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.

Do you want to write a book proposal that sells? Here’s the answer: realize that it’s a sales document. You’re writing to persuade publishers that your book is worth investing in. You must persuade publishers that your book will make a profit, because too many books don’t.

1. Your Book in a Nutshell: Create a Blurb

Go to your local bookstore.

Spend half an hour or so there, reading the back cover material of books in both the fiction and nonfiction sections. You’re reading blurbs. The book’s author wrote the blurb and wise authors start a book by writing their blurb before they write anything.

Yes, your blurb needs to be written before you start writing your book: it encapsulates the book. Essentially, it’s a description.

The reason you write the blurb first is because any book morphs as you write it. As long as you have a blurb, you have a direction and a goal. Without a blurb your book starts of with a bang but never goes anywhere. I won’t say that it’s impossible to write a book without writing a blurb first half, but it’s much more difficult than it should be, and it will take longer too, because you wander down too many sidetracks.

Therefore your first step in writing your book proposal and indeed your book, is writing a blurb. Your blurb should encapsulate your book in no more than 100 words.

2. What’s Your Competition? (Competition Is Good)

Your book isn’t published in isolation. Around 1000 new books are published in English each and every week. Many of those books won’t make back the money that was invested in them. You can imagine that no publisher is interested in publishing duds. Therefore your publisher is very interested in the “competition” section of your book, as indeed you must be.

Write down five books, preferably bestsellers, which will be your book’s competition. Can’t find five books? If you can’t find at least five top-selling books in your subject area, then find another. Your book must have competition — competition shows that people are spending in that area.

Now, while competition is good, your book must not be an “me too” kind of book. It must have a point of difference. It must be appreciably different from its competitors, as well as compelling in its own right, before a publisher will consider it.

3. Build Your Platform: Marketing Is Everything

It comes as a horrible shock to most new authors when they discover that their publisher is not in the least interested in marketing their book. Even when you have a publisher, it’s up to you to market your book.

Marketing starts before you write your book.

These days, with the prevalence of blogs, marketing your book is easy.

Big tip: if there’s no interest in a blog on the topic of your book, find another topic. Start your blog before you write your book, and work hard to get readers. The more readers you get the more likely it is that a publisher will be interested in your book.

Your book proposal determines the fate of your book: it needs to be a professionally written sales tool. You can get help from Angela Booth. Not only is Angela a top copywriter, she’s also an author who’s been published by major publishers. Angela offers a complete book proposal service, as well as writing coaching. Discuss your project with Angela today.

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Writing a book is all very well. Anyone with a little stamina can write a book. Selling that book is something else.

Here’s where 99.9 per cent of new authors fall down: they don’t promote enough. They don’t promote enough before they publish their book, and they don’t promote enough afterward.

Listen: I don’t care how GREAT your book is, if you don’t promote it it will go nowhere.

Promotion is vital for any book, whether it’s your first or your tenth, because promotion determines the length and success of your career.

Here’s a great story Indie Kindle author lands book deal:

“Author Boyd Morrison sold two books, the first one called The Ark, to Simon & Schuster. Boyd uploaded and sold the books himself and raised awareness for his novels by being a member of Kindle Boards and generally self-promoting.”

Are you making enough money writing?

Or is your writing just a hobby, costing you more in computers, Internet connection fees and writing supplies than you’re earning?

The Secret, Unlimited Market For Your Writing Which Generates A Fantastic Writing Income

I’ll let you in to a secret. The top earners in writing are copywriters. That is, commercial writers – they write for businesses. (Writing for business is known as copywriting.)

Discover how you can become a top-earning copywriter, making a six-figure income, with “Seven Days To Easy Money: Copywriting Success”.

From idea to print, most books take around two years – and some can take a lot longer. That’s a lot of time to invest in a project which may or may not be successful.

So, how do you save yourself a lot of time, energy and pain, and find out whether your book will be successful before you write it?

Please note – by “successful” I mean that your book sells – to a publishing house initially, and then is a hot seller on the bookstore shelves. If you’re publishing an ebook, “successful” means that you sell lots of copies.

Your blog is a fantastic test-marketing tool – use it

Blogging gives you the means to test-drive your book ideas. For example, if you were thinking of doing a book on diet cooking, create a blog first and post some articles about diet cooking.

The number of clicks and comments you get are a good indication of how appealing (or unappealing) this idea actually is.

If you get NO clicks, and no interest, you’re likely to get exactly the same results when you spring your diet cooking idea on a publisher.

A few blog posts are a lot faster to write than a book proposal, or an ebook, if you’re going the ebook route.

Test-marketing works for everyone, even for writers, so test-market all your books before you write them.

Write more – the key to your writing success

Yes, you can write more – even if you’re a world-class procrastinator.

Did you know that when you write more, your writing improves? Many of my writing students experience this. They find that when they write more, writing is easier for them – they’re not dominated by their inner editor.

My new writing class, “Write More And Make More Money From Your Writing: Develop A Fast, Fun Productive Writing Process” is based on lessons I developed for my private coaching students to help them to write more, improve their writing, and make more money writing.

If you’re struggling with your writing, the class will help. The techniques you’ll learn in class with help you write fiction, nonfiction, and copy for business.

Discover how you can write more, improve your writing, and sell more of your writing to higher-paying markets.

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”.