There are a LOT of book people in Portland. Writers, editors, small publishers, bookdealers, librarians…and readers. Readers galore.
That’s why Portlanders pack the house to capacity every year for the Portland Book Festival (formerly, and better, known as Wordstock).
This year, my friends Sue Campbell and Rachelle Ramirez and I got together, bought an exhibitor table, and launched our new business venture Pages & Platforms.
In ten hours of talking to all the writers wandering by, I learned—or confirmed—a few important things:
1. People who write are oddly reluctant to call themselves writers. We tried to change that, one writer at a time.
2. Almost nobody knows how to describe the story they’re writing. Almost everybody falls back on target audience (“It’s YA”), setting (“It’s historical” or “It’s a fantasy”), or market category (“It’s a memoir”). BUT, with a few key questions, most everyone discovers that they can pin it down.
“Who’s your protagonist?” “What do they want?” “Who or what is stopping them from getting it?” and “How do you want me to feel when I’ve turned over the last page of your book?” can zoom right to the heart of the story they’re trying to write.
3. The Pages & Platforms business model is new and surprising. While most of the writers we spoke to had an idea of what developmental editing is, many were unfamiliar with platform building, or thought it referred to number of followers on Twitter.
So Sue, our certified book launch coach, got to do a lot of talking, about the importance of developing a list of email subscribers, connecting with influential people in your niche, making platform-building a part of your creative life, rather than something to be loathed or feared.
4. There is a goldmine of unique and interesting stories waiting to be received into the world, and a growing desire for those stories to be uplifting, diverse, and nonviolent.
We handed out a stack of gift certificates for free editorial or book launch coaching consultations, and took our weary selves home, satisfied that Pages & Platforms has already begun to make a difference in writers’ lives.
This is incredibly inspiring, Anne. I’m in awe of the creativity and entrepreneurial know-how you guys are displaying. There’s a resonance for me with some of the stuff Orna Ross talks about, in terms of linking business and creativity. I wonder if you guys might do some sort of talking or writing guest thing with her via Alli? The other place it would be interesting to link to, in terms of a guest post, would be Jane Friedman’s blog. I predict you’re very soon going to be turning away clients by the scores–or else booking way in advance. Yay!!
Thanks, Shelley. And thank you for the great suggestions. Passing them along to the team right now.
Thanks Shelley. Anne’s assessment of the event and the writers we met are spot on. I think we have a lot of work to do and our audience is becoming clearer and clearer. It was great watching the faces of writers light up when they realized someone understood what it was that they were writing and thought it was important work. Lots of Society stories coming our way! I love it.
Great minds think alike, Shelley! I love Orna’s work and her thoughts on “Self-Publishing 3.0.” We’re going to empower writers to make that happen.