By Cherrilynn Bisbano @bisbanowrites

“She loves my book but I need to build my platform.” A conferee said after she left the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference appointment room.

“Tell me about yourself,” I said.

After I asked my new friend a few questions I said, “Now you can tell the publisher you added two million people to your platform before you left the building.”

We laughed and hugged. My new friend walked away with a spring in her step and a quest to change her book proposal.

I believe YOUR platform is bigger than you think.

So, what were some of the questions I asked?

• Where did you attend college?
• Do you belong to any organizations?
• What’s your church denomination?
• Who will endorse your book?
• Do you know anyone famous?
• Does a family member or close friend have a large reach?
• Are you scheduled to speak?

Colleges, organizations, and churches have alumni and other newsletters with a tremendous reach. Contact them, tell them you are writing a book, and ask how to place a book release in their publication. Also ask how many people are on the email list. This is how I found the two million for my friend. She attended a large university and belonged to an international organization.

Ask yourself, Who do I know? Who will endorse my book or help me promote it?

“My book will never sell with such low social media numbers.” A  client lamented during our initial coaching session.

“I’m sorry, keep interacting with others and join Facebook groups for women entrepreneurs, writers, and speaker.” I said.

“It will take forever!”

“Well, tell me more about yourself.” I said.

“I work with John Maxwell.”

“What? So you took his classes and are a certified coach?” I needed to clarify.

“No, I work on his personal leadership team.” 

“Girl, people would kill for that platform. Can you get him or someone else on his leadership team to endorse your book?” 

“Absolutely, I didn’t realize I could do that.” 

I was blessed to have a few conversations at the conference and help people increase their platform.

I just touched on some of the ways your platform is more than social media. If you have any others, please join the conversation.

Cherrilynn Bisbano is an award-winning writer, coach, editor, and speaker. As former managing editor of Almost an Author, she helped the website earn the #6 spot on the Top 100 best writing websites for 2018 by The Write Life and Top 101 Websites for writers with Writers Digest. Cherrilynn is a speaker with Women Speakers. Her topics include leadership, book proposals, and the Bible.

She is a two-time winner of Flash Fiction Weekly. Her work in progress, Accidental Findings, won the first 10 pages award with, When Words Count Retreat. You can find her published in Blue Ridge Writers Blog, Southern Writers, More to Life (MTL), Christian Rep, Christian Voice, Refresh, and other online magazines. Cherrilynn is a contributor to award-winning, Get to the Margins-Author Anthology; Breaking the Chains; Heart Reno, Kiss Guilt Goodbye; and Chicken Soup for the Soul-Miracles books. Her latest book, Shine Don’t Whine, released October 2020. Cherrilynn proudly served in the Navy and Air National Guard, earning the John Levitow Military leadership award.  She lives with her eighteen-year-old son, Michael, Jr., and husband of 22 years. Cherrilynn loves Christ, Chocolate, coffee, and Cats. You will often find her on the beach sea glass hunting.