To be a successful writer, you have to first develop a “platform”. This is a publishing term for a loyal fan base that will buy just about anything you write. It only makes sense, in the way that cultivating regulars at a bar gives the owner a stable base to pay the mortgage from. What’s funny about it is that you have to have the “platform” before you are likely to publish a book. That’s why you see celebrity cookbooks and the like getting precedence over cookbooks from people who are professional chefs. Celebs always sell, at least at first.
Monthly Archives: November 2007
Gutenburgistas
The internet is a writer’s medium. Anyone can publish absolutely anything, and therein lies part of the problem. In the warm glow of a CRT screen, what is it that you want to read? No matter how you twist and turn, no laptop will ever be as personally comfortable as a cold book. If we’re ever going to form a decent revolution out of this, as so many people want, a few more things need to fall into place.
I like to look at how the last publishing revolution went to get a few clues as to what we need.
Barataria - The work of Erik Hare 