Who Needs a Platform?

Whether it is as a writer, a consultant, whether as a one-person business of whatever type or an employee within any company short of drudgery, you need a platform (or platforms). It might be internal or external, it might be something other than the kinds of platforms we talk about with writers, but you need it.

I’ve pretty much operated on that premise (long before knowing what ‘platform’ meant in this context) within companies, with partners, and for myself since about 1976, more or less, and mostly not regarding writing. So I don’t really expect much marketing or other services from publishers – and therefore when they do something, it is all the more pleasant to get it.

Rachelle, I agree with what you have posted but would like to nit-pick the word choice of platform being used interchangeably with media tools.

Your example is these business professionals are to be actively promoting their consulting expertise in combination with company directive. In other words, none of them are allowed to sit in a cubicle but must be interactive with their clients.

Books, blogs, tweets, and speaking engagements are the media tools to use to build their platform. Michael Hyatt is a great example because it took him a while to realize his platform was “Leadership” and then all his efforts with media tools funneled into a cohesive message and business.

Your platform is, “partnering with authors to bring worthwhile books to publication.” That’s the foundation of your career, and passion. The tools you use are blogs, workshops, networking with publishing professionals and writers. Your platform is solid.

For novelists, their primary platform is writer of stories. Their platform is branded by the genre of their fiction. Novelists can build a platform on a primary theme that runs through their stories – like Paty Jager with her Western Romance and Mystery platform as a storyteller.

What novelists need to create and build is their Author Persona, and that can be used to interact through online media tools with readers, and build an audience. A novelist is required to entertain an audience, and connect with readers. Readers who read the authors books as a way to escape from everyone standing around on platforms.

The Author Persona “has the responsibility to:

1. Personally be proactive in reaching out to people who might potentially become their clients (READERS); and

2. Personally take part in increasing the company’s (AUTHOR AND PUBLISHER) public visibility and reputation.”

To sum up – fact and fiction are unique. Professional consultants deal with facts and offer services.
Novelists create an experience a reader chooses to escape from the facts and engage the emotions.

Nonfiction builds a platform.
Fiction blooms with a persona.

For a novelist, the most important bit of platform-building is really “platform identification”.

I’m finding that it’s harder than it seems. Even identifying a unifying theme in my books (both published and not) has been a challenge…packaging that theme in such a way that it’ll be attractive, yet not exclusive, is even more difficult.

I’m using my blog as the trial venue for this, and after a couple of months a pattern – and a platform – seem to be developing. To say that it was a planned process would be to claim more credit that is due – it has been largely organic.

Part of that organic ‘growth’ has been trying to write at least five posts per week. I figure that if I can’t think of five new things to say out of every seven days, the platform’s probably not viable.

So…what’s my platform called?

No idea. Haven’t gotten there yet.

I look at building my platform as a two-fold mission. One is to attract potential readers and influencers when my books are published and two, I’m building relationships with other writers who will not only encourage and teach me as I pursue my dream, but also help me to achieve it. You’ve said it before, Rachelle, in this business it’s not only what you write, but who you know – and building a platform enables you to get to know a lot of people you wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to interact with.

Building a platform is hard. Period. But it’s part of the job, whether we like it or not. It shouldn’t dominate our time, but it should be a priority. Thankfully, the reward of meaningful relationships is worth the effort.

I think that in this day and age people expect you to build a relationship with them before they part with their hard-earned cash. Building an author platform is a great way of interacting with your prospective audience/clients/customers.

People have to buy into you, before they will buy from you, this is easier to achieve through building an author platform than sims trying to promote your book after completion.

Building a author platform is a win -win situation as far as I am concerned, you are building trust and a relationship with potential clients/customers and you are also showcasing your writing skills, therefore expanding your author-ity as an expert author.

I personally think that building an author platform enables you to connect with the people that are interested in you, in what you have to say and also in what you have to offer.

Excellent post by the way.

Rachelle, thank you for this post. I”m a debut author and am still trying to figure out the best way to build my platform or brand. So far the comments have been helpful but I confess I’m struggling with how to find my readers. I know they are women, ages 16 and up, with moral convictions, possibly church attending gals. I’m getting tons of advice from my writer loops but much of it doesn’t seem to help that much.
I’m not a prolific blogger and find it is a time suck as someone stated earlier.

I’m going to go against the grain here and say that a platform isn’t the most important thing.

Take an author who isn’t the social media type. Instead of doing something they aren’t good at and don’t like, they’d be better off investing their energy in other methods.

And regardless of how successful a person is in social media, the most important thing is still the quality of that person’s business, whether it’s writing, retail, services, etc. Ultimately, viral marketing is still the ultimate method of marketing.

To those that are great social media gurus, congratulations. You’re fortunate.

Jeremiah Zeiset
LIFE SENTENCE Publishing

I’m going to go against the grain here and say that a platform isn’t the most important thing.

Take an author who isn’t the social media type. Instead of doing something they aren’t good at and don’t like, they’d be better off investing their energy in other methods.

I use blogging and social media as a way to encourage others. I don’t see it as a time suck at all.

I have built wonderful friendships through blogging. Conversation and connections have opened up, that would not have otherwise. I have strengthened my writing skills, and learned invaluable lessons. My writing is no longer done in solitude, but in community.

I think Micheal Hyatt says this in his book Platform, creating a platform is more about giving than taking. You should build your platform on not what you can get out of it, but what you can give others through it.

I’ve been struggling with the whole blogging thing lately. It’s become a real concern to me. You can read more here if you want: http://jilliankent.blogspot.com/

I know it’s important to get the word out there and we have to participate to that end with our publishers but there’s many ways of doing that without the constant time suck of a blog among many blogs. How much time do we all have these days?

I agree with James Scott Bell. I don’t have all the answers but I am actively seeking to discover what will work best for me in my writing career. I only have 3 books published, have worked hard to do all the things I possibly can and in my opinion I’d rather be writing my novels than writing a blog few others visit. That doesn’t mean I’m getting rid of my blog. But I will be making changes that will increase my ability to produce books.

Building relationships is important and it takes time. I think that might be one of the problems we all face. This is a “give it to me now, I’m entitled to it world” and that’s not going to work. Establishing a writing career needs to be well thought out one step at a time and it can’t be all about platform all the time.

Great post Rachelle! wrote business and marketing plans for my own companies and others in years past. Think short range goals (1-6 months) and long range goals (1-5 years). Plan it out. What you need to do and when. I wrote a sort about this very thing last year. Most people know how to do what they do whether they are a baker, mechanic or even a writer BUT have no idea about the other stuff involved with running a business. Publishing is a business whether traditionally published or self.

I read your blog post with interest, and the comments are fascinating. It DOES get frustrating to put so much time into a ‘writing platform.’ It’s stressful and definitely takes away time from WRITING. On the other hand, since I began a blog over a year ago, I have honed my writing for a weekly 300-500 word post; met some terrific people who enjoy reading my work; opened myself and my writing to friends and acquaintances who always knew I was a ‘writer,’ but didn’t know what that meant; and found great places to educate myself on self-publishing (because, really, that seems to be the way of the new world.)

There is a part of me that wants to hate this blog post ) (in general). There are so many people who are very gifted “do-ers” who are just not gifted “show-ers.” So if we are only taking notice of those who are waving their arms in the air, we may miss the person who will really dig in and do the work.
However …
Isn’t there always a “however?” It is true. Especially for authors. Your gift is your ability to connect to others through your words. Use them! And if you are not good at that pesky interaction stuff, connect with authors who are. Work together with them and let them rub off on you a little. Do signings and speakings together. Ask them for help or just have coffee with them, soaking up their giftings through osmosis. And if you still feel inadequate in this area, do what Moses did when God asked him to speak to Pharoah—pray! God sent him Aaron to help him speak, but later Moses grew able to do it on his own.
You can do it!
Marketing doesn’t always have to be about ME or “look at me.” In August, I ran an article asking “Would Jesus Market Himself?” We do this because we have something to share. It can’t be shared if no one knows it exists. God prepared His people for the message of His Son many years before the message even arrived. So marketing is not always self-centered. It can be message centered. It depends on how you do it.

Rachelle, having read Michael Hyatt’s recent bestseller, Platform: How to Get Noticed in a Noisy World, it helped me better understand building our “tribe” and all that it entails. And, of course, a platform is a MUST in today’s world.

At September’s ACFW conference in Dallas, when asked what he thought the greatest platform-building tools were, I believe I understood Mike Hyatt to say: Twitter, a FB author page, and a blog (but only if due diligence were followed…meaning a regular posting schedule combined with interaction).

I love the ease of Twitter and networking with like-minded folks. I enjoy blogging, too, but it IS work. Again, I think of it as a way to connect with friends first, and future readers second.

Since FB manipulates…er…limits who sees our posts, our author pages may be less visible/influential than other forms of social media, but I still maintain one.

Thanks for this thought-provoking post!

Interesting thoughts, Rachelle. For a fiction writer, I’ve heard it said that a platform and brand is really just you being you. Obviously, it’s different for non-fiction authors.

I started my blog initially because I thought I was supposed to. But in that process, I’ve found my voice and I’ve found other writers. It’s been such an amazing way to connect and for me, the relationships are just as important as a “platform.” I want to be known for who I am and my honest analysis of life from my POV. I feel like that’s the best way to “market” myself, instead of making myself into a salesperson…of myself. But that’s probably just me.

But I also agree with Mr. Bell–working on your writing craft is, for a writer, ultimately necessary. If you promise something through a great platform but don’t deliver, then you only have disappointed readers.

It may be hard work to maintain a platform, but it seems well worth the effort. The Internet can be used for free (or at least relatively inexpensive) advertising for you and your work. I appreciate this blog in particular. It is interactive. It is not just some person sharing their opinions, but each article is very interesting, thought-provoking, and the readers are allowed to voice THEIR opinions. I feel connected. Thank you.

Back in the 1980s I was so fortunate to work as an assistant to a man named Bill Rabe who was the head of the PR dept. in a small Michigan university. He had worked for the Detroit News and was an absolute PR genius.

For our little school (3000 students) he developed the Word Banishment idea. Each year Lake Superior State University puts together a list of words that should be banned from the “Queen’s English” for over use, misuse and abuse. All year long the PR dept. receives nominations from the public (from all over the world) and then selects about 15 words or phrases to ban. So much fun!! His idea earned Lake State recognition and is still going strong. The past few years Fox News has broadcast the Word Banishment list to the whole world.

Creativity is so important when you’re building a platform.

This is a great post about platform that spawned an even better discussion. I have nothing to add, other than to say “thank you.”

Wow, very interesting reading. As an unpublished author I can learn so much from all of these comments – and the valid points you made, Rachelle.

In the end I believe it may simply come down to balance, and watching market trends.

I need to focus on my craft…and be learning how and when I will begin the issue of Platform.

Thanks everyone