When showing author platform, many writers talk about affinity groups. That is, hobbyists, organization members, and people in a particular stage of life who might buy the book. For instance, an author may say that her devotional book titled Single Parents Who Fly Kites will appeal to:
1. Kite flyers
2. Single parents
3. People who work in kite factories
4. People who love windy days
5. Members of Universal Kite Flyers, Inc.
While listing affinity groups shows those who might be interested in a book, the author needs to tell how she can reach those people. Some groups, such as those who love windy days and kite flyers, are indeterminable.
On a concrete level, if the author is a Universal Kite Flyers, Inc., member, does she attend regular meetings? How many people there know her?
What about single parents? Is the author a single parent? Does she speak regularly to large groups of single parents? You get the idea.
How about: The author is a Sister Beautiful Sister International member, with a current roster of 1,000,000.
That’s wonderful; but again, how many sisters know the author’s name? Certainly not a million. Let’s drop the number down to 100,000 members in America. How many of those members are active? If the author runs the national newsletter and her name is in the masthead every month, how many members see her name or care who she is? Of those who care who she is, how many will want to buy her devotional book, or any devotional book? That is the real number of interest to publishers, a number that’s impossible to determine at the proposal stage. So, while an author can and should list organizations where she’s a member, those might not be a massive slice of the author’s platform.
And by the way? If you’re an author mentioning being employed by a large corporation, the rules above apply.
On a different note, an author may say, “I’m a pastor.”
Even if the pastor leads a church large enough to justify a publisher’s print run, he must reach his audience concerning the book. Will he teach a class based on the book? Will he hold a churchwide signing? Of course, a membership of 1,000 will not, for various reasons, mean 1,000 books are sold. For instance, families are likely to buy one copy for the household, and some people might love the pastor but not be interested in the topic. Some Christians only read the Bible. Considering these factors, pastoring a church is unlikely to be a significant part of an author’s platform.
With platform, being part of a large group is only part of the picture. The fundamental platform is how many people the author can reach with a book that is meaningful to them. Keep building, keep writing, and keep submitting!
Those who worked in secret places
are those who my books, might have read,
but lawless wars will leave few traces
and most of those old friends are dead,
left behind when use was done,
abandoned heartlessly to fate,
facing down the final gun,
and hearing crickets now I wait
for that long-delayed parade
offered by a grateful nation,
but the way the world is made,
I accept the situation
and dedicate the things I write
to ghosts beside me in the night.
Good food for thought, Tamela. Thank you!
A very interesting and informative post. Thank you, Tamela, for shedding more light on platform-building.
Many blessings to you!
Thank you for sharing insight on platform-building. This makes perfect sense.
Within my proposal, I’ve noted in the query letter my social media following count (a hard number) and then the potential reach (calculated according to marketing to connections in my proposal) at a “projected 500,000 touches” – based on the number of followers on social of other influencers and authors I’ve collaborated with in the past, and membership #s of the organizations I’m apart of. How else can you calculate impressions and convince the agent of the reach you’ll potentially have? No one knows exactly how many books will sell, but if you have a breadcrumb trail of numbers, it seems the wider the net you cast, the better your prospects are.
Thank you for this informative and rational post, Tamela.