the craft. writing platform.

There’s a lot of talk about what it takes to build an author platform. But I don’t think it’s what we often think. The reality is that, an author, a writer, has rarely been a celebrity at onset. We literally can’t compete. Brittany Spears reportedly received a $15 million dollar book advance where most of us are fighting for scraps in the low five figures. While some writers become darlings in the public eye, it’s typically after they have created something for folks to pay attention to, not before. You need a platform, but it may not be millions of followers. It may be a dedicated group that’s bought into what you’re doing and at minimum that’s what you need.

And guess what? It takes time and consistency. I don’t care what TikTok makes you think or how quickly you can grow a following there. I’ve seen it in the music industry often. Said artist has X amount of followers on Instagram or Twitter and yet they can’t sell out a show in their own hometown. That math ain’t mathin’, my friend. No matter how it looks, having a large following doesn’t necessarily mean that you will have people willing to invest in what you do.

When I often talk about my journey, I hope you’re doing the math. I started to foray into blogging around 2010. Finally started to take it seriously in 2013. It is 2022. That is 12 whole years of working, writing, figuring it out. Building connections online. And I still don’t have a million followers. Hell, in the past I would get a little jealous of the people who started around the same time as me and how fast their followings grew. But I’m now at a place where I have so much happening for my career without the large numbers that I don’t care anymore.

Don’t get me wrong, having numbers helps. So, I don’t want to mistake that. I only want you to consider how much stock you put into the numbers at the end of the day. When it came down to my most amazing opportunities, it was more about the right people following me on social than the amount.

And the right people following me came from a ton of consistency and hard work. I have written a lot in the last 12 years. We cannot get so lost in trying to build the platform that we’re not building the skill. When I decided to kill my blog, it was so I could get back to the thing that I set out to do all those years ago. Share my writing. That was my main purpose and yet when you’re caught up in building a course or marketing your blog, the window to actually write gets smaller and smaller. I had to go inward, without all the noise and simply write.

The best advice that I’ve heard recently about artists, but that’s totally applicable here, is to approach your career like a community leader. Selling anything is about finding a community of people who need it. If you find your community, you’ll know exactly how to sell to them. If you’re working to build your platform right now, do you know who your community is? How can you super serve them?

In many ways, I’ve always been willing to bet on myself. I’m not the type of person who will allow anyone to tell me no and think that’s just it for my dream. Even in approaching my novel, I knew that if I never sold my book, I could publish it on my own. Sure, it’s a lot more work and having a publisher creates a lot more visibility. But at the end of the day, I knew that I didn’t have to rely on anyone else to get my words out to the people.

I have the same approach with pitching. If someone doesn’t want a story, I can write it myself. And these are the ways in which people have still stumbled across my work and offered me great opportunities.

Whether you start a Substack or a Medium that has a built in community or you build your own infrastructure, start where you are. Know your topic. If it’s non-fiction. Start pitching to outlets with topics that are within the realm of your book without giving the whole book away. A friend of mine wrote a piece for Shondaland and an agent reached out to her and essentially said, “when your book proposal is finished, please send it.” If it’s fiction, maybe try pitching some other short stories that you have to build some momentum for yourself to places like Catapult or a school’s review.

Make an email list, pronto. I am of the thought that all these other platforms could go away at any time. I mean, we have seen meltdowns when IG is not functioning properly. Make sure you have access to your people. There are even multiple text marketing options these days as well.

Lastly, treat your community well. There are literally people who have been following me since like 2013. Isn’t that crazy? I mean the amount of growth since then is insane. I like to think that when that book is on the shelves in June or when I finally get that TV or Film credit that there will be people who feel like they were there. People who feel like they can have a little piece of my victories too. There to bear witness that there’s no such thing as overnight success. Only hard word, dedication, and a delusional belief in one’s self and/or God depending on your own faith, that the goals you see every moment when you close your eyes are indeed possible to achieve.

Writing/Job Opportunities

Bella Gerard is looking for personal essays surrounding a Comeback. Be it your career, personal life, relationships, etc. Pitch her at igerard@stylecaster.com with ESSAY PITCH in the subject line.

The New Yorker is hiring a Story Editor.

Elite Daily is hiring a part-time Celebrity Writer to cover celebrity culture and the global music scene. (Remote, $20/hr)

Backbone is hiring a Digital Content Strategist. (Quick deadline, Mar. 7)

Slate is hiring a Politics Writer. (60k)

Mic is hiring a Features Editor.

Oxford American is hiring an Associate Editor.

Howard University is hiring an Executive Director, Center of Journalism and Democracy. (150k)

Insider Inc is hiring a summer Newsletter Fellow. ($20/hr.)

The Boston Review is hiring an Audience Engagement Editor.

Vulture is hiring a News Writer.