Friday, January 05, 2007

Do you have a platform?

Whenever someone mentions ‘platform’ to me, I think politicians with agendas and Olympic divers perched on boards high above the pool. I never think publishing and writing. But just recently, the word has been jumping out at me. ‘You can’t get published without a platform’ one article said. Another mentions ‘a proposal without a platform will not work’, and yet another stated ‘the first thing the publishing company will ask is what is the writer’s platform’.

If, like me, you’re not too sure what they mean by ‘platform’, then check out the following articles. They provide everything you need to know in order to understand and create your own ‘writer’s platform’.

Do you have a platform ?

How to Build Your Author’s Platform From Scratch

Building a Platform

If You Build It, They Will Come—Hot in Publishing: Platforms

Secrets of the Writer's Trade: Basic Elements of a Strong Publishing Platform

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yikes! I have no platform - I've never even thought about it. I'm going to check these articles out - great post!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the great links; very helpful reading.

It seems as though "platform" has replaced "brand yourself" as the current buzz word, but the idea is the same, and it's a useful one at that.

Liz Lewis said...

alicia, I think we all have the building blocks of a platform, we just have to figure out what type of platform to build and where it's going to take us. Having a blog is a great first step. Liz

Liz Lewis said...

Hi Sheila. Welcome. Glad you liked the links. 'Platform' does seem to be the new 'in' word. As you say, it pretty much means the same as 'branding yourself'. It's really all about marketing yourself as an expert in something. Liz

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