Platform Basics For Writers
Christina is a wise guide who facilitates the kind of inner exploration it takes to find and flesh out an authentic, sustainable platform.
~ Heidi L.
Get Known Before the Book Deal Interview
My Definition of Platform
Social Artistry For Writers
Topics covered in Get Known Before the Book Deal
Introducing The Concept of Platform Dynamic
Writers I Have Coached
I Teach Writers To Develop Meaningful, Lasting Platforms
• • •
Resources I offer on platform development for writers
Author platforms don’t spring fully formed from anyone’s head. They typically take years to establish, nurture and grow.
Some writers are lucky, they strike upon the right topic and audience right out of the gate and run with it.
Other writers take a few stabs at writing on a variety of topics before they realize that they keep circling back around to the same topics or audiences as if drawn by some invisible lure.
In my opinion, it’s a platform connected to a person’s inner reality rather than some clever juxtaposition of external ideas or a volcanic explosion of personality that make for the most compelling and lasting platforms.
Something we never hear enough is that platform development is an inside job requiring concentration, thoughtfulness and a consideration of personal values.
Platforms need room to grow and evolve in order to thrive. I’ve been working with writers on platforms for a few years now and I’ve gleaned a thing or two about a thing or two.
I’ve rounded up some of that work here. If you are interested in exploring platform possibilities for yourself, I hope you will consider picking up a copy of my book, Get Known Before the Book Deal, which is chock full of lessons and exercises that will put you in touch with your genuine passions.
Here are some other resources I offer on platform development:
The Writer’s Workout, 366 Tips, Tasks & Techniques From Your Writing Career Coach (Writer’s Digest 2011)
Build Your Author Platform, An Eight-session, Self-study Workbook (Originally published by Writer’s Digest 2011)
My articles on platform development:
- “50 Simple Ways To Build Your Platform in 5 Minutes A Day” for Writer’s Digest magazine, March/April 2011
- “Elements of a Successful Fiction Platform” for Writer’s Digest magazine, November/December 2010
- “How to Build a Marketing Platform” for Writer’s Digest magazine, May/June 2009
Here’s an interview with me that appears in many blogs across the Internet:
Q: What is a platform?
CK: Long story short: Your platform communicates your expertise to others, and it works all the time so you don’t have to. Your platform includes your Web presence, any public speaking you do, the classes you teach, the media contacts you’ve established, the articles you’ve published, and any other means you currently have for making your name and your future books known to a viable readership. If others already recognize your expertise on a given topic or for a specific audience or both, then that is your platform.
A platform-strong writer is a writer with influence. Get Known Before the Book Deal explains in plain English, without buzzwords, how any writer can stand out from the crowd and get the book deal. The book clears an easy-to-follow path through a formerly confusing forest of ideas so that even the most inexperienced platform-builder can get started building a solid platform.
Q: Why is platform development important for writers today?
CK: Learning about and working on a solid platform plan gives writers an edge in selling books. Agents and editors have known this for years and have been looking for platform-strong writers and getting them deals. But from the writer’s point-of-view, there has not been enough information on platform development to help unprepared writers put their best platform forward.
Now suddenly, there is a flood of information on platform, not all necessarily comprehensive, useful or well organized for folks who don’t have a platform yet. Writers can promote themselves in a gradual, grounded manner without feeling like they are selling out. I do it, I teach other writers to do it, I write about it on an ongoing basis, and I encourage all writers to heed the trend. And hopefully, I communicate how in a practical, step-by-step manner that can serve any writer.
Q: Why was a book on platform development needed?
CK: At every conference I presented, I took polls and found that about 50 percent of attendees expressed a desire for a clearer understanding of platform. Some were completely in the dark about it, even though they were attending a conference in hopes of landing a book deal. Writers often underestimate how important platform is and they often don’t leverage the platform they already have as much as they could. Since book deals are granted largely based on the impressiveness of a writer’s platform, I wanted to address the communication gap.
My intention was that Get Known would be the book every writer would want to read before attending a writer’s conference, and that it would increase any writer’s chances of landing a book deal whether they pitched in-person or by query. As I wrote the book, I saw how this type of information was being offered online as “insider secrets” at outrageous prices. No one should have to pay thousands of dollars for the information they can find in my book for the price of a paperback! Seriously. You can even ask your library to order it and read it for free.
Q: What is the key idea behind Get Known Before the Book Deal?
CK: Getting known doesn’t take a lot of money, but it does take an understanding of platform, and the investment of time, skills and consistent effort to build one. Marketing experience and technological expertise are also not necessary. I show how to avoid the biggest time and money-waster, which is not understanding who your platform is for and why – and hopefully save writers from the confusion and inertia that can result from either information overload or not taking the big picture into account before they jump into writing for traditional publication.
Q: Why is there so much confusion about platform among writers?
Often writers with weak platforms are over-confident that they can impress agents and editors, while others with decent platforms are under-confident or aren’t stressing their platform-strength enough. Writers have to wear so many hats these days, we can use all the help we can get. Platform development is a muscle, and the more you use it, the stronger it gets. Anyone can do it, but most don’t or won’t because they either don’t understand what is being asked for, or they haven’t overcome their own resistance to the idea. Get Known offers a concrete plan that can help any writer make gains in the rapidly changing and increasingly competitive publishing landscape.
Q: What is the structure of the book and why did you choose it?
CK: Get Known has three sections: section one is mostly stories and cautionary tales, section two has a lot of to-do lists any writer should be able to use, and section three is how to articulate your platform clearly and concisely so you won’t waste a single minute wondering if you are on the right track.
Most of the platform books already out there were for authors, not writers or aspiring authors. To make platform evolution easy to comprehend, I dialed the concepts back to the beginning and talked about what it’s like to try and find your place in the world as an author way before you’ve signed a contract, even before you’ve written a book proposal. No one had done that before in a book for writers. I felt writers needed a context in which to chart a course towards platform development that would not be completely overwhelming.
Q: At the front of Get Known, you discuss four phases of the authoring process. What are they?
CK: First comes the platform development and building phase. In this phase you are developing authority and trust. Second comes the book proposal development phase (or if you are writing fiction, the book-writing phase). In this phase, you are leveraging your expertise and your persuasive writing skills. Third, comes the actual writing of the book (for fiction writers this is likely the re-writing of the book). In this phase, you demonstrate that you are a skilled writer, who understands how to craft polished prose. And finally, once the book is published, comes the book marketing and promoting phase. In this final phase, you leverage all your existing influence and connect with as many readers as you can.
Many first-time authors scramble once they get a book deal if they haven’t done a thorough job on the platform development phase. Writers who already have a platform have influence with a fan base, and they can leverage that influence no matter what kind of book they write. Writing a book is a lot easier if you are not struggling to find readers for the book at the same time. Again, agents and editors have known this for a long time.
[Update: These days I teach micro-publishing before book proposal writing to help writers begin to develop that all important platform before publishing a full-length book.]
Q: What are some common platform mistakes writers make?
CK: Here are a few:
- They don’t spend time clarifying who they are to others.
- They don’t zoom in specifically on what they offer.
- They confuse socializing with platform development.
- They think about themselves too much and their audience not enough.
- They don’t precisely articulate all they offer so others get it immediately.
- They don’t create a plan before they jump online.
- They undervalue the platform they already have.
- They are overconfident and think they have a solid platform when they have only made a beginning.
- They burn out from trying to figure out platform as they go.
- They imitate “insider secrets” instead of trusting their own instincts.
- They blog like crazy for six months and then look at their bank accounts and abandon the process as going nowhere.
Suffice it to say that many writers promise publishers they have the ability to make readers seek out and purchase their book. But when it comes time to demonstrate this ability, they can’t deliver.
Q: You write, teach, speak and blog. What motivates you?
My mission is to empower writers to be 100 percent responsible for their writing career success and stop looking to others to do their promotional work for them. Get Known shows writers of every stripe how to become the writer who can not only land a book deal, but also influence future readers to plunk down ten or twenty bucks to purchase their book. It all starts with a little preparation and planning. The rest unfolds from there. But you’ve got to start working on your platform today, if you want to become an author some day. Get Known can help anyone get off to a solid start.
• • •
My Definition of Author Platform
I pulled together this definition of platform in my book, Get Known Before the Book Deal, Use Your Personal Strengths to Grow An Author Platform LINK (Writer’s Digest 2008), and it’s been evolving ever since.
I also wrote, “How To Build A Marketing Platform” (May/June 2009), “Elements of a Successful Fiction Platform” (Writer’s Digest, November/December 2010), and “50 Simple Ways To Build Your Platform in 5 Minutes A Day” (Writer’s Digest, March/April 2011).
I don’t own the definition of author platform—it’s an idea and it’s always evolving (see Alan Rinzler’s take on “The New Author Platform“) therefore no one can own it.
However I did coin this definition in 2007/2008, which folks say has proven helpful, especially to writers being introduced to platform development for the first time:
A platform communicates your expertise to others. It includes your Web presence, any public speaking you do, the classes you teach, the media contacts you’ve established, the articles you’ve published, and any other means you currently have for making your name and your future books known to a viable readership.
Basically, your platform is everything you DO with your expertise. A platform-strong writer is a writer with influence. Once you establish a platform, it can work for you 24/7, reaching readers even as you sleep. Of course, this kind of reach takes time. If many others already recognize your expertise on a given topic or for a specific audience or both, then you likely have an active platform.
I find it helpful to define a platform as a promise writers make to not only create something to sell (like a book), but also to promote it to the specific readers who will want to purchase it. This takes both time and effort, not to mention considerable focus.
I have a lot more to say about platform in my forthcoming book, The Writer’s Workout, 366 Tips, Tasks & Techniques From Your Writing Career Coach LINK, available as of December 2011.
Writers Re-visioning Social Networking As Social Artistry
I know that there are a lot of business-types out there, who come at writing career growth as variations on dividing and conquering, and I think that’s fine for them. I wish them the best, truly.
But that’s not how I see it.
I see writing career growth as creative momentum which creates opportunities for social artistry. I wrote about the concept of social artistry in a blog post. Here’s a bit more on the topic:
Because here’s the deal, folks: when you put technology (and the people who know how to use it) on a pedestal and try to vicariously absorb all of their “social media secrets,” you are not treating social media like the tool in your toolkit that it actually is. The truly creative person, regardless of their art form, sees social media as exactly what it is: a tool for social artistry.
Social artistry is something I learned from human potential leader and author, Dr. Jean Houston. What it means is that you are not just a writer creating a product and then slinging it out to the world, you are a creative soul inspiring a movement (or you have at least one lofty goal to share).
If you don’t have a mission or a purpose or a reason d’etre, then guess what? No one is going to listen to you. And why should they? There is an awful lot of noise out there and people have personal lives and they can’t spend the entire day staring into their computers waiting for you to say something or inspire them to action or entertain them or whatever it is that your writing sets out to accomplish.
And yet, this is exactly how so many writers approach social media. We get on social media hoping to discover something to say instead of having something to say and then getting on social media to say it.
Worse, writers drag their friends and loved ones along with them while they try to figure out something to say on social media, and wear out everyone’s good will and patience.
So, don’t get on social media to figure out what you want to say, writers.
Have something to say and then get on social media to say it.
And then we’ll be eager to not only listen, we will want to join your cause or step up for your call to action.
This is also a topic I have more to say on in my forthcoming book, The Writer’s Workout LINK.
Examples of my some of my social artistry include The Writer Mama Every Day In May Book Giveaway, The Northwest Author Series, and The Writer Mama Scholarships. How about you? What kind of cool stuff have you done using the Internet and social networking?
• • •
Topics Covered In Get Known Before the Book Deal
By Christina Katz
From Writer’s Digest Books, November 2008
Table of Contents
Introduction: What’s your platform?
Part One: PLATFORM Ready
[PLATFORM BASICS]
1. Become Visible
2. Quiz Yourself
3. Swap Shoes
[NICHE DEVELOPMENT]
4. Handle the Truth
5. Cultivate Your Expertise
6. Craft Your Niche (for Fiction Writers)
[AUDIENCE IDENTIFICATION]
7. Meet Your Readership
8. Align With Your Audience
9. Get Geisty
[THE WRITE ATTITUDE]
10. Delve Into Integrity
11. Think Productive
12. Ditch Your Resistance
[MISSION ACKNOWLEDGMENT]
13. Act From Passion
14. Get Some Input
15. Style It Real
Part Two: PLATFORM Set
16. Join In
17. Connect With Others
18. Volunteer Up
19. Teach to Learn
20. Step Outside Your Comfort Zone
21. Make an Appearance
22. Host Something
23. Get Articles in Print
24. Offer a Service
Part Three: PLATFORM Grow
25. Name Game
26. Identity Quest
27. Tag-a-Long
28. Sign Off With Style
29. Build a Bio
30. Mission: Possible
31. Be Camera Friendly
32. Tally Up Testimonials
33. Broadcast Your Blog
34. Hang Your Web Shingle
35. Relay the Latest News
36. One-Page It All
Writers I have coached
• • •
The Concept of Platform Dynamic Introduced and Defined
Over the years, I have helped put certain topics on the map in the writer education field. And in my latest book, The Writer’s Workout, I introduce a new concept in platform development: platform dynamic.
In Get Known Before The Book Deal I talk about the definition of platform being what you DO with your expertise. And in my new self-study course, Build Your Author Platform, and in my new book, The Writer’s Workout, I share how to maximize the best of what you do until it becomes habitual. I call this your platform dynamic. Do you know what your platform dynamic is? I help writers find theirs.
In my forthcoming book, The Writer’s Workout, I crack the nut of what really matters in platform development for aspiring writers. (When I say “aspiring writers,” I mean any type of writer who is working to get published.) Yours unique literary dynamic does not emerge from what genre you aspire to publish, it emerges from writing in a way that engenders trust, interest, appreciation, and interaction with readers.
The reader rules. And at the end of the day, if you are a writer, the reader is the most important person in your career. Your readers make you or break you. If they are excited about your work, you win. If they shrug and tune in reality TV instead, you are in trouble, writer.
If you want to figure out what your unique dynamic is, you are not likely to figure it out in any of the online discussions providing lists of what your generic platform is supposed to look like someday (site, blog, a list of social media sites, etc.).
Stop fantasizing about what your future platform will look like, writer, and tap into what is inside of you that the world has never seen before instead.
Look to your best examples of who will inspire you to become your best literary self.
To draw on some of my work in my forthcoming book, The Writer’s Workout:
Think of your platform dynamic the way that Michelangelo thought of finding a sculpture in a block of marble. Your platform dynamic is in you, underneath a whole bunch of everything else. Your job is to chip away, brush away, and clear away everything else until you discover the most essential expression of what you offer.
~ Season 3: Fall, Chapter 187: Set Your Identity Free
However I also discuss the way your platform dynamic is not static (that’s why it’s called a dynamic, after all).
The dynamic value that you offer can be perceived and sensed by others. Other people may be able to describe it better than you can.
It’s not merely the value you deliver; it’s also how and why you deliver whatever you offer.
~ Season 2, Summer: Chapter 162: Identify Your Dynamic
Finally, besides being essential to who you are and what you do, besides being vital and evolving and growing stronger over time as you nurture it, your dynamic needs to be consciously focused. If you are not conscious of your dynamic or if you are not consciously focusing it, you might take it for granted, dissipate it, and then it won’t be as clear and helpful to others.
• • •
I Teach Writers To Develop Meaningful, Lasting Platforms
A lot of people write, teach, and speak on platform for writers, but after I do, writers take responsibility, understand basic platform concepts, and become willing to take the first steps to build their own platform.
And isn’t that the whole point?
In my teaching, I stress that the purpose of a writer’s platform is to support the writer, the writer’s work, and the writer’s career…so the writer can have a career.
My style is writer-to-writer, not marching orders coming down from above.
These are the ways I can work with you, your group, or your organization. I offer:
- Free content (on my blog and website and handouts when I speak)
- Paid content for individuals (freelance articles, self-assessments, books, workbooks and curriculum)
- Classes (I teach a six-week email class and offer an eight-session self-study workbook)
- Workshops (for groups small to large)
- Presentations and Keynotes (inspirational or instructional)
- Training programs (half-day or full day for groups of writers)
Please visit my Contact page to discuss your platform education needs.
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