Latest / Cookbook Love Podcast / Episode 405: Six Unspoken Benefits of an Author Platform

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Episode 405: Six Unspoken Benefits of an Author Platform · Cookbook Love Podcast

• 0:02
  Speaker: You're listening to the cookbook Love Podcast with Maggie Greene,
• 0:05
  Speaker: episode number four oh five.
• 0:10
  Speaker: Welcome to the cookbook Love
• 0:12
  Speaker: Podcast, a podcast that
• 0:14
  Speaker: celebrates cookbook readers,
• 0:16
  Speaker: buyers, collectors, writers, and
• 0:18
  Speaker: clubs.
• 0:19
  Speaker: And now your host, cookbook
• 0:21
  Speaker: author, culinary dietitian, and
• 0:23
  Speaker: cookbook writing coach, Maggie
• 0:24
  Speaker: Greene.
• 0:31
  Speaker: Hi, everybody.
• 0:32
  Speaker: Welcome back to another episode of the cookbook Love Podcast.
• 0:35
  Speaker: How's everybody doing today?
• 0:37
  Speaker: Hope you are all doing well.
• 0:39
  Speaker: I'm having a quiet morning here.
• 0:41
  Speaker: Looking forward to sharing this episode with you and talking
• 0:47
  Speaker: about a topic that I've covered actually sort of before.
• 0:53
  Speaker: Um, and that's the unintended, unexpected benefits of building
• 0:59
  Speaker: an author platform.
• 1:01
  Speaker: In episode three ninety three, I
• 1:07
  Speaker: talked about how our author
• 1:09
  Speaker: platforms are not just a
• 1:10
  Speaker: follower count.
• 1:11
  Speaker: So if you want to head back to that episode and you can tune in
• 1:14
  Speaker: there, and I talked a little bit about how this platform isn't
• 1:19
  Speaker: just about counting followers.
• 1:21
  Speaker: And then in episode three ninety
• 1:24
  Speaker: five, I listed twenty five
• 1:27
  Speaker: unexpected benefits of writing a
• 1:29
  Speaker: cookbook.
• 1:30
  Speaker: And I think sometimes we get so
• 1:34
  Speaker: focused on the goal, the
• 1:37
  Speaker: cookbook, the platform that we
• 1:40
  Speaker: fail to really stop and slow
• 1:42
  Speaker: down, to see the benefits for
• 1:44
  Speaker: ourselves and for our readers of
• 1:48
  Speaker: doing something and who we
• 1:50
  Speaker: become in the process of doing
• 1:51
  Speaker: something like building an
• 1:53
  Speaker: author platform.
• 1:55
  Speaker: So just as a little bit of a Update the platform.
• 2:02
  Speaker: And when we hear the word
• 2:03
  Speaker: platform, we usually always
• 2:05
  Speaker: think about publishers and
• 2:06
  Speaker: agents.
• 2:08
  Speaker: We think about follower accounts.
• 2:09
  Speaker: We think about social media growth.
• 2:11
  Speaker: We think about email lists, we
• 2:13
  Speaker: think about visibility, and we
• 2:15
  Speaker: just feel so like there's so
• 2:17
  Speaker: much I have to do to please this
• 2:19
  Speaker: publisher.
• 2:20
  Speaker: So they offer me a book deal.
• 2:23
  Speaker: And today, while that is true, publishers do love platforms.
• 2:31
  Speaker: I think we often, if we want to get a book deal, have been
• 2:35
  Speaker: thinking about this and asking the wrong question, because the
• 2:43
  Speaker: real issue isn't whether or not your platform is big enough.
• 2:47
  Speaker: The real issue is whether or not
• 2:49
  Speaker: your platform has just been
• 2:52
  Speaker: reduced to a measurement for a
• 2:56
  Speaker: publisher.
• 2:58
  Speaker: Or are we actually looking at a
• 3:01
  Speaker: platform as a way to grow
• 3:03
  Speaker: relationships with readers over
• 3:07
  Speaker: time?
• 3:09
  Speaker: That's what a platform is.
• 3:10
  Speaker: It is evidence of relationships with readers.
• 3:15
  Speaker: And if I think about my own experience of becoming a
• 3:19
  Speaker: cookbook author for the first time, when I got my first book
• 3:22
  Speaker: deal, this was actually before social media really became what
• 3:26
  Speaker: it was today.
• 3:27
  Speaker: So if platforms were really all
• 3:29
  Speaker: about social media, how is it
• 3:31
  Speaker: possible that people wrote books
• 3:33
  Speaker: even before social media
• 3:34
  Speaker: existed, before they were reels,
• 3:37
  Speaker: content, strategies, and
• 3:38
  Speaker: pressure to feel like you have
• 3:40
  Speaker: to perform to become a personal
• 3:42
  Speaker: brand online?
• 3:43
  Speaker: Yet we all still had author platforms.
• 3:46
  Speaker: And the thing was, as I was teaching cooking classes, I was
• 3:49
  Speaker: writing for a local newspaper.
• 3:51
  Speaker: I was sharing my ideas.
• 3:53
  Speaker: I was building relationships.
• 3:54
  Speaker: I was showing up.
• 3:55
  Speaker: I was being consistent, I was writing, I was listening to what
• 3:58
  Speaker: my readers said, and in my work and in my conversations, I
• 4:03
  Speaker: reflected that I just didn't really have the way to actually
• 4:07
  Speaker: think about it as a platform.
• 4:10
  Speaker: But looking back, I wanted to
• 4:12
  Speaker: let you know that I realized
• 4:14
  Speaker: something that I wasn't doing
• 4:16
  Speaker: this platform at the time for a
• 4:19
  Speaker: publisher.
• 4:21
  Speaker: It was just something that I was doing in my life to help people.
• 4:27
  Speaker: So we need the the biggest shift has been is that social media is
• 4:32
  Speaker: now very visible.
• 4:35
  Speaker: Video and photography are ways
• 4:39
  Speaker: that people are becoming visible
• 4:41
  Speaker: online.
• 4:42
  Speaker: And a lot of times when people
• 4:43
  Speaker: are consuming content online,
• 4:45
  Speaker: it's often video based or audio
• 4:49
  Speaker: based.
• 4:50
  Speaker: Like you might be listening to this podcast, um, while you're
• 4:53
  Speaker: walking or driving or cooking, but we listen to people talk.
• 4:57
  Speaker: We watch people do things on video.
• 5:00
  Speaker: But a platform for you as a
• 5:02
  Speaker: writer and an author can take
• 5:04
  Speaker: other forms.
• 5:06
  Speaker: And there are six benefits to doing this that people aren't
• 5:10
  Speaker: really talking about.
• 5:11
  Speaker: So I want to shift the focus from what you need to do to the
• 5:16
  Speaker: benefits to you as an author, and see if this helps to
• 5:20
  Speaker: generate some ideas and some desire to actually go out and do
• 5:24
  Speaker: these things that I'm going to talk about so that you get these
• 5:27
  Speaker: benefits in your life because.
• 5:31
  Speaker: So number one, I want you to
• 5:33
  Speaker: think about a platform as a way
• 5:37
  Speaker: to build relationships with real
• 5:39
  Speaker: people, real relationships with
• 5:41
  Speaker: real people.
• 5:42
  Speaker: Because before you can actually write a cookbook, you have to
• 5:46
  Speaker: understand who it is you're actually writing for.
• 5:49
  Speaker: Um, not just in real life.
• 5:51
  Speaker: I mean, not just in theory, but in real life, who you are
• 5:56
  Speaker: writing your book for now.
• 5:59
  Speaker: Most authors start with like, a
• 6:01
  Speaker: very general idea of who their
• 6:02
  Speaker: reader might be busy moms, home
• 6:04
  Speaker: bakers, people trying to eat
• 6:05
  Speaker: better.
• 6:06
  Speaker: In these categories work to kind
• 6:08
  Speaker: of get you into the mindset and
• 6:11
  Speaker: the space where these people
• 6:12
  Speaker: might be.
• 6:13
  Speaker: But the platform, when it puts
• 6:15
  Speaker: you in contact with real busy
• 6:18
  Speaker: moms, real home bakers, real
• 6:21
  Speaker: people trying to eat better or
• 6:22
  Speaker: improve their nutrition, they
• 6:25
  Speaker: start to ask real questions back
• 6:28
  Speaker: to you.
• 6:29
  Speaker: And something important happens in this back and forth between
• 6:33
  Speaker: you and your readers.
• 6:36
  Speaker: You start hearing them as people.
• 6:40
  Speaker: You start to hear their frustrations, their desires.
• 6:43
  Speaker: You get to hear their emotions.
• 6:46
  Speaker: You get to see how they feel
• 6:47
  Speaker: around food, how they feel about
• 6:49
  Speaker: time, how they feel about
• 6:50
  Speaker: themselves, how they care for
• 6:52
  Speaker: themselves.
• 6:53
  Speaker: And slowly, this reader isn't
• 6:57
  Speaker: just an idea, it becomes a
• 6:59
  Speaker: person who you're actually
• 7:00
  Speaker: writing for and building a
• 7:02
  Speaker: relationship with.
• 7:05
  Speaker: Do you know that the secret to happiness is helping people and
• 7:11
  Speaker: loving people more?
• 7:13
  Speaker: If you want to be happy in your life, serve somebody.
• 7:20
  Speaker: Help them.
• 7:22
  Speaker: Love them.
• 7:24
  Speaker: And this is not always easy.
• 7:26
  Speaker: It's often, uh, a sacrifice to do it.
• 7:29
  Speaker: But this is where true happiness come from, comes from.
• 7:34
  Speaker: And this shift alone of knowing
• 7:37
  Speaker: that you are in relationship
• 7:39
  Speaker: with real people and real
• 7:41
  Speaker: readers is a huge benefit of
• 7:44
  Speaker: platform building.
• 7:48
  Speaker: Okay, now publishers are going to love it if you're in
• 7:50
  Speaker: relationship with people.
• 7:51
  Speaker: But I want you to remember that
• 7:53
  Speaker: this is also the ticket to your
• 7:55
  Speaker: ultimate happiness, to helping
• 7:57
  Speaker: people feel better in their
• 7:59
  Speaker: life.
• 7:59
  Speaker: Have a better life, and your reader will feel better because
• 8:02
  Speaker: you're helping them.
• 8:04
  Speaker: So that's the first benefit is you get to build relationships
• 8:09
  Speaker: with real people.
• 8:11
  Speaker: I will never, ever forget the
• 8:15
  Speaker: relationships that I have built
• 8:17
  Speaker: with people over the years
• 8:18
  Speaker: because of my cookbooks, because
• 8:21
  Speaker: of the business I've built,
• 8:23
  Speaker: building the Cookbook Writers
• 8:24
  Speaker: Academy, because of the people
• 8:25
  Speaker: I've met and served through the
• 8:27
  Speaker: courses and programs that I've
• 8:28
  Speaker: taught.
• 8:29
  Speaker: And because of people like you who listen and write me emails
• 8:33
  Speaker: to let me know that you're listening and to build a
• 8:36
  Speaker: relationship with you as well.
• 8:40
  Speaker: At the end of your microphone, at the end of your pen, at the
• 8:44
  Speaker: end of your video, at the end of your teaching, you're sharing.
• 8:48
  Speaker: It's always about relationships with people.
• 8:53
  Speaker: The platform might be a result, but the benefit for you is
• 8:56
  Speaker: relationship and connection, and helping people just is generally
• 9:03
  Speaker: a very fulfilling and rewarding thing to do.
• 9:08
  Speaker: The second thing is, is that your platform is going to help
• 9:11
  Speaker: you sharpen your message.
• 9:13
  Speaker: You're going to get feedback from people.
• 9:16
  Speaker: Um, I pay attention to the emails that I send out that
• 9:20
  Speaker: people respond to.
• 9:22
  Speaker: I pay attention to podcast titles that really resonate with
• 9:25
  Speaker: people through getting your message out there and through
• 9:30
  Speaker: the feedback you get, you can give people what they really
• 9:35
  Speaker: want instead of just what you think they might need.
• 9:40
  Speaker: Your expertise is not the same thing as being clear on how you
• 9:45
  Speaker: can help people.
• 9:49
  Speaker: You have expertise and you know
• 9:51
  Speaker: your subject deeply, but what
• 9:53
  Speaker: really helps is when you can
• 9:55
  Speaker: translate it to make a
• 9:56
  Speaker: difference in someone else's
• 9:57
  Speaker: world.
• 9:59
  Speaker: The platform becomes a testing ground for your thinking.
• 10:03
  Speaker: If you're thinking about
• 10:04
  Speaker: something related to what you
• 10:05
  Speaker: teach, related to what you know
• 10:07
  Speaker: related to food, nutrition, or
• 10:08
  Speaker: cooking, and you think, well,
• 10:09
  Speaker: I'm going to give this a try
• 10:10
  Speaker: with my readers and see what
• 10:12
  Speaker: they think.
• 10:13
  Speaker: They're going to let you know what they think based on their
• 10:16
  Speaker: engagement with whatever it is you put out there.
• 10:19
  Speaker: You might share something and
• 10:20
  Speaker: either it's going to land or it
• 10:22
  Speaker: doesn't land.
• 10:23
  Speaker: You explain something and it
• 10:25
  Speaker: either helps them be more clear
• 10:26
  Speaker: about the topic or more
• 10:27
  Speaker: confused.
• 10:29
  Speaker: Your audience helps you shape your communication.
• 10:36
  Speaker: They show you what resonates.
• 10:38
  Speaker: They show you what needs refinement.
• 10:41
  Speaker: They show you what's too complicated, what's too vague,
• 10:43
  Speaker: what's too abstract.
• 10:44
  Speaker: And over time, your message gets sharper and simpler and more
• 10:48
  Speaker: usable because you're listening to their response to whatever it
• 10:54
  Speaker: is you are doing.
• 10:58
  Speaker: So some of you say, I just get crickets.
• 11:01
  Speaker: I don't hear anything back.
• 11:04
  Speaker: And I want you to think about what kind of consumer you are of
• 11:09
  Speaker: other people's content.
• 11:11
  Speaker: And do you respond to them if they have something that they've
• 11:16
  Speaker: served, something that you like, or if maybe there's a question
• 11:19
  Speaker: you have, do you write back because you can be the first
• 11:23
  Speaker: place to make that difference by you responding to people you
• 11:26
  Speaker: engage with, and encouraging response from the people that
• 11:29
  Speaker: you are serving.
• 11:30
  Speaker: It's a two way street.
• 11:33
  Speaker: If you're a lurker and you give crickets to people when you're
• 11:36
  Speaker: engaging with their content, that's probably what you're
• 11:39
  Speaker: going to get back.
• 11:41
  Speaker: But through becoming someone who responds and engages with the
• 11:45
  Speaker: people you follow, you can become someone who people also
• 11:49
  Speaker: respond and engage to, and you can let people that you follow,
• 11:54
  Speaker: let them know if you've.
• 11:55
  Speaker: They've helped you.
• 11:56
  Speaker: Let them know what you might like to hear next.
• 11:59
  Speaker: Let them know if something is confusing.
• 12:01
  Speaker: Let them know if something really landed in is clear, and
• 12:04
  Speaker: then you can maybe get that kind of response from other people.
• 12:07
  Speaker: This is called fine tuning your message.
• 12:09
  Speaker: And this comes through real feedback from real people that
• 12:14
  Speaker: are your readers.
• 12:17
  Speaker: The third thing that happens
• 12:18
  Speaker: from a platform is you become
• 12:20
  Speaker: more confident.
• 12:21
  Speaker: You're not just assuming that you have confidence, you are
• 12:25
  Speaker: building it because you're seeing evidence of people caring
• 12:30
  Speaker: about what you write.
• 12:32
  Speaker: Okay.
• 12:34
  Speaker: The platform is going to give you evidence in real time.
• 12:38
  Speaker: When they respond.
• 12:40
  Speaker: When someone signs up for a workshop, when someone leaves
• 12:43
  Speaker: their email address address, when a reader writes back and
• 12:47
  Speaker: says, this really helped me.
• 12:48
  Speaker: Or a listener says, this really helped me.
• 12:50
  Speaker: Or a subscriber stays connected
• 12:53
  Speaker: for many years on your email
• 12:55
  Speaker: list, and they open your emails
• 12:57
  Speaker: and they read them and they
• 12:58
  Speaker: click things.
• 12:58
  Speaker: You can tell.
• 13:00
  Speaker: Um, none of these little moments like this feel like big dramatic
• 13:04
  Speaker: things, but they accumulate into something very powerful and that
• 13:10
  Speaker: is lived experience.
• 13:12
  Speaker: And the confidence that you will
• 13:14
  Speaker: gain through showing up and
• 13:17
  Speaker: being consistent in letting this
• 13:19
  Speaker: accumulation help you slowly
• 13:23
  Speaker: build work that matters and
• 13:25
  Speaker: start seeing that it does
• 13:27
  Speaker: matter.
• 13:28
  Speaker: That's where real confidence comes from.
• 13:30
  Speaker: We're not wondering anymore.
• 13:32
  Speaker: We're not assuming anymore.
• 13:33
  Speaker: We actually see evidence of people responding with whatever
• 13:38
  Speaker: it is we do.
• 13:41
  Speaker: When we're doing this
• 13:42
  Speaker: organically, it can sometimes
• 13:44
  Speaker: feel slow.
• 13:46
  Speaker: Um, but remember, anytime you're
• 13:48
  Speaker: in front of an audience of
• 13:50
  Speaker: people, whether you're teaching
• 13:51
  Speaker: a class, speaking to a large
• 13:53
  Speaker: group, writing something to your
• 13:55
  Speaker: email list, showing up on a
• 13:57
  Speaker: podcast.
• 13:58
  Speaker: You always want to be thinking
• 13:59
  Speaker: about how you can help the
• 14:01
  Speaker: readers that are listening, and
• 14:02
  Speaker: the people that you're connected
• 14:03
  Speaker: to, how they're, how you can
• 14:05
  Speaker: help them.
• 14:07
  Speaker: And, um, maybe give them a free offer, offer a PDF download,
• 14:13
  Speaker: create something that every time you speak, you can offer to them
• 14:17
  Speaker: in exchange for their email address and start building up
• 14:21
  Speaker: this relationship with them.
• 14:23
  Speaker: And then over time, your
• 14:25
  Speaker: relationship with them helps
• 14:27
  Speaker: build your confidence because
• 14:28
  Speaker: you're going to see evidence of
• 14:29
  Speaker: their engagement.
• 14:32
  Speaker: Number four is a platform creates opportunities for you
• 14:36
  Speaker: that you don't have to chase.
• 14:39
  Speaker: Most people assume the platform maybe exists just to get the
• 14:43
  Speaker: book deal, but did you know that one of the benefits of having a
• 14:49
  Speaker: platform could be the recognition of your name.
• 14:54
  Speaker: The knowing of how you help people and opportunities that
• 14:57
  Speaker: come to you before you even ask.
• 15:00
  Speaker: You might get speaking
• 15:01
  Speaker: invitations, teaching
• 15:03
  Speaker: opportunities, media features,
• 15:05
  Speaker: offers for collaboration,
• 15:07
  Speaker: professional relationships that
• 15:08
  Speaker: you did not have to engineer and
• 15:11
  Speaker: that you did not have to seek
• 15:13
  Speaker: out.
• 15:14
  Speaker: This is exactly what happened to me with my first book offer.
• 15:20
  Speaker: I volunteered for different opportunities.
• 15:23
  Speaker: I wrote for a paper, I taught cooking classes, and someone
• 15:27
  Speaker: approached me about sending a proposal for my first book.
• 15:32
  Speaker: I was not chasing that opportunity because I was
• 15:35
  Speaker: visible to them.
• 15:37
  Speaker: They approached me about offering me the opportunity to
• 15:41
  Speaker: write a proposal for them.
• 15:43
  Speaker: So what if your platform benefit was that a publisher reached out
• 15:47
  Speaker: to you, or that an agent was attracted to you before you even
• 15:51
  Speaker: wrote a proposal?
• 15:53
  Speaker: Totally possible.
• 15:54
  Speaker: This happens all the time.
• 15:57
  Speaker: So the platform could really be
• 15:59
  Speaker: the ticket to the opportunity
• 16:00
  Speaker: for the book that you want to
• 16:01
  Speaker: write or other opportunities to
• 16:03
  Speaker: come along.
• 16:04
  Speaker: And the platform then becomes an asset that helps expand your
• 16:08
  Speaker: work and your voice far beyond just a single publishing goal.
• 16:13
  Speaker: You're building a platform and
• 16:15
  Speaker: you're building relationships
• 16:17
  Speaker: with people that can open doors
• 16:19
  Speaker: to opportunities, including a
• 16:22
  Speaker: book.
• 16:26
  Speaker: This fifth thing is, is that a
• 16:27
  Speaker: platform could move your impact
• 16:30
  Speaker: into today.
• 16:31
  Speaker: Right now, this is a very
• 16:35
  Speaker: important way to think about
• 16:37
  Speaker: your impact.
• 16:40
  Speaker: You believe that your impact
• 16:41
  Speaker: could begin when the book is
• 16:43
  Speaker: published, but for your reader,
• 16:46
  Speaker: they're not living a publishing
• 16:48
  Speaker: timeline.
• 16:48
  Speaker: They are living their life right now.
• 16:51
  Speaker: They need help right now.
• 16:54
  Speaker: They need clarity right now.
• 16:57
  Speaker: They want to have more fun, more meaning, more purposeful meals
• 17:00
  Speaker: for their family right now.
• 17:03
  Speaker: They need encouragement now.
• 17:05
  Speaker: They need solutions now.
• 17:07
  Speaker: And your platform will allow you to help them.
• 17:11
  Speaker: Now, before the proposal, before
• 17:14
  Speaker: the manuscript, before the book
• 17:15
  Speaker: deal.
• 17:16
  Speaker: And when you do that
• 17:17
  Speaker: consistently, the book is no
• 17:19
  Speaker: longer the beginning of the
• 17:20
  Speaker: relationship.
• 17:22
  Speaker: It's a continuation of a
• 17:23
  Speaker: relationship that already
• 17:25
  Speaker: exists, and that changes the
• 17:28
  Speaker: entire meaning of being an
• 17:30
  Speaker: author.
• 17:32
  Speaker: Being an author means that you have built relationships.
• 17:36
  Speaker: You can move people into action now.
• 17:39
  Speaker: And when the book comes out, you move them into action again and
• 17:44
  Speaker: they buy your book.
• 17:47
  Speaker: So think of your platform as a
• 17:50
  Speaker: way that you can help people
• 17:51
  Speaker: today.
• 17:54
  Speaker: And that really does change everything.
• 17:57
  Speaker: I like to think when I'm speaking into this microphone,
• 18:00
  Speaker: that there is somebody listening to this, that I can help shift
• 18:04
  Speaker: the way you are thinking about yourself and your book project
• 18:08
  Speaker: right now, today.
• 18:14
  Speaker: And that helps me to want to speak every week more clearly,
• 18:20
  Speaker: be more connected, and know that I can help you right now in this
• 18:26
  Speaker: very episode, before I do anything else related to other
• 18:31
  Speaker: books or projects that I have.
• 18:33
  Speaker: And it could be that people that
• 18:35
  Speaker: listen to my podcast that I can
• 18:36
  Speaker: help right now join my email
• 18:39
  Speaker: list.
• 18:40
  Speaker: They take me up on one of my free offers, maybe a class,
• 18:43
  Speaker: maybe a PDF.
• 18:45
  Speaker: Then they buy a workbook, or they buy a class, and then they
• 18:49
  Speaker: enroll in a program.
• 18:51
  Speaker: You see, because I build relationships before I ever
• 18:54
  Speaker: expect anybody ever to give me any, uh, money.
• 19:00
  Speaker: I give you tons of value and hope that somewhere down the
• 19:03
  Speaker: line, some of you will come back and return the value to me.
• 19:08
  Speaker: But I know I can help you now.
• 19:10
  Speaker: I am helping you now, and you can do the same with your
• 19:15
  Speaker: readers right now.
• 19:17
  Speaker: Helping them before anything happens related to your cookbook
• 19:21
  Speaker: deal, your cookbook proposal, or your cookbook manuscript.
• 19:27
  Speaker: Number six is the platform will stay and continue when
• 19:34
  Speaker: everything else changes.
• 19:36
  Speaker: Let's say publishing trends change.
• 19:38
  Speaker: Social media shifts happen.
• 19:40
  Speaker: Algorithms evolve.
• 19:42
  Speaker: Books move in and out of attention.
• 19:45
  Speaker: But one thing that will always
• 19:46
  Speaker: remain consistent is you and
• 19:49
  Speaker: your relationship with your
• 19:50
  Speaker: readers.
• 19:51
  Speaker: interest compounds over time and has a compound effect.
• 19:55
  Speaker: If someone trusts you, usually unless they just decide that
• 19:59
  Speaker: they really don't want to listen anymore about cookbooks or
• 20:02
  Speaker: cookbook writing, or the type of food or cooking that you do.
• 20:06
  Speaker: They could unsubscribe, but
• 20:08
  Speaker: usually trust compounds and
• 20:09
  Speaker: deepens and accumulates over
• 20:11
  Speaker: time.
• 20:12
  Speaker: It's like raising children.
• 20:14
  Speaker: We make little deposits in the
• 20:16
  Speaker: trust bank with our children
• 20:18
  Speaker: every single moment of every
• 20:21
  Speaker: single day.
• 20:24
  Speaker: And that's why trusts lasts when
• 20:27
  Speaker: everything else changes, because
• 20:29
  Speaker: it's not dependent on a channel,
• 20:31
  Speaker: it's dependent on the
• 20:32
  Speaker: relationship.
• 20:33
  Speaker: And if the relationship is built, you can carry it forward.
• 20:36
  Speaker: Regardless of what happens out
• 20:38
  Speaker: there in publishing or social
• 20:40
  Speaker: media.
• 20:41
  Speaker: You can continue relationships with people.
• 20:45
  Speaker: Um, it's your decision to do
• 20:47
  Speaker: that and people will want to
• 20:48
  Speaker: continue a relationship with
• 20:50
  Speaker: you.
• 20:52
  Speaker: So these six things reveal something important.
• 20:56
  Speaker: Uh, the benefits again, are that, number one, you build real
• 21:02
  Speaker: relationships with readers.
• 21:05
  Speaker: You get to sharpen your message through real feedback.
• 21:08
  Speaker: You build your own confidence.
• 21:10
  Speaker: You're not assuming anymore.
• 21:11
  Speaker: You have evidence that they're listening, evidence that they
• 21:13
  Speaker: need what you have to offer.
• 21:15
  Speaker: It will create opportunities
• 21:17
  Speaker: that you maybe didn't have to
• 21:18
  Speaker: chase.
• 21:19
  Speaker: A platform will move your impact
• 21:21
  Speaker: into the present tense right
• 21:23
  Speaker: now.
• 21:24
  Speaker: And then the platform is
• 21:25
  Speaker: something that is going to stay
• 21:27
  Speaker: and be built, even if everything
• 21:29
  Speaker: else changes.
• 21:30
  Speaker: So when you think about this,
• 21:32
  Speaker: the platform is not just a
• 21:34
  Speaker: marketing requirement.
• 21:36
  Speaker: And it's not just about visibility.
• 21:38
  Speaker: It's a system that helps shape you into an author.
• 21:43
  Speaker: Long before you publish your
• 21:44
  Speaker: book, you have real
• 21:47
  Speaker: relationships with real people,
• 21:50
  Speaker: real readers, and you get to do
• 21:53
  Speaker: all the things about your
• 21:56
  Speaker: message and your confidence and
• 21:57
  Speaker: your opportunities, and you're
• 22:00
  Speaker: building something that truly
• 22:01
  Speaker: does last.
• 22:03
  Speaker: When I go back and think about my first book deal, because what
• 22:07
  Speaker: I had wasn't an audience in the modern sense, but I know I had
• 22:11
  Speaker: relationships with people, people who knew me, who trusted
• 22:16
  Speaker: me, who listened to me, who learned from me, who responded
• 22:19
  Speaker: to me in a publisher noticed, and they offered me a book deal.
• 22:24
  Speaker: And that's what the platform actually is.
• 22:27
  Speaker: It's not performance or numbers or reach.
• 22:29
  Speaker: It's what happens when an author and a reader begin shaping each
• 22:34
  Speaker: other over time.
• 22:36
  Speaker: You help them and they respond.
• 22:39
  Speaker: Stay on your list.
• 22:41
  Speaker: You help them, they respond.
• 22:43
  Speaker: Maybe sign up and take a class.
• 22:45
  Speaker: You help them.
• 22:46
  Speaker: Maybe they never even do
• 22:48
  Speaker: anything to give you any kind of
• 22:50
  Speaker: money, but they stay on your
• 22:51
  Speaker: list and they open and read your
• 22:52
  Speaker: emails.
• 22:54
  Speaker: But remember, it's because you are helping them.
• 22:59
  Speaker: So what kind of offer is your
• 23:02
  Speaker: platform currently forming you
• 23:05
  Speaker: into?
• 23:09
  Speaker: What's happening to you as a result of your platform?
• 23:12
  Speaker: Anything beneficial yet?
• 23:14
  Speaker: Um, hopefully some of this is already happening to you.
• 23:18
  Speaker: And if it's not, just remember that through small, consistent
• 23:24
  Speaker: things that you can do to build relationships with people, you
• 23:28
  Speaker: will start seeing the positive benefits as well.
• 23:33
  Speaker: So if you have been helped today
• 23:37
  Speaker: to rethink your platform, I do
• 23:40
  Speaker: want to let you know that some
• 23:41
  Speaker: people wonder, well, what's
• 23:42
  Speaker: exactly required for an author
• 23:44
  Speaker: platform?
• 23:44
  Speaker: What do I need to get in place?
• 23:46
  Speaker: So if you're curious about that and And you want to know in a
• 23:50
  Speaker: real way what you need to build.
• 23:52
  Speaker: You can go to Cookbook Writers
• 23:54
  Speaker: academy dot com slash platform
• 23:56
  Speaker: and download my cookbook author
• 23:58
  Speaker: platform checklist.
• 24:02
  Speaker: You are building these
• 24:03
  Speaker: relationships with readers to
• 24:06
  Speaker: grow relationships with them,
• 24:08
  Speaker: with people who will take
• 24:09
  Speaker: action.
• 24:12
  Speaker: And when you focus there,
• 24:13
  Speaker: everything else starts to fall
• 24:15
  Speaker: into place.
• 24:16
  Speaker: You inspire people to take action.
• 24:19
  Speaker: You inspire readers to take action.
• 24:21
  Speaker: You inspire publishers to take action.
• 24:23
  Speaker: You inspire agents to take
• 24:25
  Speaker: action because you're taking
• 24:27
  Speaker: action.
• 24:28
  Speaker: And it's like a little action
• 24:30
  Speaker: wheel, but it all starts with
• 24:32
  Speaker: you.
• 24:33
  Speaker: And the benefits all come back to everybody.
• 24:35
  Speaker: Quite frankly.
• 24:36
  Speaker: You benefit.
• 24:37
  Speaker: Your reader's going to benefit.
• 24:39
  Speaker: And ultimately publishers benefit too, because they're
• 24:42
  Speaker: engaged with readers and engaged with an author like you who has
• 24:46
  Speaker: built readership with people and built trust with people.
• 24:50
  Speaker: It really is a three way street
• 24:53
  Speaker: between readers, authors and
• 24:57
  Speaker: publishers.
• 24:58
  Speaker: But remember, you're not building this platform just for
• 25:02
  Speaker: checking something off the list that you have to do to get your
• 25:06
  Speaker: proposal out there.
• 25:08
  Speaker: You're doing it to help people.
• 25:10
  Speaker: And one of the people that gets
• 25:12
  Speaker: help by building the platform is
• 25:14
  Speaker: yourself.
• 25:15
  Speaker: So that is it for today's
• 25:18
  Speaker: episode of the Cookbook Love
• 25:19
  Speaker: Podcast, this is your host,
• 25:21
  Speaker: Maggie Green.
• 25:22
  Speaker: And until next time, I hope you
• 25:23
  Speaker: have a great day and keep loving
• 25:25
  Speaker: your cookbooks.
• 25:30
  Speaker: Thanks for listening to the Cookbook Love podcast.
• 25:33
  Speaker: You can find out more information at w w w dot
• 25:36
  Speaker: cookbook dot co.