How to Build a Writing Platform
10 Ways to Achieve National Visibility for Writers
Here's 10 tips on building your writing platform, plus four extra ways to achieve national visibility and keep your name on the tips of people's tongues.
Your writing platform could make or break your chances of selling a book proposal or manuscript to a publishing house – or even to an agent. Celebrities, movie stars, politicians, billionaires, and top models have ready-made platforms: their own fame and visibility (and the public's insatiable curiosity)! Celebrities are practically guaranteed instant publicity, and don't really need to think about building a writing platform.
Regular writers, however, aren't always able to attract or hold the attention of the masses. Some writing and publishing experts say not having a writing platform is an automatic death sentence to an article query or book proposal. If you don't have a writing platform, you won't get published.
What is a writing platform?
Your writing platform is one tool to promote yourself and sell your writing. To build a strong writing platform, you need to be an entrepreneur and marketing guru with established followers. It's a tall order – but take heart! In our modern technological age, it's possible and not too difficult to do.
What a writing platform does
Your writing platform:
- Drives book sales.
- Proves your ability as a writer to promote and sell your book on a national or international level.
- Provides a measure of security to the publisher.
- Acts as a vehicle to promote your book and you, the writer.
According to Frishman and Spizman's Author 101 Bestselling Book Proposals: The Insider's Guide to Selling Your Work, building your writing platform is not only necessary, it's essential. The authors of this book quote many agents and publishers who drive home the importance of writing platforms. Fortunately Frishman and Spizman also provide several suggestions for building your writing platform – things you already may be doing.
10 ways to build your writing platform:
- Create your own website with blogs, forums, newsletters, and photos.
- Blog or write for an established website.
- Figure out what your specialty or niche is, then build your writing platform around that.
- Give talks about your specialty in schools, churches, libraries, local groups, etc.
- Teach classes or offer workshops.
- Offer products or services related to your niche.
- Participate in online communities and forums, focusing on building your writing platform.
- Sell or donate articles or bits of book chapters to magazines, newspapers, or newsletters.
- Conduct focus groups or use surveys to convince publishers that your idea has merit and will sell. This will build your writing platform by providing you with tangible support.
- Ask an organization to commit to buying a hundred or so copies of your published book – and include their letter of commitment with your book proposal.
Some of the above suggestions on building your writing platform are from Author 101 Bestselling Book Proposals: The Insider's Guide to Selling Your Work. Frishman and Spizman also list the following four alternative methods for building your writing platform.
4 extra ways to build your writing platform:
- Hire a book publicist.
- Make readers (publishers, editors, agents) laugh. Learn to write humorously.
- Secure an agent who believes in you. He or she will help you build your writing platform.
- Plug into an established series. For example, tailor your book idea to fit the Chicken Soup series, or the Dummies line.
Other ideas for building your writing platform include teaming up with a professional or celebrity, or contacting a small press for your first book. Some writers self-publish their own books and are picked up by a publishing house – What Color is Your Parachute began that way! Other writers, such as Cancer Vixen author Marissa Acocella Marchetto, use completely different methods to tell their story - such as cartoons or graphic novels. They're building a writing platform through their published books.
When you're building your writing platform, stick to it!
Famous writer Doris Lessing said, "What I had that others didn't was a capacity for sticking to it."
Never give up hope – even if you don't have a writing platform yet, and even if rejection seems to follow you everywhere. It can seem discouraging or depressing to face the task of establishing yourself publicly or building a writing platform, but remember that thousands of books are published every year and not every writer has built a platform.
Don't just wish for a novel idea, book proposal, or manuscript --- visualize your goals! Share what you love to do with the world, and building your writing platform will be a snap.
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