Today’s post is by writer, editor and coach Chad R. Allen.
Imagine your book is in the world, and it’s something of a masterpiece. It keeps getting heralded as a breakthrough in its space, a gift.
Now imagine that everyone who buys your book sits down with it and starts reading. When they finish it, they start over. Then they read it again. And again. In fact, that’s all they do for years and years—read and re-read your book. They neglect their hygiene and their most important relationships to read your book. They skip meals.
Would that make you happy? Is that what you want?
Of course not. Which is to say your book is about more than your book. It’s about transformation—the shift you want your readers to experience after engaging with your work.
It’s easy to see how this works in nonfiction, which often overtly points beyond itself. “Try this in your life,” nonfiction says. When I read Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller, I was eager to implement his guidance in my business. When I started reading Atomic Habits by James Clear, I wanted to try some of his lifehacks that very day.
But I think this is true for fiction as well. When I read The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, I came away with a renewed appreciation for the fragility of life. When I read Carrie by Stephen King, I wanted to do a better job of seeing and reaching out to the marginalized of society.
Don’t get me wrong. Your book is a massive part of your effort to make a difference in the world. It is likely the most potent force you can muster for making your readers’ lives better in some way. At the same time, your book is undeniably part of a larger project.
What does this have to do with platform?
A lot of writers think of platform as a necessary evil, a means to an end—the end being selling a book. They draw a dark line between writing on the one hand and platform-building on the other.
This framework makes building an audience feel like a chore. And if building a platform takes time and involves setbacks, as it inevitably does, then the whole thing begins to feel downright Sisyphean. Why post? Why grow an email list? What’s the point of writing blog posts if the net result is just a few more followers? That’s not going to sell many books!
I want to suggest a different approach: to see platform-building not as a sideline task, but as a continuation of your core work as an author—guiding readers toward transformation. A book is powerful, yes, but it’s part of something bigger. By sharing messages, stories, and posts that invite readers into the change your book brings to life most fully, you can build more authentic, engaged communities.
This approach not only makes audience-building more meaningful, it also tends to result in stronger book sales—because readers can sense when an author is motivated by service and connection rather than sales or obligation.
Endless ways to engage
Let’s say you’re writing a memoir about a crazy bike trip you took with your lover, and one of the big messages of the book is: “Take more chances! We’ve only got so much time, so make the most of your one, precious life.” Long before the book releases and well after, you can be publishing blog posts, sharing social media updates, and sending emails that inspire people to do just that. Maybe you highlight people who live peculiarly good lives or share about simple changes that have brought fulfillment in your own life.
Let’s say you’re writing a novel that drives home the message that our natural world has the power to sustain us if we take care of it. You can be creating or resharing videos that support that message—before your book releases and after.
In other words, since your platform-building is service to a mission that is larger than selling books, the possibilities for sharing engaging material are endless.
Some questions to consider:
- How does thinking about your platform in this framework change the way you think about building an audience?
- How does it influence the things you want to do with your social media presence or your email list?
- What are the most effective ways, apart from your book, that you can help readers begin experiencing the transformation you want for them?
Gathering, not just selling
At the end of the day, as book-marketing expert Tim Grahl points out, building a platform is about gathering together people who like to geek out about the same stuff—whether that’s space travel or time management or the hope of an afterlife.
If you gather folks around a mutual interest that is also central to your book, you will be advancing the change you want to see in the world while also promoting your book.
Chad R. Allen is a writer, speaker, editor, and writing coach. A publishing professional for over 25 years, he has worked with bestselling authors including Michael Hyatt, Caroline Leaf, Mark Batterson, and Phyllis Tickle. He is the creator of BookCamp, a training center and community for writers, and Book Proposal Academy, an online course that includes 25 deal-winning book proposals. His passion is helping writers craft must-read books that reach wide audiences.
Chad is the author of Do Your Art and has been published in Lifehacker, The Accidental Creative, and The Good Men Project. He lives in Michigan with his wife, Alyssa, and their two teenage children. You can connect with him and download a free guide on a fast way to grow your book-buying audience at www.ChadRAllen.com.
Exceptional piece! This will be saved to read again.
Thank you, Jessica, glad it was helpful!
Thanks for hosting this, Jane! Honored to be here.
An excellent and wise summary on platform and reaching your fans. Chad gives a fresh perspective on this daunting task. Thank you!
My pleasure, Kathryn, thanks for commenting!
Thank you Chad, you just changed my attitude on Platform building, from it being a chore, to being a sharing of good thoughts.
You’re so welcome, Judith, and I hope your good thoughts spread far and wide!
This advice doesn’t solve the issue: anything other than writing fiction is a chore. You’re asking fiction authors to act like non-fiction authors. But for a non-fiction author, marketing and community building are all part of acting like a business; the book is just one little part of it. Fiction is something else.
Authors writing stories want to write stories, not spend half their time doing other stuff. Their ever-hungry readers always want more stories, and the more time you spend on the business side, the less time you spend writing. Which is bad because the book economy depends on producing as much content as you can. Is building a platform going to bring in more money than producing another book?
Taking time to build parasocial relationships with readers, market, build a platform, and handle the business side is transforming oneself from an author into an entertainer, a different job.
Every professional has to spend time doing “other stuff”. Mechanics have to clean engines, general practitioners need to talk to patients as well as cure them.
The tasks you don’t like doing can be a grind, but they’re part of the skill-set. You learn to be competent at those aspects that don’t come naturally or easily.
This is why any profession or trade is a love-hate affair. You can delegate or contract out stuff you really don’t want to do, but some of it can’t be avoided.
Fiction writing is no different.
Thanks Chad! This is excellent wisdom I’m going to share as a content coach and ghostwriter with my authors, past, present, and future. ‘Guiding readers toward transformation’ is a powerful motivator that serves a purpose beyond simply selling books. Keep up the great work!
Thank you, Deb! Really appreciate this.
Great piece. I love reframing “platform-building” from being a necessary evil into an extension of your mission. The notion that your book is part of a bigger project really resonates, especially in a noisy digital world.
One takeaway I’d add is that authors often focus so much “selling” that they forget the real assets are in the relationships you build that outlives any one book.
Agreed! I heard recently that if you’re solving someone’s problem, you’re not selling as much as serving. I like that.
I just bought the Story Brand book because I have no idea how to brand my writing.
My writing has one overall theme (offering my experiences to guide others to find and follow their dreams) but I write in multiple genres for adults and children.
I’m looking to write short pieces for magazines to promote my favorite charities.
Maybe Jane could do one of her excellent classes on branding?
Thanks, Betsy. I’ll put that on my list of classes to develop. In the meantime, you might appreciate this free session I offered on branding with Andrea Guevara: https://youtu.be/HvluJM3yx_Q?si=FM-e7mlVDstIQaLH
I do like this idea about reconceptualizing the connections between platform and book. As a memoir writer who still has not discovered the one driving force in her story and is still juggling several forces pulling her in different directions, I still like the notion of building my platform around those pulls in different directions! Thank you, Sharon
Love this, Sharon. Lean into those pulls!
Also, this is my favorite quote about writing memoir. Hope it’s helpful.
“Go to your desk on Monday morning and write about some event that’s still vivid in your memory. It doesn’t have to be long—three pages, five pages—but it should have a beginning and an end. Put that episode in a folder and get on with your life. On Tuesday morning, do the same thing. Tuesday’s episode doesn’t have to be related to Monday’s episode. Take whatever memory comes calling; your subconscious mind, having been put to work, will start delivering your past. Keep this up for two months, or three months, or six months. Don’t be impatient to start writing your ‘memoir’—the one you had in mind before you began. Then, one day, take all your entries out of their folder and spread them on the floor. (The floor is often a writer’s best friend.) Read them through and see what they tell you and what patterns emerge. They will tell you what your memoir is about—and what it’s not about.”
― William Zinsser, On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
“I want to suggest a different approach: to see platform-building not as a sideline task, but as a continuation of your core work as an author—guiding readers toward transformation.”
It took me a while to discover this. But once I did, it made the job of building an author platform not only a worthwhile undertaking but enjoyable as well.
Thank you very much for this wise counsel.