Platform Diving

by Paul Reali

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“If I hear the word ‘platform’ again I’m going to scream.”

So said a writer in the Charlotte Lit community who had read, yet again, the supposedly non-negotiable advice that a writer who had not built a massive platform of followers before they had published was likely never to be.

This particular advice implies that publishers want to know they can sell five thousand copies of your book without doing much of anything.

Is it true? Yes, no, and maybe … depending on what you’re writing.

• If you’re writing a trade book about your area of expertise—business, self-help, life hacks, whatever—you need an established audience who already consumes your content. That is to say: yes, you need a platform.
• If you’re writing a first novel or memoir—and you’re not already famous as a writer, celebrity, influencer, or other public figure—then the answer is no. No reasonable publisher would expect you to have followers.
• Somewhere in the middle is the maybe, as in maybe it could help—it certainly couldn’t hurt—but it’s one tiny factor in a rather complex game with rules no one has written down or actually agrees upon.

The bottom line: when you choose how to focus your time, trade book writers should build their platform first, while debut novelists and memoirists should concentrate first on writing the best book they can.

But, novelists and memoirists, you might leave room for a little maybe. To the extent that a) your life permits and b) you find enjoyment in it, engage with the virtual writing and reading community by being a good literary citizen. For instance, follow writers, agents, editors, and presses on social media. Engage positively in online conversations. Like and repost generously. And when you post, be interesting and helpful.

You won’t end up with a platform per se, but you’ll eventually have a book to sell, and you might not want your first appearance in the virtual world to be when you’re hawking something.

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