F. P. Dorchak

Speculative Fiction Author

Platform?

by

Now, This Platform Has Legs! (By Tu Foto [originally posted to Flickr as Acrylic Heels] [CC BY 2.0 {http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0}], via Wikimedia Commons)
Now, This Platform Has Legs! (By Tu Foto [originally posted to Flickr as Acrylic Heels] [CC BY 2.0 {http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0}], via Wikimedia Commons)
Wow, how things can change!

You know, when I first heard “platform,” it meant “something you stood for,” like fighting school bullying. Even for fiction writers. Fiction writers were also told they needed “their platform.” And “social media” was nowhere in any of the definitions I’d heard. In fact, it was specifically called out as not being a “platform.”

Now I hear, “platform” is your social media stance.

Wow, seriously? How did things change so drastically? If you look at the two links, you’ll see Jane Friedman’s definitions are from 2012, and Jann Alexander’s are from June 2015 (with her definition coming from Karlyn Hixson, Marketing Manager at St. Martin’s).

So…as you can plainly see from Jane’s first sentence, everyone defines it differently.

But, whether or not the definition did change (it very well might have)…this new version of a fiction author’s platform actually makes far more sense to me…and in today’s Electronic Age, one I can’t really argue with…at least for fiction writers. If you have some other method to your madness in getting your words out there, more power to you!

And, feel free to be picky—you don’t have to do everything.

Pick what you feel comfortable with and focus on those. If you don’t want a Google profile because Google requires an electronic DNA sample, fine, skip Google. I mess around a lot in Twitter and post blogs (obviously), have an Author page on Faceplace, and frequent Pinterest. I also have a Goodreads and LinkedIn presence, but don’t spend too much time there (it’s primarily a matter of time). I really tried to put out a newsletter, but I just do not have the time not only to write the danged thing, but to format and mess around with layouts (yes, I’m sure once you get the layout, you just keep it, but still…). And I simply don’t have enough info to put into a newsletter. I put that info into my blogs.

So, if “platforms” now mean social media, hooray for fiction writers, cause if just made life a smidge easier—but don’t feel like you have to do everything or be everywhere at once. Create those accounts you want and focus on those aspects of social media you’re really good at. In other words, do as much or as little as you see fit.

This is a definition of “platform” that has some legs for fiction writers!

#Platform

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Comments

  1. Platform is a more modest way of saying pedestal, as in: put you on a pedestal. .. look up to… find admiration enough to buy your product. At least that’s one way to look at it… the higher your pedestal, the more people will see you. The more people see you, the more people will likely buy your product. Make sense?

    • Either definition Makes sense”…I just don’t like that a FICTION writer had to have some “pedestal,” such as “I’m fighting carpal tunnel syndrome.” I was told this once (“What do you stand for?”). That’s what’s always bugged the crap out of me. Now, a nonfiction writer, sure, I get that. But a fiction writer?! And maybe the agent telling me this didn’t even really know what “platform” was supposed to mean, when it first being bandied about.

      But, that said, I much more prefer your definition, Karen, thanks! That’s a great one! And, for fiction writers, it fits in with the whole social media angle that seems to be the new “pedestal”!