https://www.goodreads.com/notes/59660671-building-a-second-brain/7458926-tiago

And as if I requested it this morning, here's an example of an author using annotations to create engagement/start a conversation/start an informal book club discussion using Goodreads and annotations on their own work.

cc: @remikalir

https://www.goodreads.com/notes/57643476-annotation/3524158-markgrabe-grabe

I rarely see notifications from Goodreads about annotations (typically via Kindle) unless they're from the author of the book posting them, ostensibly to generate engagement with their readers. Interesting to see Mark Grabe sharing his annotations on @remikalir and @anterobot's book on annotation though. :)

This is an apropos question. It is also somewhat contingent on what sort of platform the author "owns" to be able to do outreach and drive readers and participation.

Perhaps better would be stipulations in the contract that incentivize authors to leverage their platforms in the form of bonuses while removing the advance money in lieu. Make the author part of the promotion, which has been part of the movement in publishing for the last decade.

This seems like common sense to me, why hasn't the industry grokked it?

"Brand" is bullshit.

Using their platform to build your own platform apparently isn't kosher any more?

Sorry to hear this Dan, but I might be able to help in terms of providing some perspective for moving forward.

These days the idea of bestseller means selling in the range of 10,000 books. The average book released these days sells only 250 copies, so if you're over that, you're doing well.

It's also incredibly uncommon for any publishers to put any serious money behind promoting their titles unless PR opportunities are falling off the trees for them. (This means that unless you've been selling a million copies of everything you write, they probably don't care.) Many publishers will assign you a pro-forma publicist to help when they can, but don't expect much from them. Most publishers will tell you to hire your own book publicist (usually for about $1,500-3,000 a month).

My guess is that the first run of your book was probably 1,000 to 2,000 books, which will bring the cost of raw printing down to $2 a copy. If you need copies of your book and they're remaindering them, you might offer the publisher $1-2 a copy plus shipping to get 50 or 100 copies for yourself for hand sales over the next decade (for speaking engagements, etc.) or selling a few copies from your own stash on platforms like Amazon, Abebooks, Alibris, etc. The cost of keeping a book in print these days is usually around $12 a year and then they print them on demand.

Some of the methods you mentioned, talks, online readings, etc. can be useful marketing for both you and your book(s). Look around your local community/state for book events, fairs, bookstores that invite authors, etc to supplement this.

Depending on your next title, it might be worth hiring a publicist if you're going the route of a text accessible to a broader public.Often this can be a reasonable risk but getting copies into reviewers' hands can be helpful, as can radio or print appearances. Another option is to pay for adds in appropriate print magazine outlets related to your material.

It's an uphill slog, but getting a publisher to take most of the risk and offering you all the free amenities of editing, proofreading, typesetting and distribution can be worth it in the end to get your material out.

When choosing your next publisher/editor, have a bit of this conversation with them at the outset to see what expectations they have for themselves. Don't tip your hand though by letting them know prior sales numbers.

Since you've got your own website/newsletter/social media presence, you should also look into affiliate accounts with the bigger online platforms. Chances are you're actually selling most of your own copies, you may as well get a 4% or larger cut of the referrals you're giving. Your link on this page alone could give you a reasonable little return on top of the boilerplate 7% you're probably getting from the publisher.

This is an important data point. Almost no one is putting any value on editing and other institutional support that outlets provide. Some writers can see at least a little bit of the future.

This has always been the case, especially in Hollywood. The problem becomes that everyone thinks they can become rich and famous too. Talent shows like American Idol show us that this is rarely the case. Building a platform for oneself is not an easy thing to do, even if you've got the talent.

This is one of the key reasons people look to social media--for the connections and the network they don't have via non-digital means. Most of the people I've seen with large blogs or well-traveled websites have simply done a much better job of connecting and interacting with their audience and personal networks. To a great extent this is because they've built up a large email list to send people content directly. Those people then read their material and comment on their blogs.

This is something the IndieWeb can help people work toward in a better fashion, particularly with better independent functioning feed readers.

This sounds like she's used her blog as both a commonplace book as well as an author platform.

This is a great argument for having an author platform.

In publishing circles, this has long been known as platform or author platform--ie that thing that made you famous in the first place that gives you the space to attempt to try to use that fame to sell books.