Building your platform

I have received several comments and emails from writers who are actively engaged in building an online presence. This is becoming an important aspect of getting agented, published, and selling your books if you choose the self-publishing route. But how do you do it effectively? This post will explore some of the no-cost avenues currently available.

Obviously, you're going to need a website or a blog. The former is not a no-cost option, but the latter is if you use Google's Blogger service, which is the platform this blog uses. It's simple to create a blog and quite easy to update. You can also use Wordpress. It used to have a cost associated with it, but it appears to be free at this point. Either of those two options will provide a good starting point for getting your name out there on the internet with no out-of-pocket expenditures. Free is good!

After you have a presence in the digital world, where do you go from there? How do you let people know you're out there and ready to share your wonderful information? This is where the power of social media takes over. Digital communities like Facebook and Twitter can get you into the flow and start traffic heading toward your site to read your informative posts.

But, what will I write about, you may be asking. Remember, it can't be all about you. Keep it topical, based on the purpose of your blog and your readership. You can include a poll to get a feel for the demographics and interests of your readers. When I started this blog, I wanted to provide other writers with help and information. I wanted it to be a place where we could share our work and offer suggestions and comments. I placed a couple of polling booths to determine what type of work my readers were writing.

The bottom line is that you need to provide some valuable content that will keep your loyal readers coming back to gain from your personal knowledge and experience and connect to the links you can provide them for even more information. It's also important to keep in mind that a blog is like a new puppy. It's cute and sweet at the beginning, but you have to feed it on a regular basis, usually every day. It won't survive for long if you don't give it the attention it needs.

When you create your blog, be sure to plug in one of those email subscription gadgets to alert your readers when you've posted something new. And if you haven't subscribed to this one, there's a link on the right sidebar just waiting for you to fill in the info. (Hint hint.) Also, Blogger provides a "Followers" gadget that readers can use to become a follower of your blog. (There's one of those on the sidebar of this blog also.) Encourage your readers to comment on your posts. That can provide new ideas for new posts and help build your web presence and increase your traffic.

You can also spread your knowledge around. Offer to be a guest blogger on other blogs, and try to leave comments on other blogs that are insightful. Another opportunity to get your work out there is to enter contests that other writers and agents are having on their own blogs. You may not always win, but sometimes agents may be interested enough to request material from you. 

What I've included in this post is simply some of the most basic info on building your own platform. Hopefully, it will provide a starting point for you. Andrea Brown literary agent Mary Kole has an excellent post on the Do's and Don'ts of creating your platform that goes into a bit more depth than this post.

And, of course, we're all curious. If you have jumped onto the I'm-building-a-platform bandwagon, leave a comment and let us know what you've done and what's worked for you.

The starting bell has chimed. It's time!

Submission entry window opened at 9:00 a.m. Central Time this morning. You can now email your query. If you're among the first 50 entries, you'll be included in the contest. You should receive a reply email from me sometime today with your entry number. In case you're a newbie and weren't aware of the contest, the official rules can be found HERE! Just click that link and read what's required for entry.

Also, and I didn't include this in the previous post, all entries are open to comments from any readers of this blog. In addition, any writer who enters should comment on at least five other entries. Please give constructive input. Any obviously snarky comments will be deleted.

And there you have it. Keep in mind that the contest is open to the first 50 entries, based on the time stamp of the email containing the entry. When we reach the entry limit, any additional entries will not be included. In addition, when the clock hits 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, April 14, 2010, the contest entry window closes.

So click on the link above for the rules, and best of luck to all who enter!

Amanda Morgan signs with Andrea Brown

A couple of months ago, it was my pleasure to read some of Amanda's writing. I had just started the blog at that time, and decided to host a query contest. Amanda entered. We started out with our own critiques. After that, I sent everyone to Query Letter Hell at Absolute Write for further assistance and suggestions for improvement. Meanwhile, I was busily trying to find a literary agent to judge the entries. It was my good fortune to link up with Chris Richman at Upstart Crow, who generously offered to act as judge.

Amanda's entry, ZOMBIE IS AN INFLAMMATORY WORD (AND I RESENT THAT), was a winner, which resulted in a request for a full from Chris. As sometimes happens, the manuscript wasn't quite what he was looking for, but Amanda didn't let that stop her. I'll let her tell the rest of the story in her own words...

"About a week and a half after the contest, I queried Mary Kole of the Andrea Brown Agency.  One of my good writing friends, Ryan Gebhart, had recently signed with her and loved her, so I was excited to see what she thought of ZOMBIE.  I actually broke a rule and queried two manuscripts at once, focusing mainly on ZOMBIE and a little on a sex, drugs, and roll and roll manuscript Mary had on her wish list at kidlit.com.

"Mary asked to discuss representation the very next day.  Her vision and revision plans were absolutely in line with mine, so I signed with her pretty quickly, and I'm so glad I did.  Mary's great!

So, there you have the rest of the story. Congratulations to Amanda, and I'll speak for all of us when I say that we wish you the best of luck as your journey continues and look forward to reading Zombies!

And since we're talking about queries and agents and all that stuff, don't forget about tomorrow. You've had the weekend to get your query in a stupendously polished condition. At 9 am Central Time, the window for entries opens. In case you need to review the rules and mechanics of how it works, click HERE!

Andrea Brown agent will judge contest!

That's right! Our query contest will be judged by an agent from the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. Does it get any better than that? Nope.

Agent will request 

a full manuscript

from the winner! 

So here are the details you've been waiting for. This contest is open to all writers, including previous winners. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to create a mind-blowing query that will knock the reader's socks off. We've studied the mechanics of queries in the past, so you know the drill. As mentioned earlier, there are prior posts on here that will give you a starting point. (Remember the Hero's Journey?) Plus, if you'd like to read some queries that just won a similar contest, agent Jason Yarn has posted his comments on Querytracker.

DO NOT SEND ANYTHING YET! ENTRIES RECEIVED BEFORE THE CONTEST OPENING WILL NOT BE INCLUDED. FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW FOR SUBMITTING YOU ENTRY.

The following rules apply to this contest:
1. Your query must be for a completed YA or MG manuscript.
2. Maximum word count is 350.
3. Contest entries will open 9:00 a.m. Central Time Monday, April 12, 2010.
4. Contest entries will close at 9:00 a.m. Central Time Wednesday, April 14, 2010 or when 50 entries are received, whichever comes first.
5. Only one entry per person.

When the contest entry window opens, please do the following:
1. Email your entry to me at michaelvette@gmail.com.
2. Subject line should include QUERY CONTEST - YOUR NAME
3. You don't need to include a salutation.
4. Your email should begin with the TITLE and GENRE.
5. Paste your query below the title. (350 word maximum)
6. Include your name and email address at the bottom.

That's it! Meanwhile, if you'd like to post your query below for comments, feel free to do so. You can also visit Query Letter Hell at Absolutewrite and post it there for additional comments and suggestions between now and the time the entry window opens. If you don't know how to get there, leave a comment, and someone will give you directions. Try to get as much feedback as possible and polish, polish, polish.

Now, for the prizes!
Our Mystery Agent will select one winner and two runners up. The winner will be asked to submit their full manuscript to the agent for consideration. The two runners may submit their first 50 pages.Anything can happen from that point on.

Good luck to all. Feel free to post your query below if you'd like. Visit Absolutewrite.com for more help. And be sure to check back tomorrow for some related info that will be very exciting.