Distinguishing Between Straight-Up Advice and Paradigm Shift

Paradigm shift

A couple weeks ago I wrote a column for Writer Unboxed, “Should You Focus on Your Writing or Platform?” In short, I said it’s a balancing act, but there are times when you should probably emphasize one over the other.

It generated more than 100 responses, many insightful and valuable, from working writers, established authors, editors, and agents. My colleague Christina Katz was one of the last to comment. Here’s part of what she said.

This post really makes me chuckle … I wonder how much time folks spent reading and chewing on and commenting on and spreading the word about a post ABOUT platform rather than actually spending any amount of time actually cultivating and working on their own platform?

I am a person who does not distinguish between writing, selling, specializing, self-promotion, and continuing ed, and also a person who sees all of these things as essential and necessary to my writing career success. … 

For me, there is no separation. Writing is the center. (If you read The Writer’s Workout, you saw the diagram.) But it’s all critical. There’s nothing to debate.

Read her entire comment here.

I’m (mostly) in the same boat as Christina. I find it impossible and irrelevant to distinguish between writing activities and platform building activities. My approach is far too holistic.

So why did I write a post splitting them up?

Because most writers don’t and CAN’T see them as one activity. They’re still asking questions that show they need some concrete ideas on how to manage what they perceive (and what can be) a very real split in one’s life.

There may be nothing to debate for people like Christina and myself, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a very real problem for writers to address until the struggle resolves itself.

Or until writers undergo a paradigm shift.

Briefly defined, a paradigm shift is “a radical change in personal beliefs, complex systems or organizations, replacing the former way of thinking or organizing with a radically different way of thinking or organizing.”

I can write (or speak) on the platform topic forever, but ultimately, I can’t change your mind about marketing/selling being inseparable from writing until you have your own experience or insight that validates what I’m saying. Or, I might convince you logically, but you might not feel it.

And in my opinion, this is why so much is written about platform. People are still figuring it out, trying to find what feels right, but they haven’t experienced the paradigm shift where it all starts to make sense, and they’re no longer torn on how to handle it.

Here’s one area where I partly disagree with Christina: If you commented on my post, you were participating in a community of writers, and making yourself seen in that community, and that’s indeed a part of your platform … where you’re active, the relationships you build, the places where you’re known. So make sure you’re spending time and energy on places that matter most to you and your work. Eventually it won’t be blog posts related to author platform … unless of course you’re trying to be a platform expert.

And: writing may or may not be your center. For the past two years, teaching has been my center. Much of my writing spins out of things I teach. I create instructional materials and modules, I refine them through extensive research and reading, and I put things in formal writing usually as a last step, and even then, only when I have sufficient motivation (e.g., an article assignment that pays well).

That’s because formal writing is sometimes the worst possible way for me to help someone. A conference workshop, Twitter chat, or webinar is often a better way for me to inform and engage. The topics I write and teach on can change overnight.

But it’s true that writing is the center for many of you. Just not all. Frankly, I’ve been advocating writers have yet another paradigm shift regarding writing and books. I see books as just another medium—and not always the best medium—to entertain and inform, but that’s another post for another day.

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Turndog Millionaire

Interesting thought, and links to Joel Friedlander’s post today. If a writer wants to go all the way they need to embrace the whole everything. It maybe scary, but in time you will learn to love all the aspects (or at least most of them)

I like to think an author platform is the centre of the universe, and writing, marketing, engaging, genres, etc are all just part of it. It’s all about the author in the end of the day. They’re the one’s writing a great story, they’re the ones building an audience, they’re the ones creating something for others to believe in.

Each of the same 🙂

Matt (Turndog Millionaire)

Jane Friedman

Like a holy trinity. 😉

christinakatz

 I am not sure that it’s possible to embrace the whole everything at every moment and still succeed. Certainly not if participation is required. But I’ve not read the post you are referring to.

What I do think is that there are right things for our specific goals that we could be doing right now, and those are likely the best choices.

Turndog Millionaire

Like Jane says it’s a balancing act. If a writer tries to do Twitter, Facebook, Sign up to 50 Blogs etc etc then they certainly won’t be able to do everything justice

Like you say it’s about choosing things that’s specific to your goals, and if you hit these with all you mite you won’t go too far wrong.

It’s more about embracing everything that comes with the modern day author. The writing, the marketing, the publishing, the networking (in a nutshell that was what Joel’s Post was about), it’s all part of the process. For most, the day of only writing is dead, and if authors can embrace their platform, make it about them, be proud proud proud, well, I don’t think you can go too far long

At least that’s my outlook 🙂

Matt (Turndog Millionaire)

Bob Mayer

I believe commenting cogently on other people’s posts to be critical to a writer for a couple of reasons:

1.  It means you’re seeking out information to make you a better writer and business person in the world of publishing.
2.  People tend to read comments on their own posts.  It’s a way of building your platform by making comments (not self-promoting).  Focus on what has been written, then give your thoughts.

Jane Friedman

Yes, and yes!

Anne R. Allen

I was going to quote Bob on this subject from one of his posts last week, but he did it hisownself. I think it’s significant, and I quoted him on my blog this week. 

People need to know that commenting on blogs is one of the most important platform building tools! Great post here. It helps people think in a new way. There’s still lots of verbiage about how “frittering away time on the Internet” is taking away from your “writing time.” Instead we have to realize they’re all one. Very zen 🙂

christinakatz

 I disagree to a certain extent. Commenting on blogs does not always advance a career. And, in many cases, it can and does take writers away from more productive work.

christinakatz

 I would say this differently.

I would say that blogging and reading blogs and commenting on blogs are three options for building a platform and that each writer has to decide if any of these actions makes sense for them. I do not believe that it always makes sense. I am not an ignoramus if I am not reading blogs every day. There are plenty of other ways to learn. And different people learn in different ways.

There is only one best way to spend your time online and off and that’s in ways that make the most sense to the individual writer. I would steer clear of any gurus and echo chambers which tend to delay the development of strong individual decision-making.

It is rare to find general advice that applies to everyone equally. Better to develop business policies that specifically advance your wants and needs.

marytod

I am intrigued to see the title “paradigm shift” in this article. When I consulted in the 1990’s to businesses attempting to revamp their use of technology, two colleagues of mine – Don Tapscott and Art Caston – wrote Paradigm Shift talking about the enabling effect of technology and shifts in how work gets done, how organizations integrate and the potential for inter-enterprise computing. Of course, today we take all those attributes for granted. Having followed your blog, Joel Friedman’s and Mike Shatzkin’s for more than a year now, it’s clear that not only are writers changing how they work and the scope of what they do but so are agents and publishers and the other players in this game. A paradigm shift on monumental proportions – perhaps we have only scratched the surface?

Jane Friedman

I’ve heard about that book! And fabulous point. I think you’re right—we’ve only scratched the surface.

christinakatz

 All smart people… 😉

TNeal

 For me, the paradigm shift concerning blogging, writing, and platform came when I recognized the whole thing is more like a coffee shop than a circus. Circus is about performance and entertainment. Coffee shop is about conversation among friends.

Of course I want to sell books as well as write them, but I find I have greater favor in the marketing arena when I’m primarily a friend rather than a salesperson. This isn’t saying I don’t do sales pitches. I do. I simply shape them around the common interests I share with others.

Jane Friedman

Love that analogy!

christinakatz

 Go ahead and tackle this topic too, Jane. I hope you will. It’s the: I’m not a salesperson topic. (And thanks, TNeal, for bringing it up.) 

I find this to be another one of those black and white thinking kinds of topics. A writer says I don’t want to be that, so I’m going to do this instead. But guess what? You are still selling. Don’t try to pretend you are not. If you have a product, and you are networking it, that’s selling.

Bloggers who give and give and give, and then eventually ask for some kind of financial payback…were selling all along.

Bloggers, who blog and blog and blog, and then fell like, I need to monetize this stuff. Were SELLING all along.

I wish people would stop acting like selling was a dirty word. Selling is not dirty, if your product or service is excellence and makes the world a better place somehow.

If you ever intend to author, then you intend to also sell. There is no workaround. There is no need for a workaround.

So can we please stop acting as if it is holy to hate or resist selling?

Please. Jane. Your turn.

Jane Friedman

I think people find selling to be a dirty practice because it is so often done poorly, and we always remember how we feel around a clumsy, awful salesperson. So there’s a lot of negative association & practice to overcome.

The fact is that we all love and appreciate salespeople who take the time out to ask us questions about who we are and what we need. We feel cared for, and that we’re not going to be sold something we’ll regret later. A good salesperson cares more about who they’re serving (and giving that person a good experience) than what they’re selling.

christinakatz

 BIG topic. Well covered in my last two books. As for me, my home is full of products I love that were sold to me by reputable people and reputable companies. The quality is either excellent or I don’t keep it. I try to pass along what I no longer need to others if it has value still. And based on what you’ve said, I’m thinking that my lack of cynicism about selling comes from the positive experiences I’ve had and hope to continue having. I also don’t go near anything slick or sleazy with a ten-foot pole. And I sell, but in no way consider it shameful or sleazy the way I do it. Which I do imperfectly, like everything else, of course.

brother cliff

 If what we are communicating is an authentic expression from inside us, we can avoid trying to sell some thing to others; for we are offering them an opportunity to engage with some of who we are, which obviously has value!

Jan O'Hara|Tartitude

That conversation stuck with me, so I’m glad you’re extending it. 
I’m naturally drawn to the holistic approach and I’m still looking for the intersection of what I’m good at, what I like, and what others find useful. (And ultimately worth purchasing.) As I get clearer on my direction, though, this sentence will be helpful:”So make sure you’re spending time and energy on places that matter most to you and your work. Eventually it won’t be blog posts related to author platform … unless of course you’re trying to be a platform expert.”

Jane Friedman

🙂 I’m sure you’ll find what you’re looking for.

Meredith Ann Rutter

Many years back, my sister told me I needed to “loosen up.” I think the concept applies here as well. I’m better able to see your point when I loosen up and imagine “writing” and “platform” as jiggling along next to each other on the same stagecoach.

Jane Friedman

Loosening up — that’s exactly it, too! Great point.

Monkey

I think what Christina was talking about and what most writers don’t get is writing is a job. It has a description, like any other job. People think the entire job description is: writing my X (book, play, television show, whatever). But there aren’t any job descriptions in the world like that. It always goes on for a page or more on what other duties you need to perform to support what your main function is.

And there is always the catch-all at the end, “Other duties as assigned.”

Jane Friedman

Very true. 

I think some writers are still reading and holding onto the job description of “writer” from around 1850.

christinakatz

 Maybe some are. But I think many would just really like a more truthful picture. I just had someone ask me this week to please write a post on what my typical day is like so she could better understand how I’m so productive. What I’m saying is that I do think many writers are genuinely curious and willing. These are the types of writers I work with on a daily basis. They are willing to get in their own process and stay in it for the long haul and it’s really gratifying.

christinakatz

 Excellent! Yes. We are only beginning to see the whole truth of what a writers day-to-day life is “really” like. For the most part, we are delivered the carefully publicized version. So no wonder there is little common awareness of what it’s really like to be any kind of professional writer, either full or part time.

Pam Parker

Fabulous recap and post — thanks!!

Jane Friedman

Thanks, Pam! Once integration happens, I do think people feel better. 

I keep thinking of a probably inappropriate analogy related to Buddhism/Zen … we can spend our time seeing ourselves as separate from the world and fighting against it … or we can see that we and the universe are one.

christinakatz

I don’t think in this economy that it makes sense any longer to compartmentalize in this way. Why not love all of it? Or figure out how…

ClaudiaC

I love the inclusion of everything into ‘this is what I do.’ It’s kind of a relief to think that I can just do what I do – writing, learning, promoting, self care, holding the covers for the dog, marketing, researching, sitting on the porch, platform building, story telling – and I don’t have to segment my one brain and one life.  In the living of this life, it certainly all feels like the same thing.  I honestly believe that the authors I admire most did a heck of a lot of promoting, selling, platform building, and never considered it as anything other than writing.

Jane Friedman

That’s a great place to be in!

christinakatz

 Thanks for this comment. 🙂

Dave Malone

Jane, a little bit of Zen Buddhism wisdom goes a long and appropriate way. 🙂 Rockin’ post. For some writers, this could prove an aha moment–and this kind of post is why I tell any writers I know, seasoned or unseasoned, if they are not already, to read your blog. 🙂

Jane Friedman

🙂 Thanks, Dave.