In The Demon's Head #25 :
The Beauty Of Your Own Platform
May 22, 2012
Hello everyone and welcome
to this late edition of “In The Demon's Head” I'll be honest
today's issue is a LOT later then normal because me being the short
sighted tunnel vision fool that I am, forgot it was Tuesday. I'm very
excited to announce first off that I am over 500 views for the blog
which excites me. I plan on starting next month and trying to see how
many hits I get in a month. Second, Liz found a new app that is call
Wattpad and I'm now officially a member of WattPad and Red Room. I
intend to have all of the pieces I currently have available up on
both of these sites by the end of the night. Last I'd like to once
again thank Jennifer Chow for her interview with me that went live
this past Sunday you can check that out here.
Now all of the things I've
listed above add together to help make what's becoming my platform.
Add that to Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and I'm slowly turning the
wheels to help me take my writing career and launch it to high
levels. But as it stands I know there are some people out there that
don't really understand what a platform is, how it works, and why
they need one I was in your shoes one time, so I'm here today to kind
of explain these things and why it's always smarter to start on one
long before you need it.
What is a Platform?
A
Platform is basically just as it's name suggest, a way to launch your
career. Musicians, Comics, Writers, almost every type of
entertainment field out there these days requires you to have a
platform, which is to say that you are required to already have
established a fan base before people will even take a look at you. It
didn't always used to be this way but with technology and Social
Media on fire it's becoming more and more critical to have a platform
in place when chasing a dream.
How Do They Work?
Platforms are basic diving
boards in one way or another. As a writer they can make a major
difference depending on what avenue you decide to take your career.
If you decide to self publish, a strong and defined platform can give
you a leg up on the competition. If you have 5000 Facebook Page
likes, and a the same number of Twitter followers, that gives you
10,000 possible potential customers. If you decide to go the
traditional route this gives you a potential customers as well only
this time your not handling the entire process but it shows that your
have a way of getting people to buy which can lead to larger advances
and better book deals.
Why It's Smarter to
Start Before You Need One
I've
been writing for quite a while and for the longest time I never
realized that I needed a platform for my writing. I started working
with a group on Facebook and while it didn't seem to work out that
well for me in all honesty because the group settings got stupid, I
started a page and a twitter page that I use to this day. I have also
began using different ways to promote my writing
including WattPad and Red Room as I said earlier. It's a great
feeling to help promote everything that I'm doing. Why I say that you
want to work on your Platform before you need it is because it
doesn't form overnight, so start building and promoting now. Never
think it's too early.
Platforming is a challenge
that everyone needs to improve their writing career. So as I'd like
to say, promote and platform early and often.
Thanks everyone, that will
do it for this Tuesday's edition of “In The Demon's Head” Sign up
in the box above with your email to have new issues sent directly to
your inbox. You can also sign up via your favorite reader, and you
can share the blog or post on your favorite social media sites with
the new tools above. Finally, there's a paypal donate button on the
top left. If you like what I'd do I'd love any kinda of donation that
you might want to throw my way.
Until the next time you
want to take a trip through the gates of hell and into the demon's
head, I'm Kyle Robinson wishing you a safe trip back to the surface.
Connect with me on:
Or send an Email here
Never heard about WattPad and Red Room until now. What are your thoughts about them?
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I'm no longer a fan of Red Room and have since stopped using it. When I wrote that I didn't know a lot about it and thought that maybe it would be an interesting place, and for someone with some sense and time to learn it, it could be. I however, don't really like to waste a whole lot of time trying to learn formats of websites and that's why I love Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus. On the flip side WattPad is FANTASTIC. It gives you a free forum to write your stories and share them with people, it has a fan/fan of system like the follower system from Twitter but it's something that's easy to use and great in my eyes. Also, another good one is Good Reads, I know I didn't mention it in this post but I've learned how to use it and will likely post stories up there as well. I haven't had a lot of success with either yet but you need to saturate the market as with anything. Hope this helps out a little.
ReplyDeleteThanks. That's really helpful. Haven't used Goodreads in awhile, and only as a fan.
DeleteIts a great site and easy to use I love goodreads it's a good way to help out your work out there
Delete