Dead Men Don't Wear Platform Shoes
Monday, February 6, 2006 at 12:32PM I have to get me some platform shoes.
That’s the single most important thing I got out of attending the Love is Murder mystery convention in Rosemont, Illinois this past weekend.
What, you think platform shoes were a fad that went out in the seventies?
Well, you couldn’t be more wrong. In the highly evolved world of book publishing, platform shoes are all the rage, man. They’re what separate those that get noticed from those that don’t.
And this makes sense, since it’s well known that tall people are more likely to get noticed than those that are, well, vertically challenged. Think Yao Ming.
The beauty of platform shoes is that you can instantly elevate your stature. Be Yao Ming.
You can’t deny that an agent or a publisher isn’t going to take notice when you’re wearing these.
By this point you’ve undoubtedly figured out that I’m wearing my clown shoes. But I do not write completely in jest.
My opening is by way of lead-in to the serious topic of “platform”, which, aside from perhaps Joe Konrath, was the one thing I heard being discussed at the convention more than any other.
Platform was the subject of the opening night speech by David Morrell, the author who created Rambo. His daughter and publicist, Sarie Morrell, writes about platform on her Beyond the Spine column on ReadersRoom.com.
What is platform? Basically it’s a buzzword from the book marketing world. It’s your hook, the way that you sell your book in two minutes or less not based on plot but on the theme surrounding that plot.
Take my book, Lost in the Ivy, for illustrative purposes. What’s it about? Well, there are different ways to answer that question.
One way is to summarize the plot. Here’s how I used to do it for radio interviews:
“The book follows the story of reporter Charley Hubbs, who has been drawn to Wrigley Field after leaving behind a mysterious past in California. Charley just wants a fresh start in Chicago. But just as he begins to put the pieces of his life back together, they unravel all over again when he becomes entangled in a murder mystery and ultimately is charged with killing his neighbor.”
Are you hearing the yawns yet from the marketing department?
The other is to focus on a theme that surrounds the plot. What audience is most likely to buy Lost in the Ivy? Baseball fans, in general. Cubs fans, in particular. So that’s how you pitch it. Here’s how I’ve woven the Cubs theme into press releases:
“Lost in the Ivy follows reporter Charley Hubbs in a race against time for the truth. Against the backdrop of Chicago’s storied Wrigley Field, a baseball shrine cursed by a billy goat, Charley is caught in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse that plays out in two seasons--one of futility and the other of hope. Only by unlocking the mysteries of his past and opening his heart again will he be able to find if hope truly does spring eternal.”
Is my book about baseball? No. Is it about the Cubs? No. Is it about Wrigley Field? No. But they're all intertwined themes running through the book and they're the platforms that make it marketable. When I’ve done appearances, roughly 90 percent of the books I’ve sold have gone to baseball fans or Cubs fans.
At Love is Murder, for instance, Terri Ridgell, author of Operation Stiletto (notice the recurring shoe theme in this blog entry) was signing books at a table with Robert Goldsborough, author of Three Strikes You’re Dead. Someone came up and bought Goldsborough’s book because it was a "baseball book." Ridgell kindly pointed that same book buyer to my book and I got a book sale as a result. Thanks, Terri.
Book publishers increasingly are being driven by their marketing departments, David Morrell told his audience Friday night.
That is a rather depressing statement but it should not be all that surprising. I’ve written before that fiction is a hard sell. When you look at the top sellers on Amazon.com and see that about 90 percent of the top 25 books are non-fiction, it’s not hard to figure out why profit-driven publishers would begin to adopt a sales model for fiction that has dominated non-fiction for years.
Although Morrell urged writers to always keep platform in mind, he also acknowledged that you must first and foremost write what is in your heart. And I think that is key. You may be able to write a novel about NASCAR even if you have no passion about stock car racing, but it would almost certainly show and you’d have a clunker of a book.
So the three lessons for today:
- Write passionately.
- Think platform.
- Don’t wear platform shoes. You’ll only stumble and fall.
Randy Richardson
Many thanks to the wonderful people who organized Love is Murder 2006. You put on a great conference. Special thanks to Julie Hyzy and Robert W. Walker for convincing me to come. I’m so glad that I did.
Finally, there were some true literary stars at the conference, like Morrell and Judith Guest, the author of Ordinary People. Although it was pretty cool just basking in their presence, the real highlight for me was meeting some of those whose names are not yet known. Jason Cole traveled all the way from Rocklin, Calif.; R.J. Baker came in from Goles, Mich. The three of us met at the hotel bar and talked about our ambitions and dreams as writers and how cool it would be if one day we all met up again as the conference’s guests of honor, the Morrells or Guests of the future. How cool, indeed.
Reader Comments (5)
It truely was a pleasure meeting both you and Jason. There remains much work to do, but I'll race you and Jason for the podium.
I was a little shy at this years conference, as I gained my sea legs. Next one will be better...
P.S. I wore tall platform shoes in high school.
I did not fall off my stilletoes...is it toes or tos?
Want to say how great it was to have you at the conference, and am so glad it was all I cracked it up to be. Magic happens at LIM - in me own case, I got a new agent (again!) so now I can write a kiss-off to the last failed "marriage" -- it is as Joe K. always says of me, "Walker, you've burned more bridges than you've crossed." It was a great con for me as well since the bookstore in the dealer room sold out of City for Ransom TWICE...So I have no complaints, and the food was great for hotel catered food, what'in'it?
Rob
You're always looking for an excuse to dress up as Pee Wee...