If you’re a writer looking to become a first-time published author, you’ve undoubtedly heard of the importance of having a “platform”. You better “friend” everyone you’ve ever known on Facebook down to your pre-school playmate from 40 years ago, and “link” with everyone whose hand you’ve ever shaken on Linked In.
I understand the rationale, but for me the need to develop a “platform” has been complicated by the fact that I haven’t told my siblings or most of my friends that I’m writing a family memoir. My book is roughly two-thirds written, but I’m still not ready to broadly share the news. I’m just not ready to explain that no, my childhood didn’t include any murder, sexual abuse, or even alcoholism, but yes, it is a story worth telling and will be a book very much worth reading. And I feel like writing a book is hard enough, but the additional pressure of worrying about my siblings’ reactions to what I’ve written while I’m still working on the writing is too much for the writing process to bear. And as for my friends, I would rather tell them about my book when I’ve got an agent in my corner, or at least after my first draft is finished.
Enter Twitter. A few months ago, I dutifully created an account, but I didn’t spend any time on the site. Sure, I’d hear about all the various celebrities and politicians and their “tweets”. It seemed everyone was asking for me to “follow” them, or asking for “tweets”. But I would just scoff, and my crass alter ego would say to myself in response, “Tweet this, buddy!”
And then, a couple of weeks ago, I re-visited Twitter and guess what? I get it! I finally understand the beauty and the magic of Twitter. Twitter isn’t only about connecting with people who you know. Facebook and Linked In and the others can do that. Twitter is mostly about connecting with people you don’t know, but who share your interests. So, you can get your political news alerts from the sources you count on, book and publishing news from various sources, and you can even follow the agents you’re interested in to get an idea of what they’re thinking about and working on. All in one spot. And even more, in the context of building a “platform”, you can attract followers who are interested in what you might have to say about books or writing or whatever else you might be thinking about on any particular day. If you’re witty and prolific enough, perhaps you’ll draw a following large enough to turn the head of a potential agent.
Of course I’m not there yet, but I’m committed to start. My first substantive “tweet” was in response to #whyIwrite. I “tweeted”: Because there is tremendous satisfaction in creating art (hopefully!) from the experience of life. And since then, I’ve “tweeted” a few times, and I plan to “tweet” much more in the days and weeks ahead – about writing, books and the publishing industry, family and family history, and about life.
It is with that in mind that I invite you to: Follow me on Twitter @JanetHWerner.
And, oh yeah: “Tweet this, buddy!”
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