Editors and publishers increasingly say an author must have a strong platform. What do they mean? This means you need superior credentials. To write a pop-psych book today, for instance, you need a Ph.D. and a strong clinical practice.
A good example of this is Southern California psychiatrist William Glasser, the author of Reality Therapy and Choice Theory. Glasser has worked with choice theory for half of his 40 years of psychiatric practice. In Choice Theory, Dr. William Glasser offers readers a new and far more effective way to get along with the people in their lives.
Obviously Dr. Glasser has a great platform to work from. He is highly qualified to write this kind of book. Unfortunately we can’t always have a Ph.D. Should we give up working on our book because of it? Absolutely not. There is a system for giving writers a platform even if they don’t have one. I’ll call this the file card method.
Take a file card and write at the top Why Qualified to Handle This Subject. Even if you don’t have a degree or years of experience, jot down 5 points that tie you to the book or article you want to write. This might be research—talking to people—or whatever.
Here is a card from one of the students in a How to Write and Sell The Non-Fiction Book class.
- I have clipped newspaper articles for several years on animal heroes.
- I have a dog that seems especially intelligent and tuned to my heels.
- I have read several novels about dogs that alerted their families to danger.
- I have talked to five dog trainers about this.
- I recently read an article by psychiatrist, John Darby of Standford University that said dogs have a strong survival instinct which they extend to their masters.
This seems pretty weak but think about it and then try to make it into a brief blurb that shows as much depth as you can generate.
Here is the one the author came up with.
I have been fascinated with the subject of dog heroes for many years since reading several articles about dogs that alerted their owners to fire and barked until every last family member escaped the burning house. For the last several years I have collected every newspaper clipping I could find on the subject, and have discussed “dog heroes” in depth with Joan Thomas, a local expert, who specializes in training dogs to take care of the elderly. In researching this book I shall interview John Darby, Stanford Psychiatrist, and a number of others who have become experts on the subject. I have written articles for a number of magazines.
This brought a go-ahead from a publisher.
Karen Newcomb - Karen Newcomb has written fiction and nonfiction books for over 30 years. A writing instructor and book consultant.
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