Platform Resolutions for Writers 2010

Before writers establish an author platform, they typically establish a writer platform. Over the past decade, thousands of writers have parlayed established influence into traditional book deals. Landing a traditional book deal is still an effective way to exponentially increase your credibility and visibility.

Your “platform” refers to what you do in the world with your professional expertise that makes you visible and influential in the world. Having friends on Facebook or followers on Twitter is not your platform, unless the majority of those people know who you are, what you do, and are enthusiastic about your work.

I thought I would offer some advice about how to slowly and steadily establish a lasting platform. You may note the lack of fanaticism in this advice and the emphasis on enduring success instead. I’m a mother and a wife, a freelancer, a speaker, a teacher, and a blogger, so aiming for balance is the only way I can afford to work if I plan on sticking around for the long haul.

This advice has worked consistently for my students over the past several years. I think you will find that a grounded, step-by-step approach works just as well for you if you choose to follow it:

1. Develop a platform topic that you love and can work on tirelessly for the next few years. Your passion of the moment should come in second to the topic you could delve into deeply for a good, long time. Prior professional education and a depth of personal experience are going to be a boon to your platform if you have an eye on a future book deal.
2. Hang back from establishing a blog on your topic until you have cultivated a wealth of content and experience working with others on specialty-related activities that lend credibility and trust to your name. Others will tell you to start blogging immediately, but don’t, if you want to be efficient with your time and money.
3. Instead, gain authority by seeking publication in established, highly visible publications both in print and online that serve your target audience. Avoid the kind of publishing that anyone can accomplish, like posting on article sites, and work on your professional communication skills instead. By all means, avoid the content mills offering writers slave wages with the promise of future earnings.
4. Don’t begin any kind of marketing campaign for any product or service offerings until you have established yourself as a go-to person on your topic, again saving you time and money. Before you look at ways to serve others directly, channel your expertise into the best service methods possible based on your strengths and weaknesses. This is a meaty topic that is covered in-depth in my book, Get Known Before the Book Deal, Use Your Personal Strengths to Grow an Author Platform (Writer’s Digest Books 2008).
5. Then, develop a product or service that can become one of several multiple income streams over time that will support your goal of becoming a published author. For example, teaching classes over the years has allowed me to re-invest more of the money I earn from writing books back into book marketing. Make sure any offerings you produce are released conscientiously and are integrated into the professional writing you already do. Otherwise, you will seem like you are all over the place and just trying to score a buck.
6. Don’t expect your platform to support you financially for at least one or two years, as you micro-invest in it, re-invest in it as it grows, and expand your visibility.
7. Once you have a professional publication track record in your niche topic, then it’s time to hang your online shingle. I’ve seen this accomplished in as little as six months by exceptionally focused students. Take a portion of the money you’ve earned writing and invest it in a professional quality online presence.
8. A low-cost way to do this is to purchase your name as a URL and use a hosting site like GoDaddy.com to host a Wordpress.org blog. I use the Thesis Theme, which you can see in action at my blog. In this way, a blog can also serve as your website where you post your published clips, offerings and bio. If you don’t have a ton of money to invest in the look of your site, you can always pay a designer later.
9. Delay partnering with others on joint ventures until you have a clear idea of your own strengths and weaknesses in and around your topic. And when you do partner with others be extremely discriminating. Make sure the partnership is going to be win-win-win for everyone involved.
10. Start an e-mail newsletter or e-zine with those who are most interested in your topic. Build your list by invitation and then grow it into a permission-based following over time. Create an expected, ongoing dialogue that is mutually beneficial to everyone involved and your list will grow.
11. Now you are ready to start blogging. And yes, I mean while you continue to do all the things we’ve already discussed. Be sure to zoom-focus your blog on what you have to add to the conversation that is already going on about your topic. Don’t just share information; make an impact. Make your blog a go-to, up-to-date resource for your audience.
12. Partner selectively with others who serve the same general audience that you do with integrity and humility. Spend time getting to know folks before you decide to partner with them. You can’t afford to taint the reputation you have worked so hard to establish by partnering with just anyone.
13. Now that you have an established niche and audience, definitely participate in social networking. I like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn because they all offer something unique. The best way to learn is to jump in, spend an hour online each week until you are up and running. Follow the instructions for getting started provided by social media expert Meryl K. Evans.

This start-up plan for a writer platform will eventually blossom into an author platform. From start to finish, implementing a solid platform following this advice should take you about a year. By the end of that year, you will have established yourself as a serious contender in both professional and online circles, without killing yourself for some huckster’s promise of overnight success.

Have a plan. Leave a legacy in words, connections and professional influence. If you are consistent, by the time the year is done, you will have made effective use of your time and money in 2010.  I wish you the best of luck in your platform-building efforts!

Christina Katz is the author of Get Known Before the Book Deal, Use Your Personal Strengths to Grow an Author Platform and Writer Mama, How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids for Writer’s Digest Books. She has written hundreds of articles for national, regional, and online publications, presents at literary and publishing events around the country, and is a monthly columnist for the Willamette Writer. Katz publishes a weekly e-zine, The Prosperous Writer, and hosts The Northwest Author Series. She holds an MFA in writing from Columbia College Chicago and a BA from Dartmouth College. A “gentle taskmaster” to her hundred or so students each year, Katz channels over a decade of professional writing experience into success strategies that help writers get on track and get published. Learn more at ChristinaKatz.com.

The Way Home

By Shari Downhill

It took me almost five decades to realize that Hallmark has Mothers Day all wrong.  

Okay…mostly wrong. It’s not just about mothers. From today forward I declare Mothers Day as a day to recognize Mothering in all forms.

Don’t get me wrong, honoring the women who gave birth to us, kept us clean, fed and protected, schooled, and alive through our teenage years, stood by us through our 20s, 30s and on is something we should attend to daily. But Mothers Day should be bigger than that.

Mothers Day shouldn’t be reserved exclusively for women who have delivered human children into this world through biological procreation. It should be a day to honor the Universality of Mothering - the maternal heart muscle that keeps the juice flowing so that this life is more than survival.

Mothering is maternal nature put into action. Mothering is a verb. And it is present anytime life is nurtured in any form.

In dictionary terms Mothering is defined as nurturing, watching over, to foster, protect, treasure, tend, discipline, educate, feed, instruct, nourish, raise, rear, support, and sustain. That’s a big load for one woman. 

As I’ve thought about that, watching my daughters from across the dinner table, listening to my son over the telephone, watching my youngest in a fitful sleep, I am deeply appreciative that I do not, and have never, stood alone in the raising of my children.

My children have thrived thanks to a host of nurturers who have wrapped willing hearts around them. Their paths have been illuminated by an amazing array of people I know only by brief mention of a name. Some I will never know.

These people did not birth my children, but they have Mothered them. They have nurtured them, taught them, protected them, supported and sustained them. And I am forever grateful to the women and men who have nourished my children’s spirits and minds. This, to me, is authentic Mothering. And it’s not gender specific.

Mothering is that strong hand leading us across an uncertain bridge. It’s the patience to wait when we stumble and the wisdom to let that happen. It’s the reassuring voice when we disintegrate and a quiet presence when words don’t fit. My own nurturers have been many - older men and women who have stepped up beside me when I needed them, and slipped away when I no longer did.  In looking back, their grace in knowing that timing still amazes me.

I have been Mothered by friends and strangers my own age and younger. I’ve learned this phenomenon is not limited to unidirectional elder to youth. When there is a need, Mothering happens regardless of age.

The greatest Mothering of all has come from my own children. They have nurtured me, fed my soul, pushing me to the limits of what I could withstand. They have taught me the value of my life, supported me in my false starts and loved me through my stumbling. When I have been too weary to go on they have lent me strength through their love, humor and loyalty. When I have erred they have mended the wounds with forgiveness. All of these things define Mothering.
 

So, from today on I propose that we celebrate Mothering Day and at least for this one day we recognize the fact that Mothering is about taking care of one another.

That’s a big job – one that takes all of us.

~~~

The Expanding Social Media Universe

Just a few short months ago Twitter was confounding to me. I had no idea why ANYONE would even care about it. Now? I’m engaged in a several week long online social media class learning not only about Twitter, but about Facebook, LinkedIn, social media triangulation, strategy and planning.

The first question most of us seem to be asking is: Why should I even CARE about social media as a serious business marketing strategy?

Why? Because networking and interconnectivity provides an opportunity for me to reach out as far as I possibly can into my world. It expands my physical universe beyond almost any borders I can think of. It blows the doors off of what before I considered formidable entrepreneurial hurdles.

While it’s still admittedly easy to get lost in the seemingly endless social media rabbit holes - alluring websites, industry forums, updates, downloads, & all things new and flashy in the IT world, I’ve found specialists in the area of self pacing and self control who’ve coached me through the thick of it. I no longer feel like I’m teetering on the edge of the information abyss. Now, I watch and listen before I plunge. And when I jump…I’m thoroughly loving the experience.

John Souza and his crew at Social Media Magic University offers a great series of classes on fully utilizing social media/networking for business development. I just finished the second of 11 sessions and believe I've already achieved 100% ROI for what I initially spent on registration.

The first thing I would recommend you do (this is going to blow you away...) Do what’s called a “Vanity Search” on yourself or your company. Go ahead. Google yourself.

I was FLOORED to see over 300,000 Google hits on my name alone. As I started making my way through them, I was amazed at what was floating around out there on the web about me. Fortunately, the vast majority of it related to my writing and business life. But, wouldn’t it be good to know if something was out there that could potentially affect your business or consultancy in a negative way? In my next blog post I’ll introduce a subject matter expert who has made a successful business out of helping you protect your image on the internet.

And the crowd goes WILD!...Finally

With such an extended absence it would be a fair question to ask ~ Do innovative epiphanies really take so long to manifest? Not at all. I'm back at the page (blog) with a lot of incredible thoughts and resources forthcoming in the world of Innovation.

As with any new resource or idea, it's taken me sometime to fully realize the potential of LinkedIn - an internet-based networking system. I received an invitation to LinkedIn several months ago, accepted it, but basically put it on the shelf because I was consumed with the riot of life demands flying in my face.

What IS LinkedIn...and Why is it so Cool?

LinkedIn has elegantly succeeded in creating an internet platform where a VAST number of professionals from all over the world, working in a diverse range of industries, can communicate with ease. It's powerful, far reaching and essentially gives me the ability to communicate and collaborate with people I would have likely never had the opportunity to meet otherwise.

I've found the most valuable aspect of LinkedIn to be the specialized interest groups. For example, I've been able to reconnect with former college friends and professors, explore global innovation groups working on a wide variety of projects in a number of industries I've also been exploring. These connections amplify my reach, ability to assimilate new ideas and information, and ultimately help me realize my professional goals and objectives in a much more fluid and intuitive way.

In other words, LinkedIn ROCKS!

Small Business Innovation Research...

The federal Small Business Innovation Research program is an excellent opportunity for entrepreneurs to seek funding for cutting edge projects and projects. A thorough SBIR Toolkit is available here to download. If you're interested in applying, cover all of your bases first and make sure the time and energy required for the application is well spent.

Guerilla Marketing

Building a Marketing Plan

Marketing is an incredible subject - and its one I'm focusing on today at a workshop I'm presenting through RCC's Small Business Management program. While a tremendous amount of "How To" material on marketing exists, my biggest question is: Why don't more business people HAVE a marketing plan? Especially entrepreneurs poised at the start-up phase? I think it comes down to two things - Intimidation and/or apathy.

No doubt there are hundreds of other reasons. My intent today with my students isn't to pound into them (via pointed finger and guilt tactics) why they should have a working marketing plan. The objective today is to help them roll up their sleeves and develop theirs.

I've reached out into industry to see what resources I could bring back to my business students (actually working business owners and operators) that could help them through this process. What I found were two excellent resources. Both differ widely from one another in terms of approach and tone. However, both are right on the money.

Guerilla Marketing

Jay & Jeannie Levinson have built an impressive business from their line of "Guerilla" business instruction programs and books. For today's workshop, I'm using their Startup Guide to Guerilla Marketing - A Simple Battle Plan for First-Time Marketers.

They key to the Levinson's Guerilla strategy boils down to a simple seven sentence process. Actually, these seven basic topics truly need to be fully fleshed out and substantiated to build a workable plan, but by the time you're through the cursory answers to the seven sentence assignment, you're over the hump of intimidation that keeps you from starting the plan in the first place. Then, it's just one solid step at a time.

Here are Levinson's key question points:

1) The first sentence explains the purpose of your marketing.

2) The second sentence tells how to achieve the purpose, stressing benefits.

3) The third sentence tells about target audiences.

4) The fourth sentence tells about marketing "weapons" (tactics & strategies) you'll use.

5) The fifth sentence describes your niche in the market place.

6) The sixth sentence tells about your identity.

7) The seventh sentence tells about your marketing budget as a percentage of your projected gross sales.

The Levinsons provide ample direction in their book to help flesh out the complete marketing plan. In addition, their website: www.gmarketing.com provides even more, including a member blog, additional resources and short courses. Currently, an 8-Week intensive course "Guerilla Marketing During Tough Times" is available for early registration.

Gaebler Ventures

It might seem odd that I would look to the midwest (Chicago, Illinois), to a private sector venture development/venture capital firm to help my SBM class in the development of their marketing plans. However, I spotted Gaebler Ventures as a shining start in the night sky because of the combination of services they provide. They not only capitalize on successful businesses via providing venture capital, they actually help fledgling companies become successful through guidance and education.

I realize the marketing plan resources Gaebler provides on their website are intended to attract clients. That's just the point - in the process of marketing their company and their services, Gaebler is providing tangible value before potential clients give them a dime for their expertise. I like that.

So, I'm unashamedly using Gaebler's Marketing Plan resources with my SBM students today. I'll let you know how that works. To the folks at Gaebler - Rock on!

Free Radicals of Innovation!

I just finished navigating Bob Newhart's Free Radicals of Innovation DVD. I'll tell ya, after three years and $40K for a Masters degree in Adult Education (which was worth it, I have no doubt...) I'm in a particular good position to say that I think Newhart's Free Radicals should be a prerequisite for any Adult Education university program.

Newhart is currently the director of the Oregon Innovation Center in Bend. In a former life he served as a director for a Small Business Development Center. Through his excellent understanding of both business AND innovation, Newhart has successfully created a tool which can be utilized by both adult educators and individuals addicted to discovery and development.