Marketing, marketing, marketing!

As if it’s not enough stress to carve out enough time in the day for writing, aspiring authors also have to research marketing opportunities and start to establish themselves in the webby-facebooky-myspacey-bloggosphere.

I know what you’re thinking; shouldn’t you have a book published before you start working on your marketing plan? And yes, I should, but it isn’t just the books you’re marketing, it’s also yourself, your image, your presence, etc. Look at how many authors are on Facebook and/or have webpages and/or blogs. Why does Malcolm Gladwell publish a bunch of essay in the New Yorker right before one of his books hit the shelves? Because he knows marketing, baby!

In nonfiction marketing discussions I forever hear the word “platform,” as in “what’s your platform?” I don’t know what my platform is, I just write, but sometimes I worry if maybe I should have a platform and then write from that. Am I waisting my time writing without a platform? Does that mean my book will never be published?

It’s enough stress to merit a visit to the doctor for a request of increased dosage in your anti-anxiety prescription. And then you come across something like today’s “Shouts & Murmurs” section in the New Yorker and realize that laughter is after all, the best medicine. I giggled for a long time after reading Ellis Weiner’s ”Subject: Our Marketing Plan.”

Enjoy!