theBookseller.com reports: “Eat, Pray, Love, her [American Elizabeth Gilbert] account of the year she spent travelling the world alone after a difficult divorce, sold just shy of 300,000 copies in the final week before Christmas in the US, massively ahead of her nearest rivals Stephen Colbert (143,000) and Conn Iggulden (114,000) in the US, and Russell Brand (112,000) in the UK.”

Amazing statistics. If you haven’t read Eat, Pray, Love, I commend it to you, it’s an excellent memoir.

The wonderful success of this book should be giving you ideas for memoirs YOU could write, yes?

Now that JK Rowling has ditched Harry Potter and his wand, the hunt is on for the next big thing in children’s books.

The write stuff: Who’ll suceed Rowling as next big thing in kid-lit? reports: “‘We’re certainly seeing Stephenie Meyer as the heir apparent to J.K. Rowling,’ says Huie. ‘Twilight,’ Meyer’s first book in her girl-friendly vampire series, is on 53 top 10 lists on chapters.indigo.ca’s online community. ‘This is the best thing in the universe.’ I can’t wait to finish the next book.’ Reader commentary like this explained why ‘Eclipse,’ the third title in Meyer’s series, became the fastest selling youth-adult title within one week of its August 2007 release.”

Why not try writing the next sensation yourself?

Poets & Writers Magazine has an excellent Q & A with agent Lynn Nesbit.

She discusses the changing role of agents Poets&Writers, Inc.: “You are part of a writer’s support system—a very important part. The role of the agent is more important today than it was when I was starting out. Because the publishing world is so corporate, and editors move around so much, you are increasingly the only fixed point for the writer. That’s one way it’s changed. Another thing that I notice here, with younger agents like Tina and Eric, is that they do a lot of editing, and we didn’t do that when we were young. I think it’s partly because of the editors. There is such pressure on editors to come in with something that’s almost ready to go that the agents are assuming part of what the editors used to do.”

There’s more to writing a book than writing a book. You need readers too.

Your readers are called your “platform”. If you’re a wise author, you’ll build your platform before, during, and after you write your book.

Do You Have a Purpose and Platform in Place? By Patricia L. Fry says: “As I’ve written many times in my books, hundreds of articles and my blog, your platform is your following, your way of attracting readers. Who needs a platform? Every author who wants to sell books. Think about it; if you want to buy a book on sports statistics, you would choose one written by someone with a track record in this topic, right? If you had to choose from a dozen novels, you’d probably pick the one by an author whose name you recognize. I would venture to guess that Rachel Ray and Paula Deen sell more foods and cooking books than any unknown cookbook author.”

Building your platform is also called – marketing your book.

If you’re new to publishing, you may not be aware of the vital role which marketing plays in selling your book to a publisher. You need to convince your publisher that you have a platform already, before the publisher will buy your book.

Unfortunately, some writers get this the wrong way round – they look on book publishing as a way of providing them with a platform to do something else: to coach, to build a career as a speaker, etc. It doesn’t happen.

You build your platform before, during and after you write your book with your marketing activities.

My ebook “You CAN Sell Your Writing Now: Marketing Skills For Writers” teaches you to become a successful marketer of your writing and your writing skill. You’ll discover how to build your platform in a fun way as you write your book. It’s essential that you learn to do this, if you want to become a successful, selling author.

Remember – you need readers.

The conventional way you interest an agent or publishing house editor in your book is via a query letter.

If the agent or editor likes your query, he’ll ask for a proposal, which is three chapters and a synopsis if you’re writing fiction, and if you’re writing nonfiction – an overview, outline, marketing goals and commitments, and a chapter.

A more direct method is pitching your book via a writers’ conference, or a pitch conference, at which you meet agents and editors and pitch your book, hoping to get a reading.

The Quick Pitch reports: “Hundreds of participants at The Maui Writers Conference claim they have found agents and editors. Jean M. Auel, author of The Clan of the Cave Bear, was discovered at the Willamette Writers Conference, and romance novelist Rona Sharon is a Writer’s Digest Books Pitch Slam success story. ‘I met an agent during the pitch session, signed a contract and in four months, had a two-book deal,’ Sharon says.”

Will a pitch conference work for you?

I can’t offer advice based on experience, because although I’ve attended writers’ conferences, I’ve never used one to pitch a book.

Based on what I know about writers however, I’d recommend going the conventional route of a query letter, and then a proposal. Yes, it can take forever to get a response, but pitching in person is nerve-wracking.

If you’re not an experienced presenter, and are used to giving business presentations, it can be disastrous for the book you’re pitching – you may not be able to present your book as it should be presented. Many writers are better on the page than they are in person; that’s one of the reasons they’re writers and not actors and actresses.

Here’s my suggestion: if you want to go to a pitch conference, by all means go. But go for the experience of the conference: meeting writers, agents and editors, and soaking up the atmosphere of professional publishing. A conference will teach you so much that it’s valuable, whether or not you present your book adequately.

You’ll write many books – go to conferences, and pitch if you wish, but realize that one book doesn’t make a career, and there are plenty more where that one came from.