Writing Coaches and Author Platforms

Genius Loci readers:

In this month’s post, some notes on writing coaches and author platforms, some notable podcasts to binge, and a low-residency MA program in nature and travel writing.

Over the past few months, I’ve been stuck on the freelance hamster wheel of doom - pitching articles to publications, hearing crickets, following up, and hearing radio silence in return. Then I do it all over again with another publication. You know the drill. Zero feedback. So, I’ve decided to seek help. I’m hiring a freelance writing coach to help me improve my pitches and land some articles.

My goal is not to necessarily build a career as a freelance writer or journalist. I already have a full-time job. My goal is to write articles related to my book proposal’s topic in mainstream publications.

This is a tactic in my larger book-proposal strategy, which I reconfigured after reading successful nonfiction agent queries and book proposals (like the ones on Jane Friedman’s website). In many of the queries and proposals I read, authors included information about their “platforms.” They mentioned their blogs (citing traffic metrics) and the articles they’ve published in mainstream publications, both being directly related to the topic of the book proposal. These documents serve as blueprints on how to format a query letter and - more importantly - what to do before someone is ready to query agents.

Having a solid, clear book idea is the obvious foundation for any successful query letter or proposal. Having an “author platform" is also helpful. If the point of these documents is to argue for the “business case” of a book idea (i.e.: that the book will sell and make the publisher money), and that you’re the right person to write the book, then having a platform is important.

Jane Friedman defines platform as “an ability to sell books because of who you are or who you can reach.” I agree with Jane, only adding that a platform for non-celebrities includes “a meaningful body of creative work.” But what does this look like in practice? An author platform could be a well-trafficked blog on a specific topic. It could be a track record of covering a “beat,” a specific topic that someone covers in publications.

When reviewing the query letters and book proposals for non-fiction books on Friedman’s site, I noticed that many included blog/podcast details and a short list of professional bylines.

Creating a blog/podcast on a subject-matter is technically an easy thing to do. Getting published in outlets is much more difficult.

From what I’ve been able to discern, it is not 100% necessary to have bylines in major publications to land an agent or a book deal. But it helps because it signals authority, credibility, and expertise. Having a blog on the topic of your book proposal can also signal authority, credibility, and expertise, but getting an article published in mainstream publications can validate the work in ways a blog cannot. Having bylines signals that you, as a writer, are able to work with editors. It signals you can write at a high level. It signals peer validation. It signals the potential for a wide readership. Bylines are not the end-all-be-all of a query letter or book proposal, but they’re helpful.

Authors querying agents and sending book proposals have one chance to grab an agent’s attention. That first impression needs to be as good as it can be. According to Jane Friedman, “The query letter has one purpose, and one purpose only: to seduce the agent or editor into reading or requesting your work.” An agent who decides not to represent an author will likely pass on an updated query letter or proposal.

This is why I’m looking to hire a freelance writing coach. I want my query and book proposal to be irresistible. And I need help pitching articles to publications.

I’ve never had a “writing coach,” but ideally it will be a well-published writer who can help me refine my pitches on the topic of my book idea and land them in publications. I figure that a writing coach might pay for itself if one charges less than what a publisher pays for an article. This could be a sound investment, especially for someone whose income isn’t dependent upon freelance work.

I’ve been in touch with a few writers who help struggling writers with pitches. I’ll let you know what comes of it.

In short, I’ve realized that I am a bit over my skis with my book proposal. I have a solid book idea (I think), but I need to get serious about building a “platform” on the topic. This means my book will take a lot longer than I had anticipated. But the book is the goal, and after feeling a bit lost, I’m happy to find a semblance of a path forward. More on this very soon.

Some author platform takeaways for aspiring nonfiction writers:

• If you want to write a nonfiction book, you will need an “author platform.”
• An author platform is not an unrealized interest in a subject. By “unrealized interest,” I mean an area of interest/study to which you’ve contributed nothing.
• Building a platform takes time.
• One common way to start building a platform is to write about your topic on a private website/blog. Share your ideas, research, and work with the world.
• Another common way to build a platform is to start a podcast on your topic, interviewing and speaking with others who are already doing work related to the topic.
• Writing about your topic in other outlets/publications helps build your platform, as it offers a bit of professional/external validation. Pitch your ideas relentlessly.
• Take your writing and your platform-building seriously.
• If you need help, don’t feel ashamed to ask for it.

Podcasts

I’ve enjoyed listening to Ryan Murdock speak with Sophy Roberts about her wonderful new book, A Training School for Elephants. He also spoke with Melissa Harris, the author of Next, a biography of photographer Josef Koudelka. It is worth noting here that Sophy Roberts has published a few good interviews last month on her own podcast, Gone to Timbuktu.

I also enjoyed listening to author Dani Shapiro on the Always Take Notes podcast. When asked about the traits of young writers who go on to have successful careers, Shapiro said:

I think that there is luck, there is timing, there is talent. But there is also this other trait, which is a word that the great editor and critic Ted Solotaroff once wrote in an essay called “Writing in the Cold.” In the essay, he muses about the promising writers that he knew and who disappeared ten years on, and then about the successful writers who he hadn’t necessarily thought would go the distance. The word is durability, the ability to endure. ¶ Another way that I’ve heard it described is: you fill a bathtub with water one drop of water at a time. Eventually, you will be able to take a bath. Eventually, there will be a tub full of water. ¶ It really is about the ethic of doing the work regardless. Of doing the work whether or not it’s being accepted and received. Of not being flattened by comparison. ¶ I think the writers who hewed to their own vision stayed true to it. Not believing the praise, not believing the naysayers. Simply writing every day without hope and without despair. Just doing the work.¹

I needed to hear this. Frankly, many creatives need to hear it. We will experience highs and lows. Mostly lows. Don’t let the highs or the lows throw you off course. Continue working towards the goal. Continue working.

If an article idea doesn’t land after a few rounds of pitching and iterating, put it down and move onto the next idea. Then try the next idea. And then try the next one.

Get a MA in Travel and Nature Writing

Applications are now open for the Bath Spa University’s two-year Nature and Travel Writing postgraduate degree program. This low residency, part-time program is taught by Jonathan Lorie and Gail Simmons. Apart from its opening weekend in Bath, England, most classes will be held remotely in the evenings UK time, which may work well for American students. The program seems to emphasize praxis and fieldwork, which is to say instructing the student on the fundamentals of being a working writer. At £9,000 a year, the program isn’t cheap, but surely this is more affordable than its American counterparts. It is worth noting that this is an MA (not an MFA) program.

That’s it for this month.

Thanks for your support and farewell,

JB