The terrific memoirist and poet Sandra Beasley, in addition to all her teaching, readings, and conference appearances, also somehow finds time to maintain a blog, offering incredibly useful advice for other writers.
In one recent post called 360 Degrees she talks about how important an author questionnaire can be for any writer who’s about to launch a book:
This week, I was working on my Author’s Questionnaire for W. W. Norton, in preparation for next summer’s publication of Count the Waves, my third poetry collection. These are onerous documents; what starts out as a 2-3 page list of questions can swell to a dozen pages, single-spaced. But they are incredibly helpful as a way of organizing one’s thoughts in preparing for publication. I know so many folks who–after jumping the hoops to editorial acceptance–are ambushed by the additional hoops it takes to sell the book. The Author’s Questionnaire is meant to help itemize your contacts, expand your market awareness, and rehearse answers to likely questions.
An athlete shouldn’t compete without proper training. A musician shouldn’t step on stage without practicing. And an author can’t expect to effectively promote a book without adequate preparation. In Sandra Beasley’s words, the author questionnaire “offers a valuable survey of the elements that add up to defining one’s platform.”
This includes:
* info about your book and its place in today’s book market
* info about YOU (biographical, previous accomplishments, etc.)
* a list of your sales contacts
* marketing and publicity contacts
If you’re about to publish a new book, check out the author questionnaire on Sandra Beasley’s blog and get your publicity muscles back in shape. As she says, “It’s okay if some questions draw a blank. It’s okay if you’re self-publishing, or working with an understaffed indie, and there’s no one else to carry this forward on your behalf. The upside about the lag between acceptance and pub is that you have time to become your own best publicist.”
How have you prepared to promote your book? Let us know in the comments below.
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