look back at the thousands of …

Category: Agents, Book Business, Branding, Career, Conferences, Craft, Creativity, Encouragement, Inspiration, Marketing, Personal, Pitch, Platform, Self-Publishing, Social Media, The Publishing Life, The Writing Life, Writing Craft

The Biggest Question About Your Book

By Dan Balowon October 16, 2018

Authors are like small businesses. They have a finance department, a marketing department and an editorial wing. Then there’s the travel, human resources, IT and facilities management departments, all managed by one person, the author. While writing quality and author platforms are discussed at every writer’s conference, those aren’t the only factors contributing to the success or …

Category: Book Proposals, Creativity, Marketing, Platform

Of Making Many Books There Is No End

By Steve Laubeon October 15, 2018

This past week Bowker, the company that issues ISBN numbers for published books, released their annual statistics. They broke out the numbers for self-published books and revealed a stunning statistic. (If you want the history and explanation of the ISBN, read my scintillating post on the topic here. Each country issues their own ISBNs; Bowker is the one for the U.S.) The total number of ISBNs …

Category: Book Proposals, Marketing, Platform, Self-Publishing, The Publishing Life, The Writing Life

Caution: Loose Platform Planks

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon October 11, 2018

I love learning about authors on the internet. And as a literary agent, I enjoy the internet and find connections there that would be otherwise difficult to find and maintain. But as professionals, we must be cautious about what we share on any level. One reason is that we all know the internet is forever. Consider Blake Shelton’s recent woes over old tweets. He is not alone. When I was …

Category: Branding, Career, Marketing, Platform

Expert Training

By Dan Balowon October 2, 2018

With so many types of media available to citizens of the 21st century, anyone can appear to be an expert in anything. Access to the internet makes everyone smart. Or at least appear to be smart. Fifteen years ago I searched online for the acronym LOL because I wasn’t cool enough to know what it meant. Now I know. It means “left out letters” for people in a hurry to communicate. If you are going …

Category: Book Review, Branding, Marketing, Platform

The Ultimate Sound Bite

By Steve Laubeon July 16, 2018

Can you boil the essence of your novel or non-fiction book idea into twenty-five words or less?

This is one of the keys to creating a marketing hook that makes your idea sellable in today's crowded market.

You have less than a minute to make that hook work.

It is also called creating the "elevator pitch" or the "Hollywood pitch." The goal is get the marketing department to exclaim, "We …

Category: Book Proposals, Marketing, Pitch, Platform, Writing CraftTag: book proposal, Marketing, pitch, Pitching, Proposals, Rejection

How an Agent Reads

By Bob Hostetleron June 20, 2018

I’m seldom at a loss for words (though often at a loss for something of value to say), but the question took me aback for a moment. I was on an agents-and-editors panel at a writers’ conference within a few months of becoming an agent. I’d done this sort of panel before, both as a magazine editor and author, but this was the first time I’d been asked this particular question: “How do you read a …

Category: Agents, Book Proposals, Get Published, Marketing, PlatformTag: Agents, book proposals, Get Published