I Need to Get Some Platform

I'm back. Did you miss me? You may or may not have noticed that, since last summer, I've more or less given up blogging. Now I think it's time to start up again.

This weekend, I've been looking into literary agents. I sent queries to a handful that sounded like they would be a good match for me and the book. One word that stood out on many of their sites was "platform." They want writers with a strong platform. Platform, in this context, means voice and visibility. You probably know that publishers these days want authors to take an aggressive role in marketing their books, initiating events that don't require any investment by the publisher. Platform means they want to see authors who are positioned to do this even before the book is published. In non-fiction, this means they want the author to be an recognized expert in their field. Since I made up my field (historical mammothology) I am the world's leading authority in it, but I am falling down on the "recognized" part of that formula.

This brings us back to the blog. I need to get some new material in here, write frequently, spiff up the look a little bit, and find some way to create some "added value." And, most importantly, I need to get some traffic moving through here.

Meanwhile: here's a herd of mammoths trudging through a late spring snowfall.