by Dr. Katherine Hutchinson-Hayes @KHutch0767
I didn’t know what I was doing when I self-published my first book. My goal for that project was to help raise money for a family returning to the mission field in Mongolia. I thought the book was successful because I’d helped meet the intent, and the family was fully financed to live as missionaries. I had no clue about the impact of book launches, street teams, and utilizing social media to promote my book.
I also thought it’d be easy to get an agent and have my book sold to a traditional publisher. But, when I attended a writer’s conference shortly after my book’s debut, I discovered I was wrong, and I’d done almost everything backward. A few weeks after returning home, I received a rejection letter from a well-established literary agency who’d expressed interest. The main gist of the letter was I had no platform. I still use that letter as a blueprint for becoming a successful writer. Over the years, I’ve also discovered seven fundamental keys for accomplishing this feat.