Susan Taylor Brown (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} susanwrites) wrote in cute_n_cranky, |
I'm going to come at it from the other side for discussion's sake.
Will having a platform find you an agent or get you a book deal or bring you everlasting love?
Maybe. At least for the first two.
Greg Pincus of the blog, Gotta Book, got a two book deal as a result of building his blog platform (poetry) before he was ever published.
Authors have had editors request manuscripts, have gotten into closed houses, have landed agents, gotten freelance work, all this sort of thing and more as a result of developing a brand for themselves online. Some of these people were published. Some were not.
You don't build a following on a blog or anywhere online overnight. If you wait until your book is out before you build your online prescence you are behind the 8 ball, so to speak, because it is going to take you time to build up your following, to get know, etc.
I don't think a writer at any stage should spend the majority of their time building a brand platform but I think ignoring the idea of it in this day and age is the wrong choice. My two cents. Your mileage may vary. ;)
Will having a platform find you an agent or get you a book deal or bring you everlasting love?
Maybe. At least for the first two.
Greg Pincus of the blog, Gotta Book, got a two book deal as a result of building his blog platform (poetry) before he was ever published.
Authors have had editors request manuscripts, have gotten into closed houses, have landed agents, gotten freelance work, all this sort of thing and more as a result of developing a brand for themselves online. Some of these people were published. Some were not.
You don't build a following on a blog or anywhere online overnight. If you wait until your book is out before you build your online prescence you are behind the 8 ball, so to speak, because it is going to take you time to build up your following, to get know, etc.
I don't think a writer at any stage should spend the majority of their time building a brand platform but I think ignoring the idea of it in this day and age is the wrong choice. My two cents. Your mileage may vary. ;)
