It's A Small World After All

Thanks for the public service announcement! That was awesome!

While I was reading the posts on my blog http://www.olsens7.blogspot.com/ I saw that my dearest friend Gabby Hull may know Candice. Gabby is my hero, and I don't have many. She is the kindest, sweetest, most spiritual person I know. She is one of my best friends and I am very privileged to have her as a friend and guide in my life.

It got me thinking about how small of a world we live in and that is how I got the idea for this post! You might not have thought of this part of writing yet (I am learning this part the hard way). It is about finding a platform. What is that you might ask (I did)? This means gathering a following. If, like me, you thought writing and rewriting your book was it....this is regretfully only 1/4 of it! Advertising and selling your self is 3/4 part of the game! There are things you can do to create this platform now. Here are some easy, inexpensive (I'm all about spending as little money as possible) was of obtaining a platform. I love bullets too :) I also love anything that can be done in 3 steps or less!!! So here they are:

#1 Social Networking:

*Facebook- get an account and start connecting with friends from church, high school, college, work, friends of friends etc. This is a way to reach potentially thousands for free when your book comes out but beware! This can suck you in and take too much time with no results. Limit your time to searching for new friends and quick posts to keep yourself out their and a buzz going on about you.

*LinkedIn-Get an account and start connecting with the same as facebook. This is like facebook for the corporate world. This can also get you connections for an agent or publisher.

*Twitter and MySpace- Since you are all YA writers, this is your audience. You need to tap into it and get a following here as well. Post your blog, pictures little snippets of you book, anything that will spark interest. These are great ways to social network and help you get published. Publishers look for this kind of stuff when you send out proposals (querying is just the beginning of promoting yourself).

#2 Enter into writing contests- This is a way to get literary agents to sign with you. Make yourself known to them by these contests. It also gives you more of an edge with publishers. They are more willing to go out on a ledge with you because you have proven yourself.

#3 Write articles for your local paper/ local magazine etc., find somewhere that you can write and get noticed by more that just your friends and family.

These are just some of the steps that I have taken and they have really helped me reach more people. Try these, a little at a time and you will see how important this is! Remember writing is just 1/4 of the job. Promoting yourself and your book is 3/4!!!