5 WAYS BUILDING COMMUNITY CAN BUILD YOUR PLATFORM

For writers, the watchword these days is “platform.” Writers, who really just want to close the door, block out the world, and play with words, are told they have to have a website, Facebook page, and be on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest – the list goes on.

But writers can enhance their platforms in a different way – a way that is both more personally fulfilling and that also contributes to the world of letters. With community building, a writer aims to create something meaningful in and of itself. But while the primary goal isn’t to get more twitter followers or Facebook friends, or to secure an agent or more book sales, any of those results can come out of the connections that naturally occur. What goes around comes around.

Some of these suggestions are easier to achieve than others, and some have a longer timeline. Community building takes time and a lot of work, so make sure you choose something that you will enjoy doing. Here are five ideas for building community.

1. Reviewing
This is a step you can take without getting out of your pj’s. Write reviews and post on Goodreads, Amazon, and elsewhere. You can also start a blog where you discuss other’s work, interview authors –or go a step further and accept books for review. You can then extend your reach by sharing on social media platforms.

2. Join and volunteer in a writers’ organization

PEN, The Authors’ Guild, The National Writers Union are well known, and all hold events with networking opportunities. But there are many other organizations less known, and many are hungry for volunteers, such as The Women’s National Book Association. I joined the WNBA and later went on the board of the NY chapter, and enjoy participating in and planning events. Recently the WNBA gave me the opportunity to participate on a panel that drew an audience of 100. Working with this organization has certainly been a win-win for me.

3. Organize a group reading

Reach out to other writers to join you in a reading. You can organize one around a theme – to celebrate Earth Day, say – or with a focus on debut writers or on writers published by the same press. The writers don’t have to be well known or even all published authors. While bookstores are leery of scheduling readings for unknown authors, because they know how hard it is to draw an audience, that calculus is turned on its head with group readings, because the expected number of attendees exponentially increases. And if there aren’t willing bookstores, try a café or library. It’s best to work with a co-organizer to make it more fun and to share the work. (I personally have helped organize three such readings: one involved writers from my former workplace, BusinessWeek magazine; one involved writers whose work, along with mine, was in anthologies published by Wising Up Press; and an upcoming one is organized around a Mother’s Day theme.) You will want to do a flyer and some PR, and there will be a lot of “herding cats” – many emails to keep in touch with all the participants – but it’s well worth it. As a bonus, you gain connections with a bookstore; contacts, many of whom are really grateful to you for the chance to share their work; and great content to share in posts on your social media platforms.

4. Start a reading series

For an ongoing series, which is a big commitment, you will want to team up with at least one other person. You need to have a well-thought-out plan, a great venue, and readers lined up well in advance before you launch your series. You can work out criteria – all fiction, say – to give your series an identity. Some great examples: Sunday Salon, founded by Nita Noveno in New York City in 2002 (and now with offshoots in Chicago, South Florida, and Nairobi), is held at a bar called Jimmy’s 43 on NYC’s Lower East Side and focuses on emerging writers. Another salon, whose readings feature parents, is run by Pen Parentis, an organization that provides resources to authors who are also parents to help them stay on creative track after starting a family. (Pen Parentis also has a website and private Linked-In and facebook groups.) The Oh, Bernice! Collective was formed by a group of graduates of the MFA program at Queens College that wanted to continue working together after graduation, Oh, Bernice! holds a monthly reading at the Astoria Bookshop in Queens, New York. Each reading is hosted by one member of the collective, who gets to develop the lineup for a given night. Doing a series not only provides a wonderful service to the community, but gives groups and writers great exposure, many contacts, and PR and social media opportunities.

5. Put together an anthology

Whether you’re in a writing group and want to showcase the work of members, or have an idea for a theme you’d like to explore, publishing an anthology is a great way to create something terrific, get exposure of all kinds, and learn a great deal in the process. The South Jersey Writers Group has put out two anthologies, while Dumped: Stories of Women Unfriending Women, edited by Nina Gaby, focuses on a common theme. From a call to submissions to reviewing work to drafting contracts to finding a publisher (or, the easier route, crowdsourcing fund-raising, as through Pubslush, for a DIY approach), this is not an endeavor to be undertaken lightly, but it can be vastly rewarding.

There are any number of variants to these suggestions – mentoring young writers (Girls Write Now;), teaching a workshop at a library, volunteering at a literary magazine – but they all involve the same basic truth: They reward the time and energy in both tangible and intangible ways, and help you build your platform in the process.