Today I have a treat for you. I have been reading Christina’s e-zines for a long time, and had the honor of meeting her face-to-face on May 5th when she held a workshop at our local library in Bellevue, WA. When the opportunity to host an interview with her came up, I asked her to visit with us. If [...]]]> Good morning everyone

Today I have a treat for you. I have been reading
Christina’s e-zines for a long time, and had the
honor of meeting her face-to-face on May 5th
when she held a workshop at our local library in
Bellevue, WA. When the opportunity to host an
interview with her came up, I asked her to visit
with us. If you are confused as to what a writer’s
platform is, or not sure you’ve got all your bases
covered on your platform, read this for a clear view
on the topic.

Christina Katz

So to get the ball rolling I’d like to introduce Christina
Katz, author of Get Known Before the Book
Deal: Use Your Personal Strengths to Grow an Author
Platform & Writer Mama: How
to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids.
She started her platform “for fun” seven years ago and
ended up on “Good Morning America.” Christina teaches
e-courses on platform development and writing nonfiction
for publication. Her students are published in national
magazines and land agents and book deals. Christina has
been encouraging reluctant platform builders via her
e-zines for five years, has written hundreds of articles for
national, regional, and online publications, and is a monthly
columnist for the Willamette Writer. A popular speaker at
writing conferences, writing programs, libraries, and
bookstores, she hosts the Northwest Author Series in
Wilsonville, Oregon.

It’s my pleasure and a great honor to welcome Christina Katz
to my blog, so sit back and enjoy.

GO:
Christina, welcome to Gloria’s Corner. It was great meeting you
on the 5th and I am honored to be able to have you here today
to share your knowledge on the platform issue with my readers.
So to get started can you explain what a platform is?

CK: Long story short: Your platform
communicates your expertise to others, and it works all the
time so you don’t have to. Your platform includes your Web
presence, any public speaking you do, the classes you teach,
the media contacts you’ve established, the articles you’ve
published, and any other means you currently have for making
your name and your future books known to a viable readership.
If others already recognize your expertise on a given topic or for
a specific audience or both, then that is your platform.

A platform-strong writer is a writer with influence. Get Known
explains in plain English, without buzzwords, how any writer can
stand out from the crowd of other writers and get the book deal.
The book clears an easy-to-follow path through a formerly
confusing forest of ideas so any writer can do the necessary
platform development they need to do.

GO: Why is platform development important for writers today?

CK: Learning about and working on a solid platform plan
gives writers an edge. Agents and editors have known this for years
and have been looking for platform-strong writers and getting them
book deals. But from the writer’s point-of-view, there has not been
enough information on platform development to help unprepared writers
put their best platform forward.

Now suddenly, there is a flood of information on platform, not all
necessarily comprehensive, useful or well organized for folks who don’t
have a platform yet. Writers can promote themselves in a gradual,
grounded manner without feeling like they are selling out. I do it, I
teach other writers to do it, I write about it on an ongoing basis, and I
encourage all writers to heed the trend. And hopefully, I communicate
how in a practical, step-by-step manner that can serve any writer.
Because ultimately, before you actively begin promoting yourself,
platform development is an inside job requiring concentration,
thoughtfulness and a consideration of personal values.

GO: How did you come to write Get Known Before the Book Deal?

Get Known Before the Book Deal

CK: I already had a lot of momentum going when I got
the deal for a very specific audience. I wrote a column on the
topic for the Willamette Writer’s newsletter. Then I started
speaking on platform. When I gave my presentation, “Get Known
Before the Book Deal,” at the Writer’s Digest/BEA Writer’s
Conference in May 2007, Phil Sexton, one of my publisher’s sales
guys, saw it and suggested making the concept into a book.
Coincidentally, I was trying to come up with an idea for my second
book at that time and had just struck out with what I thought
were my three best ideas. My editor, Jane Friedman agreed with Phil.
That was two votes from people sitting on the pub board. They
converted the others with the help of my proposal, and Get Known
got the green light.

GO: Why was a book on platform development needed?

CK: Writers often underestimate how important platform is and they
often don’t leverage the platform they already have enough. At every
conference I presented, I took polls and found that about 50 percent
of attendees expressed a desire for a clearer understanding of platform.
Some were completely in the dark about it, even though they were
attending a conference in hopes of landing a book deal. Since book
deals are granted based largely on the impressiveness of a writer’s
platform, I noticed a communication gap that needed to be addressed.

My intention was that Get Known would be the book
every writer would want to read before attending a writer’s conference,
and that it would increase any writer’s chances of landing a book deal
whether they pitched in-person or by query. As I wrote the book, I saw
online how this type of information was being offered as “insider secrets”
at outrageous prices. No one should have to pay thousands of dollars for
the information they can find in my book for the price of a paperback!
Seriously. You can even ask your library to order it and read it for free.

GO: Before I go on with the next question, let me add
that I highly recommend her book. It is fabulous. That said, Christina,
what is the key idea behind Get Known Before the Book Deal?

CK: Getting known doesn’t take a lot of money, but it
does take an in-depth understanding of platform, and then the investment
of time, skills and consistent effort to build one. Marketing experience and
technological expertise are also not necessary. I show how to avoid the
biggest time and money-waster, which is not understanding who your
platform is for and why – and hopefully save writers from the confusion and
inertia that can result from either information overload or not taking the big
picture into account before they jump into writing for traditional publication.

Often writers with weak platforms are over-confident that they can impress
agents and editors, while others with decent platforms are under-confident
or aren’t stressing their platform-strength enough. Writers have to wear so
many hats these days, we can use all the help we can get. Platform
development is a muscle, and the more you use it, the stronger it gets.
Anyone can do it, but most don’t or won’t because they either don’t
understand what is being asked for, or they haven’t overcome their own
resistance to the idea. Get Known offers a concrete plan
that can help any writer make gains in the rapidly changing and increasingly
competitive publishing landscape.

GO: What is the structure of the book and why did you choose it?

CK: Writer Mama was written in small, easy-to-digest chunks so
busy new moms could stick it in a diaper bag and read it
in the nooks and crannies of the day. Get Known is a
bit more prosaic, especially in the early chapters. Most of the platform
books already out there were only for authors, not writers or aspiring
authors. To make platform evolution easy to comprehend, I had to dial
the concepts back to the beginning and talk about what it’s like to try
and find your place in the world as an author way before you’ve signed a
contract, even before you’ve written a book proposal. No one had done
that before in a book for writers. I felt writers needed a context in which
to chart a course towards platform development that would not be
completely overwhelming.

Introducing platform concepts to writers gives them the key information
they need to succeed at pitching an agent either via query or in-person,
making this a good book for a writer to read before writing a book proposal.
Get Known has three sections: section one is mostly
stories and cautionary tales, section two has a lot of to-do lists any writer
should be able to use, and section three is how to articulate your platform
clearly and concisely so you won’t waste a single minute wondering if you
are on the right track.

GO: At the front of Get Known, you discuss four
phases of the authoring process. What are they?

CK: First comes the platform development and building phase. Second
comes the book proposal development phase (or if you are writing fiction,
the book-writing phase). Third, comes the actual writing of the book (for
fiction writers this is likely the re-writing of the book). And finally, once
the book is published, comes the book marketing and promoting phase.

Many first-time authors scramble once they get a book deal if they
haven’t done a thorough job on the platform development phase.
Writers who already have a platform have influence with a fan base,
and they can leverage that influence no matter what kind of book
they write. Writing a book is a lot easier if you are not struggling to
find readers for the book at the same time. Again, agents and editors
have known this for a long time.

GO: What are some common platform mistakes writers make?

CK: Here are a few:

• They don’t spend time clarifying who they are to others.
• They don’t zoom in specifically on what they offer.
• They confuse socializing with platform development.
• They think about themselves too much and their audience not enough.
• They don’t precisely articulate all they offer so others get it immediately.
• They don’t create a plan before they jump online.
• They undervalue the platform they already have.
• They are overconfident and think they have a solid platform when they
have only made a beginning.
• They become exhausted from trying to figure out platform as they go.
• They pay for “insider secrets” instead of trusting their own instincts.
• They blog like crazy for six months and then look at their bank accounts
and abandon the process as going nowhere.

I’ll stop there. Suffice it to say that many writers promise publishers
they have the ability to make readers seek out and purchase their book.
But when it comes time to demonstrate this ability, they can’t deliver.

My mission is to empower writers to be 100 percent responsible for
their writing career success and stop looking to others to do their
promotional work for them. Get Known shows writers of every stripe
how to become the writer who can not only land a book deal, but
also influence future readers to plunk down ten or twenty bucks to
purchase their book. It all starts with a little preparation and planning.
The rest unfolds from there.

GO: Couldn’t any author have written this book? Why you?

CK: I have built a career over the past decade empowering writers.
I’ve developed and built my own platform as a writing-for-traditional-publication
specialist, and I’ve worked with others as a writing and platform-development
instructor. Many of the people I’ve been working with are landing book deals
and while the other hundred-or-so writers I work with a year are developing
their skills, I notice patterns of behavior—what leads to success, where writers
get stuck, and how I can be helpful in these rapidly changing times
in the industry.

I’ve witnessed too many writers, who were off to a great start, hopping
online and quickly becoming very lost. I started to write about platform
in Writer Mama, How To Raise A Writing Career Alongside Your
Kids, but I quickly noticed that more details on platform
development were desperately needed. My platform is based on helping
others. I have a vested interest in seeing the people I work with—and
those who read my book—succeed. Writers are my tribe.

GO: Hmmm…I like that thought – Writer Mama, leader of the tribe.
Well, Christina, thanks for visiting with us today. If anyone has questions
for Christina she will be checking in here several times over the next 24
hours, so leave them in the comments and she’ll answer them. Don’t
forget to check back for your answers. So go ahead leave a comment,
tell us what you think about building a platform, and if you have a
question, don’t forget to leave that too. For more information from
Christina Katz visit her Web site. Have a great day!

Till next time,

Gloria

Good morning Karina and thanks for giving me this opportunity. Let’s get straight to the interview.

Gloria: How long [...]]]> I am honored to host an interview, on the topic of writing with children around, with Karina Fabian, author of Infinite Space, Infinite God, as part of her Virtual Tour. Join me in welcoming Karina to Gloria’s Corner.

Good morning Karina and thanks for giving me this opportunity. Let’s get straight to the interview.

Gloria: How long have you been writing?

Karina: I’ve been making up stories since I was a child and writing them since I could put two sentences together. In high school, I started writing SF–mostly Star Trek fanfic. I wrote my first novel in college. It was a stinker, but a few years ago, I went back to it and reworked it into the trilogy that I’m shopping to publishers.

Gloria: When you began writing did you have young children to tend to? If yes, how old were they?

Karina: As a matter of fact, I started writing as a profession when Steven and Amber were toddlers–about one and two and a half. I was working part-time in the Air Force reserves, but writing was a way of my having something that was particularly mine.

Gloria: When children are young, how does a parent find time to be a writer as well?

Karina: I used nap times (though mine weren’t much for naps) and when they watched videos or played. When we were stationed near my parents (Rob’s in the AF), my mom came and spent half a day with the kids so I could write. I also make a point of writing a little something before bed.
Now that the kids are older, they’re better able to fend for themselves, so I have a lot more freedom. However, with homeschooling, I don’t always have much more time…

Gloria: What type of things do you write?

Karina: It’s varied over the years depending on what’s going on in my life. I’ve written articles on parenting, pregnancy, homeschooling and religion. I’ve interviewed authors, artists, businesspeople and priests and other religious. I’ve written about community events, international organizations, and things that are going on in my life. I’ve also written three craft books for Catholic Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs. (www.eccehomopress.com)
As Rob’s progressed in rank and our finances have improved, I’ve devoted more time to fiction, both short stories and novels. I generally stick to science fiction and fantasy, though I’ve written a few comedy pieces, some romance and mystery. A lot of my stuff is cross genre. I have several short stories published in magazines, and one coming in Firestorm of Dragons. I’ve written three novels and two anthologies. Infinite Space, Infinite God is my latest is an anthology of science fiction and deals with Catholics and the Catholic Church of the future and the challenges genetic engineering, time travel, alien encounters, and dystopias pose for those trying to live their faith. It’s out in e-book by Twilight Times Books and will be out in print in August.

Gloria: Karina, are parent writers more slanted to children’s books when writing than other writers?

Karina: I don’t think so. I have a couple of stories I made up to entertain the kids on the subway that I want to make into books, but for me, writing is a way of having “adult time.” My audience is 17 and up.
On the other hand, I share a lot of my stuff with my kids and my godchildren, particularly my Dragon Eye, PI stories. (ages 6-13) It’s kind of funny, because you can tell how deeply Rob and I have “indoctrinated” our children into the fantasy/SF genre. They get all the jokes.

Gloria: Is it possible to have organized time and space for writing with small children around?

Karina: Is it possible to have organized time and space for writing with small children around? I know there are women who can do it, but I’m not one of them. If you have a child who is scheduled, you can work with the schedule.
My kids, however, defied scheduling, so I learned to be flexible and creative on the fly. I also stayed up late, which suits me fine as I’m a night owl.
I also have help. Rob is great about handling bedtime routine when I’m on a roll. My mom took care of the kids 4-5 hours a day when we lived near her. I also have a housekeeper who comes in twice a week. Not only does she keep the place scrubbed, but it forces me to pick up everything the day before she comes. Otherwise, the house gets trashed.
My space varies with where we’re living and what I’m doing. When I was doing a lot of interviews and non-fiction work, having a study was a great help. Now that I concentrate more on fiction, I find I prefer to write on my laptop while reclining in bed.

Gloria: How does a writing parent handle business calls without interruption by the kids?

Karina: By having a very understanding interviewee! I usually warn the kids that I’ll be 20 minutes and for the oldest to help the “youngers,” but inevitably one has to come down for something. I just excuse myself, handle the issue quickly and gently boot the child out. I tell the person I’m interviewing that I have young ones and they’re usually sympathetic or even charmed. The only time it was ever an issue was when I was interviewing for a freelance job researching stories for a radio producer. She seemed doubtful I could balance work and kids, but gave me a chance and seemed quite satisfied with my work.

Gloria: What clues can a parent pick up from listening to their young children that are helpful when writing?

Karina: I often wrote articles based on what was going on with the kids–whether it was potty training or learning to read. If you’re having a problem or a question about childrearing, no doubt others are, too! In fiction, I’ll ask my kids for ideas, bounce scenes and stories off them. Sometimes, I’ll translate an event in their lives into a scene for a story, though I’m really more apt to use what’s happened in my past.

Gloria: Is it possible to train a child to become a writer?

Karina: Depends on what you mean. My parents did nothing to “train” me to be a writer. They listened to my stories when I shared them, but all the writing I did was for school and the reading I did was on my own. What they did do, unfailingly, was love me and give me a safe, stable home. (Although, from what you hear about other famous authors, that may have been a disadvantage!)
I struggle to teach writing to my kids. I am a writer by trade and love, yet I can’t seem to get my kids to use simple grammar in a paragraph–and making them write a story or essay for school can be cause for fights and tears! I often think, “Where have I gone wrong?” Nonetheless, when left alone, my 11-year-old started writing songs, and my 13-year-old has started a Pokemon saga. (Last month, he reported, “I think I’ll add some romance–but not for my character!”) So they are writers in their own right–but did that have anything to do with me?
I think you can give a child an appreciation for writing and you can try to teach them the rules, but writing comes from within. Oh, but do give them a loving, stable home. Whether or not it helps their writing career, it will help them grow into loving adults.

Gloria: Is it easier to write with young children around or with adolescents and teenagers?

Karina: Older kids. They respect my quiet time a little better. (That answer may be different for moms who have kids that actually nap, though. I seldom got 2 hours’ uninterrupted time.)

Gloria: Do the same strategies for parents who write hold for writing grandparents who care for their grandchildren?

Karina: I think whether you’re a parent or grandparent, if you’re raising a child, how you fit writing in will depend on your relationship, your home, and your energy level. It’s not an age issue.

Gloria: As we approach the end of this section of your tour I’d like to ask you what advice can you offer to newbie writers who are parents dealing with children and family obligations?

Karina: #1 Make sure your spouse understands that this is important to you. There will be times when a story takes precedence over cleaning the house or cooking a meal from scratch. I was lucky; before we met, Rob had seen a poem I’d written with a friend in a Star Trek convention program–and had cut it and kept it! He knew I was a writer and has always supported that.

#2 Be flexible, be realistic, but be committed. Don’t talk about writing, don’t just read about writing, write! One paragraph a day, one article a month, whatever you can fit in. My writing output varies from 2000 words a month during busy times to 2000 words a day during National Novel Writers’ Month. Have a notebook or laptop for writing–something you can take with you. Last month, I wrote while cooking.
#3 Know what you want from your writing. If you want to make money, you need to spend time researching markets that pay and gearing your writing toward those markets. If you’re more interested in writing for the love of it and aren’t as concerned about being published, then you only need to please yourself. If you’re somewhere in between, you can start with smaller, nonpaying markets that can help you grow as a writer. (If you’re inexperienced, these can be a good idea anyway.)
#4 Lower your standards on some things. Before I started writing, I used to clean the dishwasher on a regular basis, that’s how clean I kept the house. Now, we’re lucky if the floor gets swept once a week. It used to bug me, but not writing bugs me worse and something somewhere had to give. I use the money I make writing to have a housekeeper.

#5 Keep loving your spouse and raising your kids your #1 priority.
In 18 years, you’ll still be able to write–but you won’t be able to pull your little one into your lap for a story or watch them as they ride their bike without training wheels for the first time or have that heart-to-heart chat that will mean so much to them later. And when you set that pen down, there’s nothing better than a loving spouse to cuddle with!

Thanks for offering something like this. Thank you for hosting me! I’ve enjoyed having this chance to examine my own writing life and hopefully share something of value to others.

I’d like to invite folks to my blog, www.fabianspace.com, where I talk about parenting, writing and homeschooling. If anyone has questions for me, they can contact me there. Finally, if anyone would like more information about Infinite Space, Infinite God, check out http://isigsf.tripod.com.

Gloria: Well, Karina, the time has come for us to part. It has been a pleasure hosting you today and perhaps we can do it again sometime in the future. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your Virtual Tour and to you and everyone else I offer my wishes for a fantastic holiday season and a great year for 2007.

Till next time
Gloria