Make Your Path, Mark Your Path, Walk Your Path: Building your Platform
Stephen King says: "I'm convinced fear is at the root of most bad writing."
And it's so true. Look at yourself, deeply, look at yourself. Where is your writing career? Where do you want it to be? How do you get there?
Not easy is it?
I had an idea for my first novel – a very strong dream that wouldn’t let me go. So I wrote it. Then I found a critique group and they tore it apart. Of course, at the time, I knew very little about writing for publishing. I wrote from the heart, but never edited with my head. Now, I am a member of several writing critique groups and get my work dissected quite a bit and I smile through it. Why? Because I’ve learned that I cannot grow as a writer without learning and I can’t learn without overcoming my fear of getting my work “out there”.
But I’ve come a long way over the past few years. How did I get here from there?
Make your path
What do you love doing? What are you passionate about? Passionate enough to write about it several times a week? Passionate enough to write passionately?
Your name needs to be out there. Find markets and methods to accomplish this goal. Editors and agents like authors who have followers already reading them, following them online, and a way to get their name noticed. That’s called building a “platform”.
Make a list. Here's mine:
1. Writing: I attend four local live writing groups, many online writing groups, attend many local and national writing conferences, and share information about writing jobs, contests, groups, workshops, etc. So what did I do? I searched for ways to capitalize on my ability to share local information about writing. I applied to several places to write articles on local writing events. The one I found that best suited me was a gig at the Fort Worth Examiner (Examiner.com) . There, I'm found at Fort Worth Writing Examiner
2. Speculative Fiction: I write science fiction and fantasy, so why not write about it? Again, I applied at several places, and am now on the Dallas Speculative Fiction Examiner where I write about speculative fiction, interview authors, and just anything that tickles my fancy.
3. Hockey: I love hockey. Hubby got me hooked when he took me to a Dallas Stars. I learned hockey over the past few years and for someone who can't ice skate, I have to say, I know quite a bit about the game and the players. I applied for and got a gig as the Fort Worth Hockey Examiner.
Mark your path
Find your path inside you, bring it out and then find a home for it. Where to look?
A. Online blog sites: You can use easy blog sites like Livejournal, Blogger , Windows Live, MySpace, Facebook, etc. However, I want you to consider buying your own domain name and making your own website. It’s neither as scary nor as difficult as it sounds. Contact me if you need more help with this.
B. Canned blog programs: My best advice, if you're not into writing your own HTML, is to look at programs like /Typepad, etc. They are free and relatively easy to use.
Mediabistro.com : Look in their jobs sections. They have both local and "anywhere" writing gigs.
Yahoo! Groups, Google groups, etc.: search for writing groups there and find ones that specialize in jobs, contests, conventions, and workshops for writers.
For jobs: PayingWriterJobs, Freelance Writing Jobs, Technical Writers & Editors, just to get you started.
For networking: Some of the same above, and any other groups that are in your area of interest, neighboring area, or of authors, editors, and agents you admire, try: Writing & Publishing, Mike's Writing Workshop, Write Workshop.
Newspapers: Check your local and not-so-local newspapers for writing gigs. Even blogging spots that don't pay, if they have a large following, and if they don't take up all of your time, can be big pluses to getting your name out there. Many local papers are going to enews. To search outside your immediate area, try OnlineNewspapers.com, News & Newspapers Online. Try the virtual news media who are finding niches in local and national news: Examiner.com , NowPublic.com, DigitalSpy.com (who is coming to the US). You won't get rich quick, but you will get your name out there and provide an audience for your books.
Meetup.com: Joining groups here will allow you another venue to get your name out there. Post about your trials and tribulations, attend local meetings, welcome new members, even start your own group if you wish.
Social media networks: Keep those social media networks going too. Twitter, Facebook , MySpace , Xanga LiveJournal, Blogger , and many more. Learn to use programs that allow you to post to several (or all) venues at once, like Tweetdeck , Hootsuite, via email which requires a bit of setup, etc.
Share your writing: Link up with Digg, Sphinn, and others (these also go on your website so others can link up). Digg is where you submit your articles to share. Sphinn is a social site for search and interactive marketers. It's designed to allow you to share and discover news stories, read and take part in discussions, discover events of interest and network. All usually have widgets to put on your website.
Search your area for local writing groups you can physically attend and get to know other writers in your area. Writers live enough in a vacuum. Writing can be a lonely job, but it doesn't have to be. While we have to live inside our heads to write, we need an outlet as well, and getting to know other writers is a great way to accomplish several things—network, make friends, get off your duff and out of the house. I attend four local writing groups, each with its own particular atmosphere and focus:
The DFW Writers' Workshop which meets every Wednesday night for all writers (they also have a yearly writers conference , bringing in agents and editors for members to pitch to).
The North Texas Speculative Fiction Workshop, which meets once a month focusing on my chosen genre, speculative fiction. We attend many local writing conventions as a group, as well as enjoy movies, writing meet ups, and other fun stuff. A few of us even made it to San Jose for the World Fantasy Convention.
The North Texas Romance Writers, a local chapter of the Romance Writers of America ®. If you don't write romance, don't dismiss RWA ® offhand. They have wonderful speakers each month and a comprehensive yearly conference as well as a yearly conference by my local chapter. Published writers, agents, and editors share their wisdom through this venue and it behooves us as writers to make use of this great resource.
The Writers' Guild of Texas, a local writers group that meets monthly with speakers from all types of writing.
This sounds like a lot, and it is, but take it one step at a time. You don't have to keep any writing gig or website you don't like. Try new things. Experiment. That's what networking is all about, getting your name out there, making contacts, which sounds so business-like and boring, but it can really be fun if you let it. Don't force yourself into a square whole if you're a round peg. (Remember stay with your passions.)
How did this work for me and others?
- A writer friend of mine, Bill Ledbetter, uses his passion for science by attending his local National Space Society meetings and attends their conferences around the nation to learn more about science for his science fiction stores and even gets some gigs writing about science.
- A local author friend, Carolyn Williamson, follows her passion for travel by teaching writing on cruise ships. How fun is that? She has met several agents and editors at the RWA National Convention and has a manuscript under review with an agent.
- NTSFW member Gerald Warfield learned what Writers' of the Future Contest required from another writer who attends NTSFW and Gerald just won Honorable Mention on his first submission.
- I get great contacts from attending live and online writers groups. I got a gig as a part-time copyeditor at a local small press, several gigs as editor for individual authors, a gig as a newsletter editor, several gigs as a book reviewer, my first ever article published by an editor/member that got me started on the benefit of articles, my first ever agent pitch (and manuscript request!), my second ever agent pitch and manuscript request for my second book, a speaking gig, three regular columns in a national news media, guest blogging gigs, and more. Last year, I was asked to speak at a local writers' group, and I turned them down. Again, that insecurity beast reared its ugly head. This year, I won't turn them down, and not only will I not turn them down, I'm developing my own writing classes and one of my new goals is to feed my love of travel by touring the world sharing what I have learned.
The opportunities are endless! But you have to get yourself out there. Start slow and small. Dip your toe in the water by attending one group, making just one regular web home, finding just one writing gig, write just one blog for someone else, make just one Twitter account. Just one.
And before you know it, you'll be the one invited to guest blog, teach a class, attend workshops as a panelist, take a cruise, or fly overseas and teach U.S. expats about writing.
Better yet, when the editor or agent asks you, "What is your platform?" and "How will you help market your book?" you'll already have the answer because you are already there. And when that agent or editor has to make a choice between your book and some other author who doesn't network, who isn't known, who doesn't already have a jump start on an audience, who do you think that agent or editor will choose?
Remember, keep writing. All the social media networking in the world won't replace that book that didn't get written. Enjoy your path to networking by networking smart and using your passion as your guide.
Happy writing and networking!
Pat Hauldren writes three columns for the Examiner: Dallas Speculative Fiction Examiner, Fort Worth Hockey Examiner, Fort Worth Writing Examiner , and writes for the North Texas eNews. She is a former board member and newsletter editor of the North Texas Romance Writers and the DFW Writers' Workshop. She is co-founder of the North Texas Speculative Fiction Workshop. She is a copyeditor at Cyberwizard Productions and a freelance editor and writer at EditAlley.com. You can find out more about Pat Hauldren at her website: PatHauldren.com or find her on Twitter as "alleypat" and "PatHauldren", Yahoo as "alleypat", Skype as "Pat.Hauldren", Facebook as "alleypat", Xanga as “alleypat”, and MySpace as "alleypat".