Two Kinds of People You Will Meet When You Write and Publish A Nonfiction Book
There are two kinds of people in the publishing industry (and online) who can help you with your book.
The first — and this is the majority — are what I call Editorial People.
Editorial People are squishy and sentimental about writing. They may or may not smell the pages of a new book or smile at the first crack of the binding. Editorial People are all about the words on the page and the experience of writing and reading. Editorial People love to help the author.
The second type — where I include myself — are Platform People.
Platform People see the impact that a book can have — on readers.
Yes, the author benefits — but Platform People are All About That Change. Usually their lives were transformed by a book when they were young and now they want to help do that for other people — specifically, other readers. Platform People see the benefit of writing a book for the author, sure, but they’re really in the work for the impact the books make.
For you — as an author yourself — it’s helpful to know who you are dealing with.
An editorial person may dismiss platform as an unnecessary concern (which it’s not) while a platform person may not validate EVERY BIG FEELING you have about writing your book. And that’s okay.
Ultimately, the publishing industry has a mix of Editorial People and Platform People so that authors get the best of both worlds.
But what I see online is a disproportionate amount of Editorial People who, with all good intentions, say that your audience and author platform doesn’t matter.
Which, in the traditional publishing world, simply isn’t true.
It takes a combination of platform (an audience and the ability to sell books) and editorial (the book idea and writing itself) to land a book deal and make your book successful.
And building a platform takes way longer than creating editorial content — which is why I advise you to establish your brand and audience first before diving into writing your book.
