Several times a month, writers ask me, “How can I balance blogging, Tweeting, Facebooking, Goodreading, and all the other stuff I'm supposed to do to build my platform, while also focusing on my writing? I have a full-time job, a family, and a cat. I just don't have time for all that other stuff.”
Writers today are overwhelmed, frustrated, and let's be honest, a little pissed off. Why do we have to build a platform anyway? Can't we just focus on writing?
Photo by Dualdflipflop
It all came to a head for me when I read Michael Hyatt's bestselling book Platform: How to Get Noticed in a Noisy World. The book was interesting enough, but when I looked for information that related to fiction writers, I found the only advice specifically focused on helping fiction writers was tossed into an appendix in the back of the book.
An appendix!
That's when I realized most of the so-called “experts” who said every author needs a platform were really just speaking to non-fiction authors. They didn't have a clue what a fiction platform would even look like.
Meanwhile, thousands of fiction writers followed their advice, creating blogs they resented, Twitter accounts that overwhelmed them, and Facebook pages with thirty-seven likes. For most creative writers, this whole platform experiment has been a waste of time.
That's when I decided I needed to learn everything I could about how to build a platform specifically designed for fiction writers.
How NOT to Create a Fiction Platform
I started my search for the best way to create a platform for fiction authors by talking to popular writing bloggers like Joanna Penn, Holly Lisle, and K.M. Weiland. These authors had built large audiences by blogging about the writing and publishing process. I wanted to know if their audience, mainly of other writers, also read their fiction.
In other words, is writing about writing a good way to build a platform for fiction authors? Should all fiction authors create writing how-to blogs?
Their answers surprised me. Here's what veteran novelist Holly Lisle said when I asked her whether her blog's audience overlapped her fiction audience:
Not so much…. The difference between readers and writers is the difference between people looking to buy houses, and those looking to buy hammers with which to build houses…. I ended up creating two almost completely separate audiences. There’s a bit of crossover, but I wouldn’t put it above 10%.
Ten percent?! That means most of the authors who started a blog to give writing advice, weren't just postponing their own fiction writing to build their “platform,” they weren't even building very good platforms in the first place.
Take Back Your Platform
To really understand how to create a useful platform for fiction writers, I think it's important to talk about what a platform really is.
Many default to saying that your platform is your blog. A few, savvy experts, say that while having a blog is important, to build a successful platform you also need to have a Twitter account, a Facebook page, and a Pinterest account for good measure.
And yet, J.K. Rowling didn't have a blog when she wrote Harry Potter. Does she have a platform? Agatha Christie, the bestselling novelist of all time, wasn't alive when Facebook was invented. Did she have a platform?
It's time to take back our platforms:
- My blog is not my platform. (Share that and take back your platform)
- My Twitter account is not my platform. (Share that)
- My Facebook page is not my platform. (Share that)
- My Goodreads profile is not my platform. (Share that)
Your blog, social media accounts, the Internet itself, they are just tools. Your platform is bigger and more important than any of them. Platforms existed before these tools, and they'll continue to exist after they're replaced by newer, shinier tools.
My blog is not my platform. http://t.co/xtDdTdmPeA via @write_practice #takebackyourplatform
— Joe Bunting (@joebunting) August 23, 2013
What Is Your Platform, Then?
In The Story Cartel Course, we spend two full sessions talking about platform, and I share what I've learned from more than a year of studying how platforms work for fiction writers. Here is the definition of platform I give my students:
Your platform is the authority, trust, and attention given to you from a group of people.
Your platform isn't your blog. It's the trust you have with your audience.
Robert Galbraith's The Cuckoo's Calling sold less than 1,500 copies when it was first published. When the media discovered Robert Galbraith was actually the pseudonym for J.K. Rowling, the book instantly became a bestseller. Why? Because we love Harry Potter and even though The Cuckoo's Calling is a (very) adult detective novel rather than a middle-grade series about a secret community of wizards, we trust J.K. Rowling to tell a good story.
We trust her, just as readers trust Stephen King, Agatha Christie, Jane Austen, and William Shakespeare. What does this mean? You don't build your platform by blogging, tweeting, and Facebooking about your writing process. That's not how Jane Austen built her platform. You build your platform by sharing your stories.
“My stories are my platform.”
Share that and take back your platform.
My stories are my platform. http://t.co/xtDdTdmPeA via @write_practice #takebackyourplatform
— Joe Bunting (@joebunting) August 23, 2013
The Secret to Building Your Platform
After a year of searching for the perfect platform for fiction authors, here's what I discovered.
This isn't much of a secret. It's the same thing writers have been doing for thousands of years. Authors built their platforms using this secret method before the Internet was invented, before the first printing press was built, before even the alphabet was written on stone tablets. Writers built their platforms through their stories.
The most important thing you can do to build your writing platform is to share your next story. (Share that?)
You can and should use tools like a blog, Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads to share your stories. After all, a book is a tool, too. It's a wonderful tool that we love, but it's just a tool.
Don't confuse story sharing tools with your platform. Your platform is too important for that.
A Course To Share Your Story Further
In a few weeks, we're going to be opening enrollment for the Write to Publish course. If you'd like to build a better platform, grow your audience, and sell more books, you can learn more about the course here.
What do you think? What is the best thing you've done to build your writing platform?
PRACTICE
For today's practice, share your story. You can choose to share your story on your blog, as a Facebook post, with sequential tweets, or even simply in the comments section of this post. After you share, leave a comment with a link to your story so we can read it!
Have fun!
Joe, this makes PERFECT SENSE. Excellent advice here.
My platform is magazine publishing. Serious writers need more than the blogosphere (that being so competitive and overwhelming that you
can drown in that ocean fast).
What I enjoy most about the print magazine venue is that you get to share, minus the reciprocal factor (which is ever so time consuming). And I’m sure that’s how Stephen King (who did get his start in magazines) moved on up in this world.
It’s just easier for me to write an essay or article or poem or story, figure out the audience for the intended publication, and send my stuff along without having to worry about feedback! (Unless it’s from the editor).
Thank you again for this awesome reminder of how I need to keep my head in the game without going under, and for being the blessing that you are to the world, Joe.
If I wasn’t in my car I’d stand up and cheer! I started reading about platforms a couple years ago and thought for a fiction writer it was the equivalent of busywork. I have a blog for the blog’s sake, a place to practice and connect but not really to build a platform. I didn’t like the attitude building a platform created in me toward people and toward writing either. Thanks for telling it straight!
Impressive that you’re commenting from your car. I hope you’re not driving!
VERY interest perspective. To be honest, this is the first time I’ve every heard anyone approach a ‘platform’ from this perspective. I’ve always assumed that platform=people, not blogs. I just used my blog as a way to reach out to people. I like the way you’re going with this, and look forward to hearing more.
Yesssss! I always ignore my blog, but now I feel empowered to ignore my bog. 🙂
Ha! I don’t think ignoring your blog is necessarily the right answer (although, it might be the right answer for your platform), but I do think you should blog the wrong way.
Wonderfull and informative post.
I started up my blog/Twitter/Facebook when I self-published over a year ago because, like everyone, I was told I needed a platform. Since then, the purpose of my blog has become more focussed on helping other Indies out with writing and publishing tips and I have started taking my reviews of other books more seriously with a site just for my book reviews.
Has it translated into book sales? Sort of.. My book reviews drive traffic to my books and I have just published a book on How To Self-Publish. I also get to read a whole lot of books for free 😉 The bigest benefit of my “platform” has been the network of other blogers and writers I have developed that has made me a better and more sucessful writer.
So I’m not sure how many of my blog/Twitter/Facebook followers buy my books, but I’m sell a whole lot more books than I was 6 months ago.
http://wordswithletidelmar.blogspot.com/
http://bookswithletidelmar.blogspot.com/
This is a great reminder, Joe! 🙂 Thanks! I am going through my edits and hope to put my short story up on Story Cartel sometime soon!
Do it. 🙂
Me too, am doing the same thing. Working on my editing, and then putting those stories on Story Cartel.
Thank you for writing this, Joe! I hope fiction writers take note. Just yesterday I read a tweet from an author lamenting the fact that twitter had only authors following other authors, and book sales were possible only when the book was given away. Funny how we’ve become our own worst enemies! Your point about creating trust (and, I would add, showing our unique personalities) was spot on. And now, back to writing (my novel, short stories) since that’s what writers do – and should be doing.
Thanks Diana. Yes, good point about showing your personality. To me, that’s the best way to earn trust and attention.
I shared a story tonight on my blog.
Helene Moore shared a link.
The Last Dance/Writing Practice helenemoore.com
The
Last Dance Diana knew this would be an extraordinary night. She took a
leisurely bath, filling the tub with scented oils. Vanilla and sweet
almond oil mixed with lavender surrounded her with la…
Gosh. That was well-written, Helene, but so sad!
Thanks for saying it was well written. I think because Howard’s diagnosis was a secret 20 years ago, I was thinking sad thoughts, and waiting for the second shoe to drop.
Thank goodness it didn’t.
This time around it’s not a secret, so all is well.
Joe, I needed to be reminded of this. I’ve spend a good deal of the summer months not writing. And my struggle was blogging vs. other writing, fiction vs. non-fiction, etc. Although I plan to continue blogging, I desire to focus upon fiction. Therefore, I need to leave the guilt behind for those times when I don’t blog, when I don’t engage in social media, when I don’t follow the “standard” rules to build a platform. Great post!
Right, Joan. It doesn’t have to be either or. You can share pieces of your story on your blog. That way it’s fiction vs. fiction. No conflict.
Joe, you are right on the money. Just talked to a new author who’d been told all the things he was “supposed” to do. His focus should be on finishing his story first and then taking it to readers.
As a fiction writer I’ve also seen the same thing you mention about lack of crossover. My self-publishing audience is completely different than my fiction audience.
Thanks for the great insight.
We have so many “supposed to’s” these days, don’t we?
Absolutely fascinating, Joe, and this is such a topical subject too, because we writers everywhere are struggling with the concept of platform. As an isolated writer, it’s difficult for me to know if I’m doing enough or the right things for that matter. This is actually the first time I’ve heard it said that it’s your stories that comprise platform rather than your efforts with social media.
Totally, Yvette. All that other stuff might support or maintain your platform, but it rarely builds your platform. But that doesn’t mean you can’t tweet your stories!
‘The best thing a writer can do for their career is: write. The best promotion is a good book, better promotion is more good books. Everything else is secondary.’
This morning, from Bob Mayer’s blog post.
You have just validated in one article what I’ve been feeling for the past six months. I have a blog that I’ve been putting time into for almost a year. I even took a TribeWriters course to help me redefine my platform and voice but deep down, something didn’t feel right and I couldn’t figure out what it was.
“That means most of the authors who started a blog to give writing advice, weren’t just postponing their own fiction writing to build their “platform,” they weren’t even building very good platforms in the first place.”
This is exactly where I’ve been spending my valuable writing and editing time. I don’t want that, I want a real audience of readers. I believe I know what’s missing from my platform now: my stories.
I just think you saved me from another year of aimless “writing advice” blogging. I think I’m going to do a blog post on this myself and link to you. Too many of us are still struggling with this one. Time to get back to basics and introduce the world to my stories.
I owe you one, Joe.
I prefer a balance, build a good foundation is a good job
here’s a short story i penned down recently. Please give feedback
hi, not able to send you the story… or have you received it?
I wanted to write articles. Magazines, ezines, etc. Maybe one day a nonfiction book. I have very little time for that. I’m too busy writing and promoting the blog. Keeping it fed with three posts a week, then pointing to it on Twitter, Google plus and Facebook, designing pinnable pics for pinterest and locating free graphics, top keywords, and redesigning my sidebar yet again. Some days I love my blog. Some days I hate it. Some days I wish I had more time to write better content. Other days I want to just sit down and write the book and worry about platform some other day. But then I contemplated starting all over….
Write the book. A good blog can’t make up for a lack of stories or some good and some bad stories. If blogging is not your way of sharing your story, you can always go door-to-door like a Jehovah’s witness.
Honestly, I’ve been using my blog to find critique partners, because they will make my books better. Building an audience would come as a bonus and I refuse to spend hours and hours chasing rabbits on the internet.
If you want your book to spread like wildfire, write a book that they can’t forget, that they can’t help but talk about. The medium is still the same: word of mouth. It just travels a hellovalot faster these days.
I totally agree with Katie Cross, platform=people, not blogs. I started a blog to write about writing while taking the story cartel course and realized, rather quickly, that it was the wrong way to approach my platform. More recently I’ve been using my blog to reach out to people who have read my stories and give them inside peeks to my writing world, not to explain how I write, why I write, or how to write better, but using it as an extension of the world I created in my stories. Social media is a great way to connect with people, but it can become such a chaotic pool of advertising and promotions. I was drowning in it, until I realized I don’t have to do it that way. I’ve met great people through Twitter and Goodreads because I’ve used them as a medium to connect with my true platform, which is of course my readers.
Totally agree! Have retweeted my stories are my platform. Here’s my latest publication, about a young woman who wakes up on the morning of her wedding to find her neck has grown as long as her arm:
http://www.fictionontheweb.co.uk/2013/08/the-neck-by-anne-goodwin.html
I also have an active website where all my publications can be accessed:
http://annegoodwin.weebly.com/
This makes so much sense to me. I have felt relatively comfortable building my non-fiction platform, but not so much my fiction platform. I’d much rather write stories than blog, unless I’m blogging about my stories. Thank you for posting this information.
Hallejuah Joe. Thank you for writing this post and for your support of the fiction writing community. Having read a lot about platform, I then observed how many successful fiction authors were selling lots of novels but didn’t really use social media nor blogging to do it. What they had was a catalogue of stories.
Having looked at Story Cartel when you first launched it, I’ll definitely give it greater consideration now as I believe you’ve captured the essence of the difference between what underpins the essence of fiction & non-fiction platforms.
Joe, I also really enjoyed your interview with Chip Ingram in the latest Bible Study Mag. Well done.
An important thing to remember is to use social media that’s right for you. To say that writer’s “should” use Facebook, Twitter, Pintarest, Tumblr, or whatever else is a huge misconception and epic waste of time.
I use Twitter frequently to share blog posts and articles that give great writing advice or say something interesting about literature/publishing. At first I started doing it just for the hell of it. But then it helped me connect with other writers who appreciate that I’ve promoted their writing. In a few cases I’ve developed more lasting connections with writers and consistent readers of my blog. Twitter is quick and easy, and ever since I started using Hoot Suite I’ve been much more efficient at posting tweets.
I do not use Facebook for my blog (but I have a personal account) nor do I use Pintarest, because there is absolutely no good reason whatsoever for me to use those. To build a following, I’d have to put more work into it than I would get out of it. Maybe down the road things will change, but for now it just doesn’t make sense.
The important thing is to do what makes sense for you.
This is very interesting. My focus has been entirely on building the platform for a technology writer so our strategy is similar but different. While you emphasize “sharing your story” a technology writer “shares information and expertise.”
As his Business & Social Media Manager I use every means possible to share his information and expertise, and to build him into a brand. Together we’ve managed to go from writing 5 books in 10 years, to over 25 books in 7 years.
Some of the keys to our success are:
1) To never stop learning
2) Not being afraid to make mistakes
3) Persevering even when it feels like it’s a waste of time
4) Not seeking glory for ourselves but focusing on the needs of others
Great post. I’ve often wondered if having a strong blog following corresponds to book sales. It’s interesting to see this perspective. I started a series where I serially blog one of my books on Fridays, chapter by chapter. I’d love your opinion on this approach. My launch was very strong, but readership response has declined with each chapter…I’m assured people still are engaged in the story but I’m wondering if I can sustain their interest by publishing this way. In any case, I’m committed now! http://thekickboxingwriter.blogspot.ca/search/label/Fiction%20Fridays
I think serialization is the future, Holli. But for the time being, blogs have a hard time as carriers of fiction for some reason. It might be the context, blogs are generally journals and dispensers of advice, not places we go for fictional stories. But good for you for experimenting and putting your work out there.
Thanks, Joe! I had one bad week, but other than that, the momentum seems to be building nicely.
Love your article. Here’s my story: Twelve year old Kayla Anderson is devastated when she loses her father during a school shooting. Dealing with a move, frenemies, boy troubles, and a life threatening event at the Oregon Caves are just some of the obstacles in her life. Read my stories for middle school girls to find out how she not only overcomes these trials, but ends up being a hero in the process. Visit http://www.angeladusenberry.com for details. Book titles: “UNDERCOVER ANGELS: Kayla’s Big Move,” and “UNDERCOVER ANGELS: The Oregon Caves Trip.” http://www.amazon.com/UNDERCOVER-ANGELS-Kaylas-Move-ebook/dp/B00632QWK6/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1365699347&sr=1-1&keywords=undercover+angels+kayla%27s+big+move
We (Jason and Lara Collinsworth) wrote a cannabis superhero adventure novel called The Unrevealed and are working on our platform to get an agent. Here’s Jason’s personal story of how medical marijuana saved Jason’s life.
https://www.facebook.com/theunrevealedseries
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I’ll definitely give it greater consideration now as I believe you’ve captured the essence of the difference between what underpins the essence of fiction & non-fiction platforms. Seahawks Beanie
I highly recommend giving Prose a try: https://theprose.com/
Here I just started giving a glimpse to my novel with the process of writing it in my blog
http://www.aninditaswritingright.blogspot.com
I like all you’ve said about this mysterious thing called ‘platform’. Thanks Joe, for clearing up some ‘impossible’ notions I had about having a platform, and that sharing a story is an imporrtant way to promote oneself. I don’t have a blog, mainly because I feel it is a committment that I can’t handle. i don’t know what to blog about and how often to post. I don’t know the first steps, either.
I often feel ‘alone’ when writing my stories, but, since I am a determined person, I carry on with, ‘Where’s there’s a will, there’s a way’, and that to keep on writing depends on me. I love encouragement.
Being a member of TWP is what motivates me.
I read member’s posts although I don’t always comment or give feedback.
I have little time to dedicate to writing. but it is not a good excuse.
Thanks so much for your mini course. Much appreciated.
Your article was timely. I have a first draft of crime/psych novel done. Months ago I decided to create a blog with a world perspective of the main character, which happens to my perspective. I’ve only recently got the site up and have posted six articles (Medium calls them short stories due to their length). I do plan a couple of nonfiction ebooks to build an email list. These will be written fast etc — the way Hyatt and others talk about. I did all this because of potential cross-over to fiction. Will there be? I have never been so sure. I do look at the nonfiction ebooks as possible cash, which would be nice. But just as I was thinking about the time spent and potential cross-over and how I can possibly target the fiction reader, you post this article. Mmm…I agree with you but still pondering about it. Thanks for writing it.
Thanks for this Joe. I also feel bad about not giving my blog the attention it deserves. So here’s a link to a story – It’s flash fiction.
https://jennyyoung27.wordpress.com/2017/04/18/flash-fiction/
i was really thinking about what a fuss social media seems
it only buys me sympathy blessings!!
I’m so confused. I started a writing blog a few months back. It’s not a teaching blog, it’s sharing my story of how I came to be a writer and such. There are a couple blogs that are encouragement. I’ve also shared a couple of short stories. I don’t have a mailing list as yet and not sure where to go with the blog except eventually to sell short stories and novels from it. I think I’ve found your site here at a good time except as I said I’m confused with how to continue. Thought I had to build a platform.
I purchased a couple of your books on short story writing and am learning a lot about that genre.
Thank you for this post.
Ouch. This is one that should have been updated before mailing it out. Many agents expect platforms with newsletters to accrue email lists and Stephen King is notorious for his political tweets. How times have changed.
I’m working on a website where I can more easily share what I’m working on. For now, I’ve been using Writer’s Cafe and haven’t had a lot of success. I would love some readers, though: http://www.writerscafe.org/writing/alicyngrace/1915668/
Hi, here is my link to my story what i have writter, i would like all of you to read it and let me know what are your thoughts about it.
http://articlesstoriesandpoems.blogspot.in/2017/10/short-story-4-bundle-of-joy.html