I heard Christina speak at a writing conference and liked her overall approach and attitude. This book is a thoughtful and thorough study of what a writer's "platform" is and how to have one, even before you've sold your first book. I picked up several tips that I will start using to ramp up my platform presence and identity while I'm still toiling away at learning craft. ( )

Overwhelming with the amount of work suggested in this book for authors-to-be, but lots of ideas to choose from, depending on your personality, time available and size of your family. Most of these won't work for me until I can work/write full-time. I currently homeschool 3 of my 4 children, so I can't devote as much time to these ideas as are suggested. But for the person who can work/promote full-time, this is an awesome book. ( )

A great discussion of creating a public platform for yourself from scratch. The most enlightening and useful part of this book for me was the discussion on audience. It is so simple, yet so easy for a beginning writer to overlook: know who you are writing for before you begin!

These non-fiction how-to books have become difficult for me to read, rate, and review. It shouldn’t be Get Known Before the Book Deal’s fault as it is merely “the straw that broke the camel’s back.” Many predecessors received more fair treatment than I want to give this book, so that being said I’m going easy on this one and speaking more on “How to” books in general.

The biggest issue with nearly all these sort of dastardly books is that they harp on one thing over and over and over and over and over again. They have a morsel of truth. They have that tidbit of worthwhile information. The author could make all their points on one page of text, possibly take five to ten more pages to expand what they said in this one page, and that’s it. There’s no need to repeat it forty-six times. No need to give examples of the same thing over and over. No need to repeat it forty-six times. You get the point.

Clearly some revelation dawns on the author and they feel they must share this knowledge. That’s great. But if it’s not enough knowledge to fill a book, please don’t waste my time; I can simply read the book description on the back cover and get the information I need.

Get Known Before the Book Deal is guilty of this. It also pretends to be all-encompassing but really is a book about Non-Fiction publication with the occasional hint for fiction writers. There are some good ideas in here, and it did get me thinking about my platform, but I would’ve rather spent my actually developing my platform. And had I just been given the gist of this book without reading it, I would’ve had time to do so.

This is a terrific book for any author or aspiring author, whether you're just getting started with platform or consider yourself fairly knowledgeable on the topic. I'm an author with four books in print who is active with social media, I have two blogs and four websites, and there were still some new ideas and tips for me in this very accessible book.

Author Christina Katz demystifies author platform. She not only defines the term, but goes on to separate the hype from the realities in clear, plain-spoken chapters which provide authors and aspiring authors with the ideas and tools they need to start or grow a platform. Katz addresses both the hows and the whys, making it easy for the reader to prioritize his or her own platform goals. And this is not merely a conceptual book, it's filled with practical advice and tips the reader can immediately put to use.

I especially like the way Katz addresses common author/aspiring author fears and insecurities which can undermine effective platform work. Unlike so many books and articles I've read on the subject, this one doesn't assume the reader is already a tech whiz. Katz guides the reader, gently but firmly, through the process of identifying strengths and weaknesses, then explains how to capitalize on strengths and avoid allowing weaknesses to dominate. I also like the author's tone, which is very casual and friendly; you really feel like Katz is right there with you as you read. ( )