Many writers do so much better with a trusted writing group, and it can take some time to find the right one. Reading groups are usually different. You would want to be able to read your writing and get feedback – supporting what’s strong and letting you know where it needs work. And it will help you to give that kind of feedback to others. This article is meant to get us thinking, not to discourage anyone, but I can see how it might. It’s time for me to write the next article. Waiting too long to publish.

With regard #7, I am looking for a writing group in my area. There are reading groups or should I consider joining the reading group? Do you think this would help me?

And #6, I am not promoting because it is still at infancy stage. Only my family knows I am writing.

I must say, your article can make amateurs stop and not even start. For me, this is inspiration. I am not going to be deterred, I am going to write and finish.

Many thanks,

For fiction writers, this gets muddier. We still have to market ourselves and our books, but our expertise is in imagination, and not some powerpoint-friendly topic.

Also, I think there’s a whole discussion missing about defining a writer’s “platform” and how that differs for fiction and non-fiction. The only industry that talks about “platforms” is writing and publishing, and in my experience, it creates frustration and confusion that is largely unnecessary.

In marketing terms, a platform is an audience, or an engaged or qualified audience. It’s not about having XXXX Twitter followers, it’s about having XX of the right Twitter followers that you engage with and who truly care to see you succeed, those people who are positioned to signal-boost on your behalf and who WANT to be able to do so. These are book bloggers, subject experts, and readers (please note, I’m not talking about other writers. A “platform” filled up with other writers who are only creating noise by trying to sell you their books will give you nothing valuable. I am friends with and have a network of writers because the camaraderie and shared lessons learned are valuable to me. But I don’t look on them as my potential audience except in the most general of terms.)

For non-fiction, a “platform” might include establishing oneself as a thought leader – answering HARO requests and being interviewed as an expert by reputable journalists.

For fiction, a “platform” includes engaging and making friends with people who read and review books, commenting and engaging with bloggers, and in the most general terms just being an interesting person and making new friends. Fiction authors will best benefit from NOT talking about books all the time and instead share content that is tangentially related to their topic of interest. I’m a sci-fi writer, so I share content about science, new discoveries AND about science fiction trends, books and movies. A fantasy writer might tangentially share stuff about their relevant interests (camping or hiking? Horses? Herbology?), etc.

Lori, thank you so much for your response. First of all congratulations on finishing 2 novels, and being half way through a third! You’re prolific. And how exciting that you’ve written a memoir.

In a way this essay is serious, but in another way it’s for us to begin a discussion. You know the chicken and the egg question – there’s no answer, and we have both chickens and eggs, and eggs can make chickens and chickens can make eggs.

Really what I’m saying in this piece is that there’s marketing work to be done, to get in the groove, not that we ever arrive, unless we’re picked up like Wild was with Oprah, or somehow fall into the grace that Anne Lamotte and Elizabeth Gilbert enjoy (and have worked hard to get!) I had always thought the mountain to climb was writing the book… only to discover that it’s a life long journey – writing, building a platform, publishing, marketing, growing your platform, writing…. Now I’m starting to get it, that it’s a way of life, perhaps like being a yogi, or a farmer, or a fitness teacher.

Let us know what your memoir is called, and maybe you’d like to write a guest post (if you haven’t already?)? Email editor@booksbywomen.org, if you’d like to discuss that. – Anora McGaha