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Mets Fan at Shea Stadium (Queens, New York) by Luke Redmond

A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author – in other words, anyone producing works of art – needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.
–Kevin Kelly, 1,000 True Fans

The “1,000 True Fans” theory states, effectively, that 1,000 literal fanatics each spending $100/year on your stuff is all you need for a sustainable career. It’s a model for which Trent Reznor is often used as an example, and much like the discredited “Long Tail Theory” it’s based on (Kelly and Chris Anderson are colleagues at Wired), it is overly simplistic and doesn’t really hold up to scrutiny.

It does, however, offer a reference point for the next step in building an author’s platform.

Platform 101 was about laying the foundation, physically and virtually. Once you have your foundation in place, you will slowly begin to attract an audience, some of whom might one day become enthusiastic fans who will not only buy your books (and short stories, and CDs, and t-shirts, etc.) but, perhaps more importantly, will also mobilize and spread the word far and wide on your behalf, sometimes without your even having to ask.

Platform 201 is about attracting, engaging and energizing that community, and these are three fundamental points to keep in mind while doing so:

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Groundswell

Solid info and insights, coupled with clear (if sometimes incomplete) case studies make GROUNDSWELL: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies (Harvard Business School Press; 2008) ideal for the C-Suite skeptic and those trying to influence their embrace of socialization. Published last year, and working primarily from data collected in 2007, it holds up reasonably well as a “proof of concept” vehicle, and as such, is a perfect companion to Geoff Livingston’s NOW IS GONE: A Primer on New Media for Executives and Entrepreneurs.

Basically, the “groundswell” is Water Cooler 2.0 — people using technology to share their thoughts and opinions about products and services they love and loathe — and GROUNDSWELL makes a smart, practical case for listening, tapping, embracing and empowering that groundswell for the best competitive advantage of all: a passionate customer.

Co-authors Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, both analysts with Forrester Research, take pains to keep things simple, writing in a style that’s one step above “Social Media for Dummies”, presenting a step-by-step strategic approach to understanding and leveraging their “groundswell” premise which wisely focuses on PEOPLE and OBJECTIVES before technology.

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Back Wheel by Stephanie Megan

“The best time to start promoting your book is three years before it comes out. Three years to build a reputation, build a permission asset, build a blog, build a following, build credibility and build the connections you’ll need later.”
–Seth Godin

In an era of immediate gratification and information overload, patience is something few people have time for. They want “it” right now, whether “it” is an email response, a well-paying career, or the proverbial house with a white picket fence. For writers, the social web whispers promises of instant success and overnight fame if only they had a big enough following on Twitter, but the reality is, as Godin notes, very different.

I’ve realized over the past several months that there’s a tendency to oversimplify things, to assume everyone has a certain level of web and marketing savvy (not to mention free time), starting discussions about writers’ platforms, curating communities and “free vs. freemium” way too far ahead of the curve. For a lot of writers. something as seemingly simple as setting up a blog can become a huge, time-consuming effort for which the long-term value isn’t always quite clear or worthwhile.

It most certainly is worthwhile, though, so what follows is a simple 3-step model for building the foundation of your writer’s platform, no matter where you are on Godin’s theoretical timeline:

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homeless dolphin by el patojo

What [FREE author Chris Anderson] is proposing is down somewhere, on the scale of ethics, well beneath Wal-Mart’s policies of no longer hiring any full-time workers so as to avoid health and unemployment insurance. It is in fact some weird sort of neo-feudal, post-contract-worker society, in which he will create a dystopian and eager volunteer-slave system of “attention-paid” enthusiasts (which is to say, people with no other options, and no capital of their own) to create products from which rich people can get richer.

“Chris Anderson Is Worse Than Wal-Mart“, The Awl

The “FREE” debate rages on – with thought-provoking posts by Will Hindmarch, Mitch Ratcliffe, Fred Wilson and Mark Cuban added to the mix (along with the one quoted above, from The Awl) – and in the midst of it, the need for some clarification jumped out at me: “Free” and “Freemium” are NOT the same thing.

They’re getting intertwined in the debate, though, and for writers developing their own platform, understanding the difference between them is critical.

“Free” is the realm of venture capitalists like Wilson and cagey opportunists like Anderson. It is usually based on an advertising-supported model that demands scale and/or desirable demographics for profitability, along with as much freely contributed content as possible to keep expenses down. A niche strategy can work, too, if the audience is highly targeted; ie: Anderson’s GeekDad site, whose business model The Awl criticized for resembling “a digital-age medieval society”.

In the print world, most B2B magazines are built on the “free” model, with “qualified” subscribers getting the magazine for free (controlled circulation) because it’s subsidized by advertisers who want to reach that particular niche. Much of their content is often freely contributed by non-writing professionals, too, primarily to position themselves as thought-leaders within their respective industries. With the stark decline in ad revenues of late, ”free” is an increasingly precarious business model for publishers, and many are struggling to transform to a “freemium” model, developing additional products and services that are of value to their readers and worth paying a premium for.

“Free” isn’t a viable business model for writers, but “freemium” just might work… for some.

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Way Wrong by demzpix

For Anderson, YouTube illustrates the principle that Free removes the necessity of aesthetic judgment. (As he puts it, YouTube proves that “crap is in the eye of the beholder.”) But, in order to make money, YouTube has been obliged to pay for programs that aren’t crap. To recap: YouTube is a great example of Free, except that Free technology ends up not being Free because of the way consumers respond to Free, fatally compromising YouTube’s ability to make money around Free, and forcing it to retreat from the “abundance thinking” that lies at the heart of Free. Credit Suisse estimates that YouTube will lose close to half a billion dollars this year. If it were a bank, it would be eligible for TARP funds.

–Malcolm Gladwell, Priced to Sell

Gladwell’s must-read New Yorker review of Chris Anderson’s Free: The Future of a Radical Price nails its short-sighted, conference circuit talking point to the wall for anyone to see, so I was a bit surprised and disappointed when Seth Godin offered a rather weak defense of Anderson’s work, simply titled “Malcolm is wrong“.

I became a big fan of Godin’s after reading Tribes last year, and honestly, much of what I’ve been doing over the past 6+ months here on the blog, at work, and in my side pursuits was inspired by its underlying message of “be the change you want to see in the world.” Both in Tribes and on his blog, he tends to keep things simple without belaboring the obvious, but sometimes that simplicity can be a major flaw, as it is in his support of Anderson’s hyper-simplistic premise.

Ironically, he uses poetry as an example to prove his point, but ends up doing the exact opposite:

In a world of free, everyone can play.

This is huge. When there are thousands of people writing about something, many will be willing to do it for free (like poets) and some of them might even be really good (like some poets). There is no poetry shortage.

While it’s true there is no poetry shortage, quantitatively speaking, the “everyone can play” idea was the basic premise of the poetry slam which ultimately proved to be tragically flawed and a perfect case study for new media evangelists.

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tunnel vision by Tommy Ellis

“the social media echo chamber is starting to crumble”
–David Armano, Senior Partner, Dachis Corp

Depending on whom you choose to interact with on Twitter, it can easily seem like an echo chamber, and the release of a “report” last week declaring “It’s Official: Fortune 100 CEOs are Social Media Slackers” did nothing to change that perception.

The research found that the vast majority of Fortune 100 CEOs (Warren Buffett, Allan Lafley, Kenneth Chenault, Mary Sammons, et al) aren’t using most, if any, social networking tools, and came to a rather ridiculous, naive conclusion:

In our opinion, the top CEOs appear to be disconnected from the way their own customers are communicating.  They’re giving the impression that they’re disconnected, disengaged and disinterested. No doubt regulations such as Sarbanes Oxley and Reg-FD make CEOs cautious about comunicating freely, they’re missing a fabulous opportunity to connect with their target audience.

Conducted by ÜBERCEO – a TMZ-ish wannabe that claims to offer “the latest news, commentary, rumor and discussion about all things CEO” (noting they’re ”about” CEOs, not “for” them) – one of the most glaring flaws in their “analysis’ is their definition of target audience, an antiquated term the social media “revolution” is supposed to have done away with.

There are some wonderful social media tools that have enabled people to communicate across boundaries; to broadcast their opinions, beliefs and experiences to the world; to “interact” with celebrities, representatives of their favorite brands, and other like-minded people; and, sometimes, even to sell each other stuff. But at its core, social media isn’t about connecting businesses, or their CEOs, to “target audiences” — it’s about people communicating with each other.

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• 09:35 Watched Blade Runner (Director's Cut) finally. Great atmosphere, philosophical undertones; Ford and Young's characters were paper-thin, tho. #
• 09:42 @Al_Letson Director's Cut didn't address it; ends abruptly with him deciding to help her escape. Did the original go there? #
• 10:26 @JohnAnealio @zumayabooks I thought it was a short story. Do the characters have more depth? Liked the concept, might enjoy the source more. #
• 10:33 @Al_Letson Surrogates looks good. I never finished reading it when it first came out but I liked the premise. Matrix + Total Recall...? #
• 14:34 Transformers 2: loud, jet-fueled, eye candy; funny, mildly offensive, and a perfect sequel. Box office champ, for sure. #
• 16:38 @dbschlosser I'm not buying the "robots" excuse. Hauer and Hannah had much more depth than the leads, and were far more compelling. #
• 23:52 The #Mets should have a stock buyback plan, and repurchase some my jerseys and hats to make up for the last 2.5 seasons of #fail. #
• 00:07 The #Mets should have a stock buyback plan, and repurchase some of my jerseys and hats to make up for the last 2.5 seasons of #fail. #

• 08:18 @patrickboegel Yeah, I gave up after Reyes pinch hit for Pelfrey and struck out. The fun:torture balance is out of whack right now. #
• 08:29 Comcast says it is unlikely to uproot its [call center] operations, which employ 25,000 in favor of Twitter: is.gd/1fVz1 (duh!) #
• 08:38 Comcast says it is unlikely to uproot its [call ctr] operations, which employ 25,000 in favor of Twitter: is.gd/1fVz1 RT @crttanaka #
• 09:09 @crttanaka I appreciated the article's focus on customer service and integration, not the usual new shiny "magic bullet" fluff. Thanks! #
• 09:17 RT @NiemanLab Yahoo working on "fluff-o-meter" [to control entertainment:hard news ratio]: tr.im/pQtJ (i wish cable news had this) #
• 09:19 @k_ran Most coverage about them implies Twitter is replacing their customer service, not simply complementing it. So sick of the hype. #
• 12:09 @patrickboegel Did @Cross963 (NSFW) follow you, too? Most blatant account I've seen since the Britney vids. Hello, MySpace! #
• 12:13 RT @patrickboegel Messy and non-linear are smoke screens used to make social media seem like some grand Wizard of Oz... ff.im/4voOI #
• 13:44 Montclair Book Center's indie charm is a double-edged sword. Great for casual browsing, not so much for hit and run. #
• 14:08 Patience rewarded. Couple of books for each of us, most cheaper than Amazon, including Cluetrain hardcover. Montclair Book Center FTW! #
• 14:28 RT @philwest Keynote at #wltcon detailing staggering numbers about advance $ vs. Actual sales. Joe the Plumber? $250k, 388 books sold. #
• 15:57 @mynameisbinx Good start. Next: oysters. Followed by oyster shooters! #
• 16:30 @bookavore Maybe Dungeons & Dragons is big in Norway? How's your gaming selection? #
• 20:02 Latest flurry of OBVIOUS Twitter spam + inability to remove spammers from followers list = MySpace levels of annoyance. Enough already! #
• 20:07 "You Can Become a Kindle Millionaire" bit.ly/z5iWz (@LeeGoldberg can be overly cynical at times, but I like what he's doing here.) #
• 20:12 Sorry, Mr. April will NEVER be Mr. October. Reggie candy bars were good; A-Rod would get a marshmallow stick: bit.ly/12zi1D #
• 20:19 @mjginnyc I think many people use Twitter to enhance their appearance and feel better about themselves, so the analogy kind of works. :-) #
• 20:24 @bookavore I'm hoping to visit WORD soon, inspired by @rutila. Indie Press Night looks like a good target. #
• 20:26 RT @pblackshaw: "Curators as much as creators.They created the framework & allowed others to contribute." tinyurl.com/mgleqj @adage #
• 21:28 WTF? Does Howard Johnson take the fall for the #Mets' lack of offense, or is someone in Buffalo and Binghamton on the hot seat? #
• 21:30 Howard Johnson, Bill Masse and Luis Natera are all on notice. I nominate Mike Piazza for #Mets hitting coach! #

• 07:52 Agreed: "What's next? Build your house lists now like crazy, and protect your email lists at all costs!" -@cspenn bit.ly/17XgyR #
• 08:20 NOTE: If you changed your avatar from green for #iranelection to a #michaelljackson pic, you're part of the problem: bit.ly/UQgP3 #
• 08:23 RT @patkiernan Network morning shows break from usual "Jon and Kate" format to blanket Jackson story. (There's other news?) #
• 08:45 @someguyinbklyn Buzz off, troll. You clearly don't know anything about me or what I'm talking about. #
• 08:50 I don't follow basketball much anymore, but if the Knicks trade Nate Robinson, the last shred of interest I had will fade. #
• 09:11 Any website using Twitter to drive significant traffic really needs to ensure they offer a satisfactory mobile experience. #
• 09:53 @artistikem Lofty company! Thanks. I just added @LatinoBookNews. (Psst, @OBermeo and @elprofe316; check them both out.) #
• 09:59 Reading: "How to Kick Ass with a Mobile Website" bit.ly/t7fIc (Practical, ACTIONABLE tips on optimizing for mobile via @rich_kirk) #
• 11:20 @michelletripp That wasn't MJ! That was Rockwell, Berry Gordy Jr.'s son. :-) #
• 11:24 Updated @CoHorts' Facebook Page after reading: bit.ly/PUFCZ via @minonline; Static FBML app is a must-have for magazines. #
• 11:27 Really like @HarvardBiz' Facebook Page, especially their use of My Stuff app: bit.ly/o3EkY #
• 12:15 RT @badbanana: Congress took a moment of silence for Michael Jackson. Which is one moment longer than they took to read the stimulus bill. #
• 12:23 .@Mediabistro TMZ was right, and first, so now credibility isn't important? Riiiight. Ambulance chasing isn't journalism; sorry. #
• 14:45 Attn: Writers - #platformchat for no-BS advice from @JaneFriedman and @thewritermama on developing your platform: bit.ly/12gIBP #
• 14:47 #platformchat My $.02: Focus on what you're passionate about and make connections with PEOPLE. Shared interests = likely readers. #
• 14:53 RT @thewritermama: You do your thang on social media regularly, writers, but don't forget to do your paying work! #platformchat #
• 14:53 RT @JaneFriedman You should have a strong social network before you "need" it (e.g., when you have a book). #platformchat #
• 15:02 RT @thewritermama I’m Christina Katz, host of #platformchat. Pick my brain & Get Known Before the Book Deal at christinakatz.com #
• 15:04 Attn: Writers - Sign up for @janefriedman's "Publishing Passion Newsletter" for no-BS insight: www.janefriedman.com h#platformchat #
• 15:18 @ThereseWalsh Agreed; I've met some smart people here, and seen others I already knew sharing their knowledge and experience selflessly. #
• 15:19 @billfromsc I think Twitter is great for finding and engaging different viewpoints. It's only an echo chamber by choice. #
• 15:53 @medialogic 75-page presos? Paralysis by analysis or death by PPT, perhaps? Where does Open Forum fit in picture? #
• 15:59 @Armano That's a good thing, no? I tired of it quickly as an observer; can't imagine the reverb in the inner sanctum. #
• 16:06 Subway Series prediction: #Mets sweep; 2 close, 1 blowout, 1st place on Monday. Daniel Murphy gets a walk-off RBI. A-Rod: 2-13, RBI, Error. #
• 16:28 Would "social media" be more accepted in corporate settings if evangelists didn't have such an antagonistic tone in their sermons? #
• 18:08 RT @dianavilibert: Woohoo! I'm on @foliomag, chatting about Twitter and @marieclaire: snurl.com/ky6er (practical case study; kudos!) #
• 20:04 Live Bait's Beer of the Month, Lagunitas IPA, is very good! Their happy hour is ideal for a long overdue #SDN. Oyster shooters FTW! #
• 21:12 RT @patrickboegel: Arod not nearly as good minus the steroids he did not know he was accidentally taking on purpose #Mets (LOL!) #

• 07:44 Getting bored of marketing theoreticians and Twitter witch doctors. Looking for more pragmatists with skin in the game. Recommendations? #
• 07:58 @omahaslim Looks interesting. Bookmarked for future reference. #
• 08:03 Anderson could claim plagiarism was ruse to prove pub biz is broken, return his advance in true spirit of FREE? bit.ly/iJyIA #
• 08:51 Reading Groundswell, noting many references to traditional marketing driving attention, traffic to social initiatives. Imagine that? #
• 09:02 Groundswell Paradox: Blog ROI model values traditional PR benefits more than WoM, Customer Service and "Listening" combined. #
• 09:35 RT @Al_Letson 20 yrs later the question still remains. Did Mookie do the right thing? I never thought so. Your thoughts? #DoTheRightThing #
• 09:39 #DoTheRightThing @Al_Letson He did the wrong thing, but it was in character, both for Mookie and Spike Lee. I was torn, but empathetic. #
• 10:13 RT @CoHorts: RT @WritersDigest: Poetry and Horticulture: tinyurl.com/lle4eg (a new garden verse competition) #
• 11:03 RT @KristenShue: Awesome report about c-level exec web usage from Forbes+Google - ow.ly/fNiF (legit, not agenda-driven fluff; PDF) #
• 11:12 RT @FishbowlNY: How did the VQR find Anderson's copied passages? We found out: bit.ly/CqGCI (still not buying Anderson's excuse) #
• 11:13 @rutila Except for our Wii, every electronics-related purchase we've made there has been problematic. #Costcofail #
• 11:24 Reading: "BBC Poetry Series Drives Sales" bit.ly/18oWMk (@mediabistro) | Where's the American version of this? #buypoetry #
• 12:16 RT @AvantGuild: How To Pitch: Writers & photogs w/ a green thumb are in luck. Horticulture mag is 90% freelance written: bit.ly/XE84Q #
• 13:27 RT @THE_REAL_SHAQ: Successful leadership is measured by influence, not authority. (Power can be seized; influence must be earned.) #
• 14:48 Print is dead! Except when you want actual revenue... "Meredith Launches Print Extension of Social Network" bit.ly/4mzbJ -@foliomag #
• 15:37 @TheRopolitans Why was Church taking on 3-0 with bases loaded and one out? He's batting clean-up, not in the 8 hole! Bad call. #
• 16:45 RT @charabbott: Let's not forget bias in mainstream pub: a lot of African-American, queer authors self-pub because they are shut out. (yep) #
• 16:56 RT @wearesocial: Twitter’s rise and the decline of blogs tinyurl.com/kjpdh8 (Blogs are fine; Twitter could be the next Friendster.) #
• 16:59 .@KatMeyer Why do people act like editors don't freelance? Self-pub doesn't mean unvetted, nor does vetting mean good. #followthereader #
• 18:00 I'll believe FOX News before TMZ any day. They both suck, but a political bias is less offensive because it's so transparent. #
• 18:17 I need something more reliable than TMZ before I believe it. A bum on the corner is just as reliable as that useless virtual fishwrap. #
• 18:32 I don't care about being first; "Beta Journalism" is bullshit and Twitter feeds right into it. #
• 18:39 I must be getting old. Michael Jackson is dead and I'm ranting about the quality, or lack thereof, of real journalism online. #
• 18:46 PS: No offense to bums with the TMZ comparison. That was uncalled for! Their gossip is usually well-intentioned. #
• 19:06 My favorites were Man in the Mirror, Smooth Criminal, and Scream. Also, I've never been good at separating the art from the actions. :-\ #
• 21:57 RT @printmag Austin is 105 degrees of awesome. There's excitement and creativity in the very air. (Love Austin. Wish I was there!) #
• 22:39 "I grieve for him; but I also grieve for the culture that created and destroyed him." bit.ly/UQgP3 (TMZ is that culture's sewage.) #
• 22:52 @kissmyaster Sadly, yeah. #