Walking the Platform (The Author Platform)

     The writer platform. As writers we all strive for one. We tweet, we blog, we communicate on Google+, Facebook, and several others. In between we try to find time to actually write our stories. It's a dizzying dance, a constant stretch of the mind. I enjoy it, to a point. Sometimes I loathe it, but in today's writing culture it has become a necessity to the health of our writing careers. I wrote a guest blog about writing a sequel. I wrote that the author platform is a lifeline, and I truly believe that it is.
     I've read that several writers begin by writing their books and then they attempt to build their platforms, and it's a mistake. Someone on some other blog said, writers should concentrate on building an audience before they write their novels. I can't say what the best way is. I started building mine after I wrote my first novel. Whose to say I wouldn't have had a bigger following, larger books sales. But when I wrote Beyond Gavia, blogging was in it's infant stage. I think I'd signed up for Facebook in the same year I began my novel.
     I want to tell other writers to keep walking the platform, never jump off for too long. Life comes up and sometimes you have to take a break. I say this because I made the big mistake of doing so. I took about a year off from building my platform, and boy did my book sales take a hit.
     I had a ghostwriting opportunity from a friend, which was somewhat of a varying experience. I think I will write about that in my next post. Anyways, I didn't realize what it did to my blossoming career, which was still just a little sprout in a garden full of flowers. I pretty much dried up and wilted over. I see this now that I look back at that year I wrote for someone else. But hindsight is 20/20 right? So never do what I did. I don't really regret it. I try not to regret, but instead learn. I'd love to hear feedback from other writers on the importance of the author platform.