by Annette Young
Writing is about so much more than just the written word. Nowadays, you have to be prepared to promote your work and to be brave and tell the world that you are truly serious about writing. It means strengthening your existing skill-set, being prepared to continue the learning process and, taking the plunge and improving your visibility as a writer too. With this in mind, building a platform is essential if you wish to start attracting potential readers and to make the publishing world sit up and take notice.
The platform in question, becomes a solid framework enabling you to become more well-known in creative terms. You may wish to set up a blog and write regular blog posts, extending your reach by using social media. You may want to write a book and need a platform on which to promote it. Or, you may be a freelance writer and looking to attract new clients while displaying extracts of your work. Whatever your writing goals, a platform is the structure on which you begin your journey.
Like everything in life, the foundations have to be in place. You need a starting point, but one that is solid beneath you and will support you on your learning journey. Professional writers and authors always talk about ‘the platform’ and so, you can rest assured that it is important. You may wish to write extensively for other sites, perhaps one in particular, and then, this becomes your platform, or, you may wish to have a web presence and share your creative endeavors promoting your site heavily. Your website or blog becomes your platform.
Whatever you wish to achieve creatively, you need a solid starting point and you need others to see your work. If you can envisage this as a gradual journey, so much the better. It will help you to develop the right mindset, the right approach going forward and this is likely to increase your potential for sales.
If you would like to have your own website and to build your platform, do it the easy way. Try our ‘oh so simple’ WordPress training course.
If you already have a website, don’t just leave it there. Add to it as much as is possible. Include extracts of fiction, opening chapters, an author bio and news about you. Then, promote it through social media including Twitter and on Facebook. If you need help promoting it to the masses i.e. over 38,000 people, check this OUT.
