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.

Several of my “Write More And Make More Money From Your Writing: Develop A Fast, Fun Productive Writing Process” class students have told me that their writing exercise in class have helped them with challenges they’re facing in their books, both nonfiction and fiction.

That’s often the case. Whatever book project you’re working on, writing exercises help.

You’ll find that not only will the writing proceed more smoothly - you’ll write more as a result of your exercises - but your exercises will also help you with whatever problems you’re wrestling with in the book.

All artists, including singers and dancers, practice - it keeps them supple and limber.

Your writing exercises - your practice - will do the same for you.

If you’re not in the habit of writing just for fun, for practice, I commend it to you. It will help your writing in many ways.