GET THEE a WRITER'S PLATFORM

By Kasie Whitener

Early in my writing career, I discovered Writer’s Digest and Robert Lee Brewer who had his own blog called “My Name is Not Bob” (MNINB). In April 2012, Not Bob ran a 30-day writers’ platform challenge.

My family had recently relocated to Columbia, and I had decided to make a go of this writing thing. I started with a blog, Life on Clemson Road, a public way for me to write about being a mom to a then-4-year-old, wife to a career tire guy, and unemployed corporate refugee.

Being new to blogging, I didn’t fully appreciate the brilliance of MNINB’s Challenge. The 30-day series means you’ll have readers visiting your blog every day for 30 days, leaving comments on every post, and providing evidence of traffic.

The MNINB Platform Challenge was made up of 30 tasks writers needed to do in order to build what marketers (and agents and publishers) called a digital platform. The platform is a spectrum of digital properties you use to connect with your readers.

In 2012, I didn’t have any readers. That was okay, the MNINB Platform Challenge told me. I would get them eventually. I just needed to build and cultivate my platform.

The Challenge started with registrations like “get a Facebook page” and “get a Twitter account.” Each day the writers participating would read Robert Lee Brewer’s advice on the value of these various platform elements, his quick instructions on how to do them, and then go and execute the prescribed action. Then leave a comment on his blog as evidence.

Some actions like, “Visit another blogger’s blog and comment on it,” were meant to help us explore the blogosphere. Some, like “share a blog to one of your social channels,” were encouraging reciprocal behavior. In any case, the Challenge actions were all meant to fully immerse the would-be writer into the digital world of selling books.

In conference after conference, we’ve been told that publishers are less likely to do your marketing for you. If they take on the expense of printing (editing, layout, cover design, printing), they really won’t market for you. We’re also told your platform is one of the ways you can endear yourself to publishers – encourage them to select your book.

When I finally landed a publisher (thanks, Chrysalis Press!) I already had a platform. I have a well-branded blog (Unapologetically X), a Facebook Author page, a Twitter account I use almost exclusively for a weekly tweet chat about writing (Tuesday’s #wschat), and a radio show with digital properties (podcast and show notes blog).

And yet I’d neglected some key parts of my platform. For example, my Facebook page needed about 175 more likes – friends I should have invited long ago. Even so, the show, the digital stuff, and a great party at a local bar earned me some early interest, early sales, and early reviews. I have a long way to go. Moreover, I have a full appreciation for the value of a digital platform.