What's My Platform?

It seems to be a hot topic. All the agents and authors are talking about how important it is to have a platform. How it's critical for getting published, and after that, for getting an audience.

I've been wracking my brain to figure out what my platform is. It's not a non-fiction book, so I'm not a highly qualified expert with years of experience to extol. It's not a novel about Girl Scout adventures, so I can't pull out all of my GS paraphernalia and relive the glory Brownie days. It's not about religion. It's not about high school. It's not about teenage pregnancy or abuse.

But it does have bits and pieces of many of these things. It's a book about overcoming adversity. That's not really a platform, though. It's a suspense novel, a thriller. I suppose I could learn to dance like Michael Jackson...no, bad idea. Should my platform be about writing the book? Believing in yourself? Should it be about who I am? A young mom who carves time to write while sitting on the couch and the kids are sleeping? Should it touch upon the religious aspect of the book? About believing Christ even when it seems like God's abandoned you? Should I focus on the teenage aspects? The fears, the fights, the crushes, the self-doubt?

It worries me not to have a solid platform. Like the question I saw on many publisher sites, "What makes you qualified to write this book?" Um...I'm the one who has the story in my head? What was Stephanie Meyers' platform? "How to Survive a Vampire Bite"? When I walk into a high school and ask if I can speak to the student body about my book, what am I going to say? "I was a kid once. So I want to talk to them about this book I wrote." Yeah. Great platform.

Those of you who are writers out there, what is your platform? Are you still working on one? How did you come up with it?

Sequel Stats:
today's goal: 66,893
actual: 66,953
tomorrow's goal: 68,953