Create Your Writer Platform: The Key to Building an Audience, Selling More Books, and Finding Success as an A uthor

It is a sad commentary on the state of the publishing industry in the 21st century that it is no longer enough to write a good book. Now it is also essential to build a "platform"--a series of personal connections numbering in the thousands on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and other social media outlets. A book author needs to blog on a regular basis and make as many public speaking appearances as possible. All of this is designed to subtly promote and sell a writer's books. And woe be to the author who tries to survive without a substantial platform.This is the essential message of Chuck Sambuchino's book. And he makes a very persuasive case. Sambuchino contends that platform is not about blatant self-promotion but rather is all about building relationships one plank at a time. He argues that only by becoming a major electronic extrovert and putting yourself "out there" can an author hope to have any success irregardless of the quality of the book she has written. Apparently a website, a blog with a large readership, an e-newsletter and a social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, etc. are the minimum requirements for the modern writer.I found the last section of the book, which includes a series of in-depth interviews with writers of various genres who have succeeded in building huge platforms to be be extremely helpful. Almost all of the interviewees, however, warn of the dangers of a writer spending too much time platform building and not enough time actually. . . writing. Sambuchino also argues that this trend is not going away anytime soon and points out that even prospective agents and editors now routinely google writers to check the size of their platform. Love it or hate it, this is the way of the world and Sambuchino's book offers a wealth of excellent advice as to how a writer can not only survive in this brave new world but actually thrive by platform building and social media smoozing.

The reality is, writers today must be not only creative and credentialed, they must be their own one-person publicity and marketing departments, as well. I doubt that tuition covers this in many MFA programs, and I can testify that it never came up in my doctoral program in psychology, either. However, Sambuchino's book tells the writer of fiction or nonfiction how to fulfill these roles in the e-everything age, through building the writer's platform.Sambuchino's style is clear and oriented to the practical. He deals comprehensively with the components of an author's platform; I had cause to rethink what the planks of my platform were/should be. I was particularly interested in the many mini-interviews with agents that pepper the book, speaking to platform issues. The author punctures illusions without apology but without an attitude of superiority, either. (Although he is so well-informed that his insight is, indeed, superior to that of most of us.) I found especially useful Sambuchino's guidelines for "how much platform is enough" (e.g., how much web traffic on a blog). I will certainly be using his advice to maximize the sales of my forthcoming books.Have been waiting for months for this to come out, and I have not been disappointed. On the one hand, I am a trifle embarrassed, as I see from Sambuchino's book that my own platform-building efforts can use improvement. On the other hand, I now feel that I have a much better handle on how to go about improving my platform. Get this, use it, and you'll be pretty good at building your writer's platform.One often reads of platform-building in terms of books yet to be published (indeed, often enough, yet to be _written_). However, authors of already-published books also will find much practical advice here. There is no inherent reason why the methods Sambuchino outlines cannot be applied to books one has already published. I have three books available now, and I plan to apply better platform-building to improve both these books' sales.

If you’re a writer, do you have the following questions in mind: How do I get started? Am I on the right track? What more can I do?If so, than ‘Create Your Writer Platform’ is a book you’ll enjoy. Chuck Sambuchino narrows it down to twelve simple fundamentals of platform building that are achievable.What’s great about ‘Create Your Writer Platform’ is that not only does he supply the opinions and input of agents, but he also gives the success stories of current authors at the end of the book. This is very valuable information for aspiring, new and established writers.This book is very realistic and the points of view are upfront and forthcoming; there’s no fluff in there.The examples given in ‘Create Your Writer Platform’ apply to both fiction and non-fiction writers and authors who have a book deal. The only thing I wish there was more of in this book is advice for self-published authors without a book deal. Despite that, the information given still applies, since it is about platform creation and not about striving to obtain agents and/or publishers.After reading this book I feel more inspired and have more ideas in mind to help boost my platform. I do not feel overwhelmed and above all I feel like I’m headed in the right direction with all the actions I’ve taken in my writing career.Well done Chuck Sambuchino! I look forward to reading more of your helpful advice, and maybe someday I’ll have the opportunity to meet you at one of your speaking engagements!All the authors that offered their success stories were very helpful, but I for one found Sarah Pekkanen‘s story to be the most helpful. She also has a wonderful website that you should check out.

While this book did have lots which I found interesting and useful and I think it's worth mentioning that it's more for people with zero knowledge about platform or social media etc and some of the advice was quite obvious (looking on google to search for guest blogging opportunities seems like a bit of a no-brainer). Also, at the time of writing (2019) some of the information is a little dated, for example there were some references to social media which no longer exist and the social media heavyweight instagram wasn't mentioned (but in the author's defence he did mention that he couldn't go into various social media platforms and could only focus on the main two that he uses). So while I did learn from it and it had some great pieces of advice I think if you already have a working understanding of platform then you could probably give this a miss. However, I think it's great for anybody who is just starting out and exploring the options of having something like a website and doesn't really know where to begin.

I didn't really understand what platform was before I read this, nor how to go about building it! I write, but my husband who is into photography also read it and said it was equally valid for photographers, and I think it could be used for many different areas of endeavour (even your career). The book is easy to read, has lots of good pointers and I have found it invaluable. Highly recommended. I've bought it for two writer friends and recommended it to lots of people.

I came across this book from a tweet.I found this book helpful in creating a platform of readers in general.The case studies and practical tips are very informative.The tips around the most common platforms;blogs,twitter,facebook and Linkedin are achievable.However some things like 'speaking at conferences' is dauting to a starter.The author makes it seem like it easy to do.I would say to anyone reading this book,just pick out what is suitable and acheivable in your circumstances.However it is worth the read.

Really informative!

Great book. Highly recommended.