Squeeze the Stone

Archive for February, 2010

Since the author’s platform is so critical for nonfiction, emphasize your platform in your biography. Although it’s not as crucial for fiction, a strong platform can’t hurt and definitely can help. So, fiction writers should touch on their major platform assets in their synopsis, without going into great detail.
For nonfiction, describe your media experience, what you’ve written, and where you spoke. Do you have a newsletter, and if so, how many people subscribe? Do you have a Web site? If so, how many hits does it get? Don’t worry about repeating information that you included in the overview; just try to lay it out and express it differently.
Once again, let’s turn to Michael McLaughlin’s biography for Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants, which is set forth below. Note how McLaughlin highlights his media experience and names publications for which he has been interviewed as well as those to which he has contributed. He also calls attention to his public speaking experience and the fact that he publishes a newsletter that has 8,500 subscribers.
To solidify his credentials, McLaughlin states that he has an MBA, and he outlines two key association memberships: one for management consultants and the other with a speakers’ association, which underlines his platform and commitment to promotion.
Finally, McLaughlin’s biography provides two short sentences about him personally. The remaining portion of Michael McLaughlin’s biography is reproduced below.
McLaughlin knows how to work with the media, in print, online, television, and radio, and his opinions have been sought on the toughest business management challenges. In addition to guest appearances on local radio and television programs, he has been interviewed by publications such as Chicago SunTimes, Cram’s Chicago Business, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Information Week, and Women’s H/ear Daily. He has also written and published articles, including for
Computerworld, Cincinnati Business Courier, Bran dweek magazine, Chicago Sun- Times, and IHRIM. link.
He has been a speaker for audiences across the country, including Council of Logistics Management, Food Marketing Institute, Grocery Manufacturers Association, Institute of Management Accountants, Internet World, National Millennium Panel: Business in 2005, National Retail Federation, and Northwestern University I)igital Frontiers Annual Conference. He was the keynote speaker at the Institute of Management Consultants annual conference in spring 2002.
In May 2002, McLaughlin launched Management Consulting News, a Web site and newsletter tbr consulting professionals. McLaughlin writes and edits the Web site content and the monthly newsletter, MCNews, which grew to 8,50() subscribers in less than one year.
He is a member of the National Speakers Association and the Institute of Management Consultants, and he holds an MBA in Corporate Finance. He is an amateur triathlete, and usually manages to finish races in one piece. He lives with his wife, Sally, in Northern California.
As for providing personal information, the experts arc divid Although it is seldom a deal maker or breaker, it does help to conne the dots and paint a clearer picture of you.

Don’t exaggerate or make wild, unrealistic claims about your book’s prospects or potential sales. Although it’s important to be enthusiastic, to believe in your work and to pursue your dreams, it’s imperative to face reality. Understand that the book industry is market driven, and if you want to get published, you must present information about your book in a way that will make publishers willing to buy it. This requires you to do your homework—to identify your audience and its size and to explain why it’s going to buy your book.
Claiming that your book will attract a huge audience simply isn’t enough; you must substantiate your claims. Making wild, undocumented claims is a sure way to turn off agents and editors. They want facts and figures. The editorial boards that ultimately approve book acquisitions are bottom-line oriented. If they don’t think a book will make the house money, they usually won’t agree to buy it. So as the author, it’s up to you to show them in black and white that buying your book will be a great financial move.
Many authors believe that it’s the publisher’s job to justify the market, and to some degree that may be true. Few publishers invest without first fully running the numbers, and they will definitely verify
your claims. However, since you, the writer, have so much riding on
your proposal, present your own best case. Point. the number crunchers in the right direction; show them that you’ve done your homework and that you’re a professional. Plus, you may come up with an angle, an approach or something new that they may not have considered.

Ifyou find it impossible to write about yourself, ask some ofyour friends and colleagues to write a few paragraphs describing you. Request that they frame it in the context of a letter of recommendation for a job that’s related to the subject of your book.
After you read their letters, make a list of the strong points they described. Usually, they will have addressed your best qualities, rather than your credentials to write the book. Expect to be surprised by how others see you; it can certainly open your eyes.
List the strong points your friends and colleagues mentioned and place them in the order that you think will most impress an editor that you’re the one to write this book. Add any qualifications that your friends and associates may have omitted or may not know about, such as degrees, awards, and special activities and interests. Finally, write up your biography in narrative form and send it back to your friends for their review
When you’re working on this section:
Write in the third person, except if your book is a personal story, and frequently refer to yourself by name. If you want to sound approachable, warm, or less formal, refer to yourself by your first name, otherwise use your last name. Choose a consistent style and stick with it throughout the proposal.
Give only facts and information, not opinions and beliefs, unless your book is about you personally or your ideas and theories.
I Be specific. Don’t say, “I’ve spent many years as an accountant with several large corporations.” Instead write, “In my fourteen years as a Certified Public Accountant, I have worked with one of the world’s largest accounting firms, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and for two of the world’s largest corporations, Gen— eral Motors and Motorola, specializing in cost accounting for equipment furnished for leased property.”
Write in a crisp, direct tone as if you were writing book jacket copy. Don’t be too formal or chatty. Remember that you’re writing for busy readers, so don’t clog up the information you convey with unnecessary words.
Write no more than one page; three-quarters of a page is even better.
Be honest. Don’t stretch the truth or exaggerate; it can come back to haunt you.
Start your bio with a strong lead sentence, but focus it on you, not on your book. Examine the lead sentence of the biography that Michael McLaughlin included in his proposal for Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants, which appears below.
Michael McLaughlin has been a partner with Deloitte Consulting, the world’s fifth largest consulting firm, since 1994. In nineteen years with Deloitte Consulting, McLaughlin has sold and delivered on more than $150 million in consulting projects. He has a clear understanding of what works in the market . . . and what doesn’t.
Look at this lead, What could be more powerful for a book that targets consultants? In his opening, McLaughlin immediately establishes his expert status: He is a partner with an industry leader, who has sold $150 million in consulting projects and knows the market. And notice that this opening paragraph doesn’t mention the book; it’s totally focused on him.
After the lead paragraph, expand on your qualifications by setting them out in the order of their relevance. If more than one item has equal importance, give, in descending order, those with the most pizzazz. Notice how McLaughlin, in his second paragraph, drives home his professional stature by stating that he worked with highly visible clients. His second paragraph reads:
He has worked with some of America’s highest-profile companies, including Sears, Procter & Gamble, Clorox, and Safe— way. As Managing Partner for Deloitte Consulting Chicago, he had market responsibility for a practice of 800 consultants and served on Deloitte’s Management Committee, which sets marketing strategies for Deloitte.
Since you’re proposing to write a book, list your published writing credits, including assignments that you’ve not yet completed. Give the publisher’s name and the year ofpublication. Mention the good reviews you received and attach copies of them at the end of the proposal. If you’ve written a number of published articles or reports, don’t list every one, but state the number you’ve written and name only those that are related to the present project.
If your book is instructional, lay out your qualifications and teaching experience. Be specific. State where, when, and for whom you lectured, taught, and led workshops and seminars.
Point out your accomplishments as a speaker, advisor, consultant, and board member. State the size of your audiences if it is impressive. At the end of the proposal, provide a list of your speaking engagements and appearances for the past two years and those scheduled for the next year.
In this section, give the reader a full understanding of why you’re an expert on your book’s subject. Describe your hands-on experience in the field, the work you performed, the scope of projects you ran, the problems you solved, and any major players you worked with. Detail noteworthy studies or research that you created, participated in, or ran.

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