I love, love, love this post from Seth Godin — Three Masters — which encapsulates the essence of platform development, not just for writers but for anyone.
My only response to Seth’s post would be to encourage writers to focus on all three aspects of their ongoing platform development–existing customer base, another customer base, and serving your muse–at the same time, instead of just one or the other. Make it a regular rotation in your weekly schedule.
I also love this recent post–Doing It Wrong, Relentlessly–because I also refuse to work the system.
The reason is because “the system,” indeed any system, isn’t going to support my creative growth and development in the long run, so why would I adopt to one?
The three things that Seth is not saying here that I say repeatedly in my work are:
1. Tap into the essence of what you offer for multiple audiences and everything unfolds from there.
2. Use whatever tools make sense and in any ways that make sense. The tools are not the focus, what you offer is the focus.
3. Find your natural rhythm based on what you offer, who wants what you offer, and how you use your tools.
When you focus on what you can do for the people you serve, that’s when the magic happens.
For writers, the magic is happening in the exchange of energy between writer and others. Between you and others.
Open up the communication valve between you and your audiences. That’s where the synergy is. That’s where you want to be on a regular basis.
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