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Build Your Author Platform

The New Rules: A Literary Agent's Guide to Growing Your Audience in 14 Steps

By Carole Jelen and Michael McCallister
Published by BenBella Books
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

About The Book
A great book is no longer enough. An author platform is the most powerful key to success in today's saturated market, and increasingly, publishers are demanding that new authors come to them with an existing audience of interested followers. Authors who are self-publishing have an even bigger need to build an engaged audience.

Social media makes building the author platform easier than ever, but, unfortunately, most authors struggle to get it right. How can authors create their unique platform, connect with followers, write a manuscript, and grow their business?

In Build Your Author Platform: The New Rules, top literary agent Carole Jelen and tech expert Michael McCallister apply their combined 35 years of expertise to outline 14 practical, hands-on steps to create a presence that will produce high book sales and expanded audience.

From pre-publication through book launch and beyond, authors will learn how to:

  • Define goals and a unique brand

  • Employ successful website strategies, content, social presence, media authority, and training

  • Secure positive reviews

  • Attract viewers efficiently without cost

    Filled with detailed lessons, examples, success stories, and techniques used by marketing departments at major publishers, Build Your Author Platform is an indispensable guide for anyone looking for insight into publishing, promoting, and marketing books.

    • About The Authors
    Carole Jelen

    Carole Jelen, founder of Jelen Publishing and vice president of Waterside Productions, has been representing authors as a top-producing agent for over two decades. She specializes in areas of tech, business, and self-help. Jelen holds a master's degree in English/Linguistics from the University of California, Los Angeles. Carole also speaks at writing/publishing conferences and works as a publishing consultant, aiding authors and companies in the publishing process.

    Michael McCallister

    Mike McCallister is a writer, programmer, web designer, and software tester with an in-depth understanding of the digital world. He is the author of openSUSE Linux Unleashed and co-author (with Bud Smith) of WordPress in Depth. McCallister is committed to helping people make the most of "tech tools" and was named one of the Mindtouch Most Influential in Technical Communication and Content Strategy. McCallister is president of his local Society for Technical Communication chapter and works as the Senior Document Architect at PKWARE.

    Product Details
    • Publisher: BenBella Books (May 13, 2014)
    • Length: 384 pages
    • ISBN13: 9781939529299

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    Raves and Reviews

    "
    ""A rapid-fire, soup-to-nuts overview that will help authors see just how much they're able to choose from in building a platform.""

    —Seth Godin, author of 17 bestselling titles, translated into more than 35 languages

    ""An author who knows and is known by their potential readership can be the difference between a book being signed or not, between succeeding or failing, between having sustained success or being soon forgotten. Author platforms are not given; they are hard earned. This book will show you how to build yours.""

    —Craig Smith, Executive Commissioning Editor at John Wiley & Sons

    ""A fantastic book for any aspiring or established author. Build Your Author Platform: The New Rules provides the perfect path to turning a great book into a great, successful book.""

    —Kevin Harreld, Executive Editor of Cengage Learning

    ""As the waters in the publishing world get muddier and it gets tougher to rise above the noise, it's more critical than ever to build the right audience and platform to get noticed and get your work published. This book is your road map to making that happen.""

    —Brook Farling, Senior Acquisitions Editor at Alpha Books and member of Penguin Group

    ""One of the first criteria a publisher utilizes when assessing a proposal is the evaluation of the author's platform for marketing and publicity. However, the Internet and social media have created a whole new dimension to gaining an audience. By offering clear definitions and ‘how to' procedures for authors in her well-written book, Carole Jelen has provided much-needed clarity to this fast-evolving, confusing topic.""

    —Kenzi Sugihara, Publisher at SelectBooks, Inc. and former VP/Publisher at Bantam/Doubleday/Dell and Random House

    ""Even experienced authors will find the advice and new rules in Build Your Author Platform are worth their weight in gold.""

    —Bob ""Dr. Mac"" LeVitus, author
    "

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    Build Your Author Platform

    The New Rules: A Literary Agent's Guide to Growing Your Audience in 14 Steps

    By Carole Jelen and Michael McCallister
    Published by BenBella Books
    Distributed by Simon & Schuster