Platform

In the non-fiction world, books are sold on "platform." Miss Snark defines platform as

the other-than-the-usual ways you'll be able to get visibility for the book. A syndicated newspaper column like Maureen Dowd or Dave Barry is platform plus. A radio show like Dr. Laura is platform plus plus.

Today, my sister-in-law (who, I proudly point out, was mentioned by Miss Snark as an example of "having platform" for her book on wedding etiquette) and I were discussing the concept of platform as it applies to fiction. Over and over, I've heard that platform is not necessary for fiction, and that's undoubtedly true in some cases. Where, after all, will you find readers no one else has found, what PR can you get that no other novelist can find? Let's take, for example, your average science fiction novel. Not much you can do in the way of platform unless you're L. Ron Hubbard and you start your own religion.

Celebrities have "celebrity," which is different from platform--if you're Dr. Phil, you don't need platform to sell a novel--but other cases are not so clear. What if you're the creator of an internet dating site and you write a romance? Will you bring readers from your website, or are those two things too separate?

This subject is on my mind today because I returned from a show in my "day job" as a maker of glass beads to find a copy of a forthcoming magazine with an article I wrote in it. This is the second time my work has been shown in trade magazines. The first was last summer, when the woman who designed the cover piece for a magazine used my beads in her project.

Even without the article having come out yet, this weekend's expo was good for me. I sold a lot. In fact, I sold so much that I really shouldn't be here typing, I should be in the basement with the glass, as I have a show in two weeks and the biggest show of the year (for me) three weeks after that.

But I've had platform on the brain. My customers don't make the kind of beads I do, but when I mentioned that the article was coming out, they were all excited to buy it. I can't imagine they'd feel any differently if I wrote a novel. (Heck, with the price of magazines these days, the novel wouldn't be much more expensive.) Likewise, my fellow vendors buy each other's magazines, and some promoters make a point of mentioning their vendors' articles.

So is this "platform?" Is it worth mentioning? I travel up and down the east coast doing bead shows, but I've never tracked how many distinct customers (as opposed to returning buyers) I have at a show, and I didn't bother to count how many people--customers and vendors--expressed interest in the magazine article. And, naturally, I have no way of knowing how many of them actually will buy the issue, though history shows they follow their favorite artists quite devotedly.

The huge number of "niche" books, particularly in the area of traditional mystery series, seems to indicate that having platform in some niche market or other would be a good thing. If you have a cooking show, even an obscure one, you have a place to tout your cooking mystery. If you own a knitting store, you can sell your books there, or at least keep a copy to tempt your customers into searching it out at their local bookstores. Goodness knows, a vet could sell thousands of cat-based murder mysteries right out of his office if they were halfway decent.

So does my experience as a beadmaker and published writer in my field translate into platform? And does it even matter whether it does? Will any agent or editor care whether dedicated beaders will recognize my name and rush out to buy my murderous beady mystery?

As I sit here attempting to compose a cover letter, I certainly hope so.