Comments on: A Writer’s Platform – Want to Publish? Start Building Yours

By: Bill Henderson

Bill Henderson — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 17:26:42 +0000

That would be great, Jerry. I’ll email you.

By: Jerry Lopper

Jerry Lopper — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:08:56 +0000

I’m starting a new website exclusively for fiction writers to give an easy platform for those reluctant to blog/twitter/etc. and as an addition to those who are using other venues.

I’d like your approval to link to your blog, perhaps quoting some of your ideas, etc. I hope to hear from you.

By: Bill Henderson

Bill Henderson — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:57:05 +0000

There are always new ways. Right now there are many social networks you’ve never heard of, small but doing fine. Worlds within worlds. Five years from now people will have moved on, but so will you. I’m not sure whether it’s the increased pace of change or being lost in a crowd that’s dismaying. There’s nothing new about change itself. As for survival, the point is, even though the noise level of platform activity is up, there are more ways than ever to build your own following online, more ways than ever to attract people to your writing–more ways to survive.

By: shilpa

shilpa — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 07:47:46 +0000

True. I am writing my first novel and I am quite wary of the rejections that would flow through. Building a platform definitely seems a must nowadays. However, imagine every writer doing the same thing for the same purpose, how long can one survive in that crowd where everyone wants to be followed? Agreed that we have cheaper options on internet to build a platform, but are there new ways to do it anymore? Wouldnt people move on to greener pastures?

By: Bill Henderson

Bill Henderson — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:11:35 +0000

True. One can even envision a day coming when fiction resembles today’s indie music scene, with singer-songwriters and bands everywhere being heard via the Internet, and the big labels wondering where their dominance went. And to those who say “but what about the big money?” I can tell you from experience there IS no big money, unless you manage to hit a rare vein of public acceptance–or else work a genre ingeniously and relentlessly. “But how could we live and work without major publication as a goal?” Ask any poet.

By: Danielle Ingram

Danielle Ingram — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:19:59 +0000

As a creative writer with a passion for writing novels, it could be easy to get into thinking that you must write a novel, send it to hundreds of publishing houses and hopefully one of them will like it.

These days it does not have to be done like this, the internet is widely available to so many people meaning that at any one time hundreds of people could potentially be reading your literature.

By: Bill Henderson

Bill Henderson — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:37:31 +0000

Platform is a huge topic. There’s a forest of resources, tools, howto knowledge out there, with new stuff hitting the internet on a daily basis. It’s fascinating, and I plan to be out there soon with my own particular slant–namely, how independent creative artists (especially novelists, of course) can tap into this resource-rich kudzu patch and pull together what they need to build their own AWESOME platforms.

As for sharing your draft material with blog readers, I’m of two minds. I’ve done it, and I continue to do it, but in a private way. If you’ve been published and already have some loyal readers, why not? But if you’re trying to get your first publication, I’d say there are two strategic points you want to keep in mind: (1) readers will care less about your posted work than they would if you were a “published author;” I can hear the howls of protest because I’m implying a certain snobbery, but it’s true. Having tried to promote my work both before and after I was published, I know this to be a fact. (2) Your goal then should be publication. (Even if you end up going the iUniverse route, believe it or not, your work will still take on some cachet simply by being between the covers of a real book.) In this situation, “best foot forward” is the rule. Be wary of posting anything you wouldn’t be confident of dropping on an agent’s desk marked FINAL.

By: Whitney

Whitney — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:53:24 +0000

I look forward to reading more of your thoughts on establishing the writer’s platform. For the most part, I scribble in a journal to get my thoughts down, but I am also currently using my blog as a forum for sharing and experimenting with samples of my writing. Do you think that ultimately it gives too much away to share drafts from my writing process with others, or is it a constructive endeavor for beginning writers?

By: patrick

patrick — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:18:31 +0000

It can be frustrating to constantly prove your own existence, but that’s the name of the game. But, as you say, there are so many ways to do it for FREE now, why not put yourself out there?

By: Coincidence? | Geek Treasure

Coincidence? | Geek Treasure — Sun, 31 May 2009 11:40:56 +0000

[...] Henderson managed to do this to me this time. In one of his recent articles, he wrote, “If you are 26 and not yet heard from, get busy,” with regards to having a [...]