No platform - do I even have a chance?

Four books seems to me like rather a lot already?

IMHO your 'platform' is why people should believe/care about what you write. It matters more for non-fiction that gives advice. For true crime it matters more whether the publisher thinks you will finish writing the book and whether they can sell the book. That is why a lot of true crime is written by journalists and other pro writers.

Four books does seem like a lot to me too. In your proposal you will need to show agents why yours is new and different or better than the others. Have you talked to the criminal or victim(s)? Do you have an in with the family and have interviews from them? With or without a platform, you're going to need to show agents why you're the one to write the fifth book about this crime, and why people are going to buy it. You could start by making a website with info about the crime or doing a blog, but realistically you aren't going to build a large platform in the time it takes to write your proposal and sample chapters.
I've always had a fascination with Lizzie Borden. I've been to the bed and breakfast and even stayed in her old room. I've probably read every book ever written on the crimes ten years ago. After the first few books, they all started to say the same thing and if a new book were to come out, it would really have to be something special and different for me to buy it because there's just not that much new.
Write your proposal as if you're trying to sell the book to an agent who is oversaturated with books on the topic, and you're showing her an angle nobody ever thought of.
If you're very interested in your topic, why not spend a few months doing the proposal and a few sample chapters and see what happens. Don't write the whole book, because for NF the proposal comes before the book.
Good luck.

Marfa said:

My angle would be very different from what was written before. Other than that and my life experience/knowledge of the country, I don't have anything else. No access to victim families or anything like this. Of course I could say in my proposal that I would go to that country and interview the families (since I speak the language), look at the crime scenes and so on. But my main selling point is my huge interest and life experience … sounds really weak. J And of course a different angle/approach. The books that were published before are not that popular anymore, and they are not even being reprinted. In fact, it was quite complicated even to get access to these books.

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Honestly, it does sound really weak. That is, unless you"...different angle/approach" is so incredible as to make agents and editors beg for more. And please don't say in your proposal that you would have to go to that country and interview the families and look at the crime scene. This is something you do before proposing a work to an agent or editor.

That is why you want to write the book, you need to work out why the publisher is going to want to publish it. That is, exactly what is your new angle and who will run out and buy a book to read about it. e.g. someone else did the crime, or whatever.

Couldn't you plump up your platform with a web page or a blog about crime of the type you are writing about? Become an expert or at least a distributor of information about your topic. Write a few articles for the human interest section of your newspaper. That's how I would start.

If a publisher would buy a book about something like this, a blog/website would be important.

If you really want to do it, create the platform. Do the blog. You won't suddenly acquire millions of followers, but maybe you need just enough followers. Ask questions. Do the articles. Start a working outline. What are some of the questions your book will answer?

scope said:

Honestly, it does sound really weak. That is, unless you"...different angle/approach" is so incredible as to make agents and editors beg for more. And please don't say in your proposal that you would have to go to that country and interview the families and look at the crime scene. This is something you do before proposing a work to an agent or editor.

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Yes. Yes.

From what you're saying here, it sounds like you want to write the book because it has a great interest to you. Okay. But what will the reader get out of the book that's not available in the other books written? You will have to show this in the proposal. Also, what is the "different angle" other than you being really interested in the crime?

You're right about platform for fiction vs. non-fiction.

Your angle does sound interesting. Is the crime something that would interest a lot of people? One crime jumps out at me, the story of the guy had had his daughter in the basement for some twenty-years and fathered a bunch of her children. That is something that I believe would have universal interest because the USA has a fascination with the topic. If your story was on that case or something equally interesting, my goodness go for it. People in the USA seem more interested in USA crime than international crime, judging by the books I've seen in the True Crime sections of my bookstore. I had to hunt down information about the case I mentioned, because it barely made the news (yet everyone I know was horrified by it.)
Personally, I think fictionalizing a crime story doesn't do it justice, because often times in interesting crimes the truth is stranger than fiction and it would suck to have to change the truth because it wasn't believable enough for fiction . Just my opinion as a fan of the genre and having written NF.
There are people on AW writing true crime w/o platforms--one guy is/was the attorney who prosecuted the perp. If the crime is compelling enough--I think you should go for it. You can always fictionalize it if you can't sell it as NF.

What makes true crime interesting is that it really happened. If you have something worth saying about this crime, go for it. As you do the research and talk to people developing the book, the platform may build itself.

Marfa said:

@PinkAmy - It is a book about a serial killer. It is also a book about one country that allowed a perv to become a serial killer. And I am going to show how it all happened. How does it sound? Serial killers (especially sex based crimes) are usually very appealing to the mass market. It is an international crime though. Thank you for a very encouraging and great advise! I think I am going for it. I will develop an outline, write an essay on it and go from there. If my essay ever gets published, it will be the beginning of my platform. If not… I will take my chances with the book.

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Marfa,

Basically, I agree with everyting PinkAmy has said.

If you choose nonfiction, all your facts have to be spot-on, creditable, and verifiable. Fiction requires less "fact" but in a case like yours it can't be baseless. With this in mind I ask you to ask yourself:
1. Is the killer an acknowledged serial killer, and if so by whom?
2. Before you bash a country, could other countries have allowed this perv to become a serial killer? If not, why not?
3. Do you have the FACTS pointing to how all this happened?
4. What proof do you have that serial killers, especially sex serial killers, are appealing to the mass market?
5. What do you mean by "It is an international crime though?"

This is not meant to be snarky, just trying to help by asking you to think this through.

Marfa said:

@PinkAmy - It is a book about a serial killer. It is also a book about one country that allowed a perv to become a serial killer. And I am going to show how it all happened. How does it sound? Serial killers (especially sex based crimes) are usually very appealing to the mass market. It is an international crime though. Thank you for a very encouraging and great advise! I think I am going for it. I will develop an outline, write an essay on it and go from there. If my essay ever gets published, it will be the beginning of my platform. If not… I will take my chances with the book.

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I think serial killers are very interesting to people if the victims are people that lots of folks can relate to. Sadly, the public seems less interested if the victims are prostitutes, junkies, or homeless folks (I've always been a true crime junkie.)
Have you ever read Ann Rule? One thing that I like about her books is that she gets into the mind of the killer and the psychopathology.
I think you should go for it, because it sounds like you'll enjoy the process and that your enthusiasm will shine through in your essay and manuscript.

I think you go with your own domain, self hosted, because that way you can get listed on more search engines and it looks more professional. I had a website that I started out on a free place. Once I moved to my own domain I got tons more hits AND I could do advertising, so I made some money off it and the page more than paid for itself. Check out amazon associates, where you can recommend books and you'll get a portion of the proceeds. Once you start getting more hits, you can use google ads too. You'll also have an easier time being linked with your own domain because people will take you more seriously.

Small Sacrifices is my favorite Ann Rule. The books where she only tells one story are probably going to be more helpful to you. She has some books where she compiles stories that wouldn't on their own merit an entire book.

Marfa -- I think you have a wonderful idea. You have unlimited resources you can explore. My lasted manuscript is about true crime/courtroom legal thriller type of nonfiction. Not the same area of crime you are interested in writing about. But you can write about things that the media or the other writers haven't written about and/or give it another angle from an outsider looking in.

You can get old case file and court documents from the FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT. If you need help finding where and who to write to I will help you. All you have to do is request it and you'll be surprise what you might dig up. They might charge you a small fee to make copies. You might discover a document that was not presented at trial or something that was hidden from the jury. You never know until you get in there a dig. I was hunting around in their archived the other day, there was all kinds of stuff about Marilyn Monroe, Anna Nicole Smith, Tesla and many more people dead and alive, plenty of the documents are redacted (blacked out with a black marker) but you can still get the drift of what the document is about.

The other things is you can get documents from a Federal government web site called PACER. Pacer means - "Public Access to Court Electronic Records" you have to pay for some of the documents but there is all sorts of interesting stuff you might find about cases that you can get that way.

Another idea you can write to the criminal if they are still alive, and other there other inmates. You can find out where the criminal is living by going to bureau of prisons web site and type in their name. I know that might creep you out given the nature of the crime, but I thought I mention it just in case. Or write to the victim family they might want to keep the story alive. Maybe the criminal is up for release? And you writing a story now will shed some light on things.

I think you can create a platform about the story...

Just write it!