Friday Fun is a group post from the writers of the NHWN blog. Each week, we’ll pose and answer a different, get-to-know-us question. We hope you’ll join in by providing your answer in the comments.
QUESTION: Part 1: Are you building your author platform? Part 2: IF you are, how are you doing it?
Lisa J. Jackson: I’ve been building my author platform for a while now. I use the pseudonym Lisa Haselton for all my fiction. I started on MySpace with an author page, but that has since gone by way of the dinosaur. Right now I have a Facebook author page and a blog that get my name out there. Also, I use my pseudonym in my role as chat moderator at The Writer’s Chatroom to also build name recognition. I currently have short stories published; no novels yet, but it’s never too early to start building the platform!
Deborah Lee Luskin: My author platform is secondary to my first love, which is writing. I publish about five essays a month: two are broadcast on Vermont Public Radio, two appear on this blog, and one appears in our local, independent, newspaper. These are a great way to reach and build an audience between novels, which I complete with much lesser frequency! I’m also on Facebook, with a page for myself and for my published novel, Into the Wilderness, and I have a wonderful webpage, which averages 50+ hits/day – which adds up to more people than I know. I have plans to update the website, to consolidate my Facebook pages, to learn how to tweet – and when it becomes imperative, I will. For now, it’s more important I just keep writing.
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Julie Hennrikus: I have a Facebook page, and I use Twitter. A lot. I also have a blog (which I am terrible about keeping up with, but I try). And, of course, I am here. This year I am the President of Sisters in Crime New England, and I just joined Mystery Writers of America. All of these add to my platform, as does the rest of my life. I use social media for my StageSource life, and for Sisters in Crime, so it is all part of the practice. My social media mix is that you should tweet, share/like 80% for and about other people. 20% for yourself. So a lot of building a platform is being part of a community, and paying it forward for the day when I am (please please please) releasing a novel.
Wendy Thomas: It’s so important to build your platform. It’s one of the first things any agent is going to ask you about when you submit a manuscript. Basically your platform should answer the question of why you are qualified to write what you write. It also answers the secondary question of “how many people could potentially buy your work?”
To be qualified in writing means that you have to get your name out there in your field and it has to be out there often. To accomplish this I’m on Twitter, Facebook, and write for several blogs. I write for newspapers, magazines, have been featured on TV and on radio. I teach classes and give presentations. I try to comment on others blogs in the same genre as mine (quite honestly, that’s my weakest link simply due to time constraints.) I also send out press releases to local publications when I have something that is newsworthy.
At one point I was spending about 2 hours a day just on building my platform, I don’t have to allocate that much time anymore, but that’s only because I spent the time building up a solid foundation. Like it or not, part of writing is selling your expertise to the world and the only way to do that is to market your work.
Jamie Wallace: I have not yet begun to build a platform as a fiction author, but I have put a lot of time and effort into building my platform as a marketing writer. Like Wendy, I write regularly for multiple blogs (mine as well as collaborative sites) and have guest posted on others. I have been interviewed on podcasts, presented and co-presented webinars, given in-person trainings and talks, and spoken on industry panels. I am also very engaged in social media, primarily Twitter. (Facebook, for me, is all about being social (not about business), and although it’s making some strides, LinkedIn is still a bit too stodgy for me.) In the world of my “day job,” I can trace almost all of my current work back to social media interactions. For instance, I met a woman several years ago while taking an online course about white paper writing. A year or so later, she referred me to an agency who then hired me for a project and has since hired me for about a dozen more. In another case, a friend who I originally met in that same online class gave me the heads up on an alert from a writing mentor who was going to be in town and was inviting people to join him for brunch. Both my friend and I showed up (and had a wonderful time). During the event, I connected with the woman sitting to my right. She and I have become great friends and she constantly refers work to me.
If you’d like to read more about my thoughts on this topic, you can check out my four-part series on building the writer’s platform. You may also like Building Your Social Network from Scratch. 
Good luck!
As someone of freshman status in the writing world, this was incredibly helpful. Thank you (all!) for sharing and for considering how to expand your audience in both hardcopy and virtual arenas. And speaking of platform, check out my blog: http://www.TheVeryHungry.Wordpress.com
Thanks ladies! Great kick off for the weekend. I’m going to spend some time reveiwing my platform (and find some missing pieces !)
Kassie aka “Mom”
You fine ladies (I hope I am not offending with that) are a wonderful source of knowledge. I relaized late last year I needed to broaden my reach in the writing world about the same time I read a post by someone who said if you are not seeing rejection letters you are not trying. You cannot expect anyone to know you if you do not try. It is so nice to connect with other writers and get encouragement from those who have enjoyed the success of publishing. I sent off my first manuscript to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Win, Lose or Draw it is a mighty step forward for me.
Great advice! Thank you. I still have issues with Twitter, but I try. I need to spend more time on my platform, however seem to be engaged in my writing most of the time.
I’m a total novice when it comes to a platform and have not reached the point where I can research the subject.
I’ve got a website, two Facebook pages, a Twitter account, and I’m on LinkedIn. Since my ‘launch’ isn’t scheduled until May 19, I’m not doing much with anything but LinkedIn. The challenge is finding time to manage all that PLUS write PLUS take care of my 3 and 4 year old!
I blog regularly, have a facebook page, use Pinterest, and try to use twitter. (Twitter is tough for me). It is really hard to work a full time job, and try to make a name as a writer. I have published two short stories, but my first full length novel will be launched in a couple of months…..trying to get fired up and ready to go.
Some great advice here. Thank you!
I’ve only got a sometimes-too-obnoxious blog which was not originally intended to be a platform for my fiction work but that could change. I also have twitter which I’m probably not using correctly either.
A good Platform can make or break a new author – but it takes time to learn the right things to do and how to do them … but I agree, it is vital to a writers success … I have thus learned from experience.
I’m not a writer per say but an English major who loves to write and recently started a blog kind of as a means of branching out and putting my writing out there. This advice is really helpful I do believe that social media is the way to go in order to promote yourself, regardless of what career path you’re taking! Checking out Jamie Wallace’s blog on the Writer’s platform as we speak!