By Allison K Williams
…but it doesn’t have to suck away our writing time or our mental energy.
Nonfiction writers and memoirists need platform. Not clicks. Not likes. Not a zillion followers. A true, effective platform is actually a bridge to our audience.
Useful, book-selling platform happens gradually over years—that’s actually good news. Because you don’t have to cram platform into your life in the six months before you start querying. You get to build connections in small steps, with people you genuinely enjoy talking to, in ways that let you practice your actual writing craft.
There are two kinds of useful author platform: built and lived.
Built platform is what we usually think of: publications in mass media and literary journals, public speaking or teaching related to the book topic, social media activity and a regular email list. Built platform cares more about engagement than numbers. Who are you talking to as your public self, and who’s listening?
The activities are small but consistent. We train ourselves into new habits—how can I crank out a meaningful, well-written 500 words weekly for my readers? Before hitting Send on that Tweet, is it the best sentence I can construct? Our social media focuses as much on others as ourselves, celebrating other authors’ successes, sharing quotes from work we like, thoughtfully answering questions in groups that tie to our book topic.
Selling a book from a built platform means creating a cycle of writing that’s feeding public presence that’s feeding writing. Mine is a built platform, and I spent ten years giving advice here on The Brevity Blog, on Facebook and Twitter, and sharing the best quality writing I could muster in publications and as mini-essays on Instagram, in order to demonstrate I was the right person to listen to.
A lived platform doesn’t have to be a life spent in the public eye. Celebrity is one kind of lived platform, but this platform can also be subject-matter expertise, or a lifetime of experience that relates to a cultural moment now.
Let’s dismiss the book-shaped products ghostwritten for readers who have aged out of Tiger Beat. Lived-platform books by non-famous people include The Other Family Doctor, in which veterinarian Karen Fine shares her experiences with pet death and grieving, and The Widow’s Guide to Dead Bastards, Jessica Waite’s look at discovering a spouse’s worst faults after they’re gone. Neither of these women are “famous”—or even big on social media. But they have a lifetime of experience with a topic that’s culturally relevant right now. As a society, we care more about our pets than ever before (Americans spend $700 million yearly on pet Halloween costumes, about seven times more than we spend on contraceptive research); everyone who loves their pet will one day face a loss. Widows, older divorcées, and older wives discovering dissatisfaction are more prominently in the news than ever before. Now that we don’t have to wear black for a year and avoid formal calls for six months, what do we do with ourselves?
To sell a book from a lived platform, the author must make themselves aware. They need regular sources of news, and to reach beyond those sources when they discover a trend or cultural moment on which they are an authority, whether that authority is conferred with a degree or position, or with a lifetime of experience. For social media, lived-platform authors should find key figures in their subject to follow, and pay attention to the larger discourse, contributing as it happens. Their query and proposal will emphasize cultural connection to the topic, rather than their personal reach. Their manuscript should be strong writing around a definite story hook, and the less they’ve already published, the better the writing and hook need to be.
How do you know which type of platform suits you? Ask yourself:
- How many articles have I read lately where I’m dying to give the other readers some great advice? Do I want to answer in a quick comment or with a long story?
- How much energy do I want to spend connecting with my community, both readers and fellow authors, versus the amount I want to spend on carefully improving my writing?
- How much do I want to publish along the way, versus focusing on my unique-yet-widely-needed perspective and adjusting my manuscript to connect strongly to the cultural moment?
The great joy of platform is that we get to choose it. These types aren’t mutually exclusive; both can compensate for strong-but-not-brilliant writing. A giant built platform and a strong story hook can compensate for mediocre writing. A great cultural connection with strong writing will sell a book faster and more widely than a beautiful literary gem that no-one’s talking about.
The means of publishing—traditional or self, literary press or Big Five—doesn’t really affect whether or not we need platform. Anyone who would like their books to be read by the people who need them must consider who those people are. Either we reach those people ourselves, or we tell the publicity department where to find them. What matters most is that we recognize the bridge, we shore it up, and cross to meet our readers—more than halfway.
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Allison K Williams is Brevity's Social Media Editor, and absolutely loves this part of her platform.
Ready to build some bridges? Join Allison for the virtual Zero-to-Platform Bootcamp July 20-21 ($199). We'll learn how to start sustainable, fun platform-building that makes our writing better and creates community. Build from nothing, or jumpstart your stalled platform! Find out more/register now.
