Building a Platform, Overcoming Publishing Pitfalls, and Getting Traditional Book Deals | Randy Peyser

Well, you've also worked with thousands of authors over the years.

What do you think separates the ones who actually get published from the ones who stay stuck with an idea?

So what I tell people, I've given over 500 talks now on how to get a book deal with a publisher.

And I always conclude my talks by saying a book is either your option or a priority.

If it's an option, it will never get done.

If it's your priority, you absolutely will make it happen and nothing will stop you.

And that was true for me when I started my publishing journey writing my first book.

So for example, I'd written a book called Crappy to Happy.

And I was out there pounding the pavement, couldn't find a publisher, couldn't, you know, I kept hearing great, great writing, but where's her platform? A platform means the publicity you already have in place that you're bringing to the table, which is very, very important for publishers.

And I wound up at that time Working for a magazine, and this is a little story that I call, How I Found Happiness by Working for Embezzlers.

I told you, I'm pretty funny, but it's a true story.

I was writing for a new national magazine, and it turned out the magazine was being funded by embezzled money, which I had no idea.

You know, I'm just a freelancer writing, and I was supposed to be paid for six months of work, and instead I got an email saying there's been a slight delay.

The mother of the publisher had embezzled over $4 million from UCSF, where she was head cashier at the time.

So she

got

arrested and I never got paid.

I wound up doing a one-woman show.

And as a result of the show, and here was a person who was just at that point, really terrified about getting up in front of people.

But I wound up doing a show, reading parts of my book and putting together little skits And as a result of having that visibility, those eyeballs on me, I was able to get my publishing deal because I was very visible.

So I say if I hadn't worked for embezzlers, there's no way I would have put myself way out of my comfort zone to get the book deal and to start my career.

That's really interesting because I think a lot of first-time authors just figure if they find a publisher, they're going to do all the marketing, but they want you to have a platform to go from as well.

So that's a very interesting comment.

Definitely.

Yes, I tell people there's two main factors to get a book deal.