Ninety-nine degrees is the average high temp in June here in beautiful Tucson, Arizona. As you might imagine, we Tucsonans do just about anything we can to stay indoors during this time. So, while most of the country is outdoors hiking, picnicking, camping, and playing softball … we’re indoors reading books, watching movies, playing volleyball and, yes, bowling. How appropriate then that our current bestselling book is The Game Changer: A Simple System for Improving Your Bowling Scores by Mark Baker. Published in early April, The Game Changer sold over two thousand copies by the end of that month, qualifying it for our Great Expectations program, where we financially reward the author by issuing a credit. In Mark’s case that’s $2,000. At the rate the book is selling it will soon cross the five thousand-copies-sold mark and qualify its author for an additional $5,000 Great Expectations credit. (At Wheatmark we reward bookselling success!)
Why is The Game Changer selling so well right out of the gate? Because Mark Baker has a large author platform! Mark is one of the most well-known bowling coaches in the world with tons of fans and followers, both online (especially on Facebook) and offline. When Mark Baker promises “a simple system for improving your bowling scores,” bowlers listen. Mark’s been involved in bowling for over thirty years. In his early career, he was a competitive bowler, earning four PBA titles along with numerous other awards and accolades. Later he was a sales manager for Cal Bowling Supply. And now he’s a renowned bowling coach with top-tier clientele, including several of the best bowlers on the PBA Tour. Along the way he developed Camp Bakes, one of the premier bowling camps in the world. So, when Mark announced the publication of The Game Changer thousands rushed to buy.
Notice that Mark had been building his author platform for thirty years before he actually became an author. It’s never too early to start building your author platform. The converse is also true: It’s never too late to start building it either! There are many authors who use their published books as the tool to open up opportunities and to build their platform. Wherever you are in the writing/publishing process, however small or large your current platform, to succeed as an author and sell more books, you want to grow that platform. Read our blog for more success tips and be sure to join the Authors Academy to learn about how you can grow your author platform. It could be a game changer.
