Are you writing a book? Great. Here’s the best tip I can offer you: build your readership as you write.

The easiest way to build your readership is by blogging.

You can also build your readership by selling a snippet, or excerpt, of your book-in-progress (or any of your published books) online.

This article, Publishers to Use Digital Works as ‘Literary Appetizers’ for Novels – WSJ.com, talks about Ballantine Books and Harlequin selling “bridges” (excerpts) of authors’ works and says about author Steve Berry’s snippet:

“The 6,000-word piece, ‘The Balkan Escape,’ is too short to have been published as a paperback original. In effect, it is a literary appetizer, inexpensive enough to attract potential readers who might otherwise not be willing to buy a new novel from an author whose works they haven’t yet read, said Mr. Berry.”

Should you give your snippets/ excerpts away?

The notion of selling excerpts from your books brings up the question: “Should you give your excerpts away to build readerships?

“Free” worked very well online for a long time. However, in 2010, I think people are over it. Here’s the thing about “free”: it will devalue your product.

You can certainly give away a “free” first chapter — or part of a first chapter, under 1500 words. Once you’re giving away two or three thousand words, or more, you’re devaluing your product.

Everyone and his dog gives things away these days as a marketing ploy. For authors to give away parts of their books is ineffective. No one values what they get for free. Charge a nominal amount for your excerpts, and there’s a chance that people will actually read it, rather than just download it, and forget about it.

Another tip: build a list of your readers while you’re selling snippets — ask for readers’ email addresses.

For years, authors wrote books so that publishers would give them a platform. That stopped working in the 1990s.

Nowadays, you’re expected to have a platform, before you approach a publisher. Therefore, in addition to writing a book, you’ve got to build a your platform…

Yes, I know. It’s hard, but it’s always been that way. When you write a book proposal, your marketing abilities and plans are a major part of it. If you don’t care about marketing, no publisher cares about you.

Marketing genius Seth Godin’s post is illuminating.

In Seth’s Blog: The platform vs. the eyeballs he says:

“Authors have traditionally relied on publishers to bring them readers. The author gives up the majority of the income and the publisher brings them the readers. But then you see someone like Frank at Post Secret who builds his own audience for his (sometimes nsfw) content. He owns a platform, it’s not something he rents. Now, using a publisher is a choice, not a necessity. Just about every successful author going forward (except for the lucky exceptions like Dan Brown) will own her own media channel.”

So build your platform. You may just find that you don’t need publishers at all, once you’ve done that.

Many writers write their book, and then start to sell it. This is going about the process the wrong way.

The time to start selling your book is as you write it. This applies whether you’re writing a book for a traditional publisher, or you’re self-publishing an ebook or hardcover book.

In the article Fast ebooks — you can do it too — Angela Booth’s Fab Freelance Writing Blog I reported on the process I’m following for a new ebook I’m writing:

“1. I bought a domain name as soon as I got the idea;

2. I transferred the DNS to my Web host, and set up a ‘coming soon’ index page, with an article on the topic of the ebook. This is so the site gets indexed; I want it to be indexed before the ebook’s ready;

3. I’ve started creating graphics for the site and ebook. Yes, I could outsource the graphics. However, I enjoy doing it, and my graphics guy disappointed me with unusable graphics the last time I outsourced, so there’s less hassle in doing it myself. And, as I create the graphics, I can feel my enthusiasm building…;

4. I outlined the ebook in ten minutes. I’ve been writing articles on the topic so I already know what I want to say;”

If you want your book to sell, and sell well, you must start selling it… as you write it.

So if you’re currently writing a book, and haven’t thought about how you’ll sell it (you’ll need to sell it, even if you’re going the traditional publishing route) start today.

Write It Once And Sell It Forever

Get A Constant Flow Of Cash By Writing And Selling Ebooks… It’s Much, Much Easier Than You Think

Ebooks are BIG online. Most ebooks contain from five to 100 pages, and sell anywhere from $10 to $100 dollars, and over, depending on the information. Clever writers are realizing that there’s gold in ebooks, and that they’re well-placed to mine that gold…

Discover how you can self-publish online, and make a great income, writing and selling ebooks with “Write and Sell an eBook: Every Writer’s Quick-Action Guide To Writing Ebooks”..

Writing a book is a long process, and so is selling the book.

It’s not unusual for a book to take five years and more to see publication.

It’s a long time to be working in the dark, so to speak, unsure whether your book will be accepted by a publisher, and will sell once it hits the bookstore shelves.

There’s an answer to this “in the dark” situation – cast light on it by promoting your book as you write it.

Kate Mosse blogged Labyrinth as she wrote it, and you can blog your book too.

If you need help with the promote-as-you-write process, I can work out a plan for you. Just contact me for a consultation; I’m happy to help.

Relationships are everything to a writer. As the old saying goes: “It’s who you know.” And who knows you.

If you have no editorial contacts at all, and are starting your career, your primary aim should be to build relationships.

When I started writing, around 30 years ago, I knew no one in publishing, and yet my first sale as a novelist was a series of romance novels to an English publisher. (I live in Australia.)

I did it one letter at a time. I wrote to publishers, and when the response was positive, sent requested material, usually a couple of chapters and a synopsis.

So start getting to know people. Send an email message. Send a letter. Create a Web site or a blog.

It all starts with you. Make contact, and before you know it, you’ll acknowledge the wisdom of “It’s who you know”.