I'll bring hammer and nails just in case

There’s Whit…on a commuter train platform.

The Chicago network of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) emailed me late last year to see if I’d do a program for their January 11, 2014 meeting on how to build a platform. “Your name came up as a possible speaker on this topic,” the message said, “because you are someone who, as a writer, has built a name for yourself across multiple platforms.”

Confession: unless you’re talking about the thing I stand on when I’m waiting for a train, or the kind of shoes Elton John wore at those concerts I went to in the 70s, I really don’t know what a platform is. I didn’t tell them that, though. I was so flattered by their invitation that I said yes.

The program is this Saturday morning. My friend Ellen Sandmeyer of Sandmeyer’s Bookstore is coming along and bringing books (I sign them in print and in Braille, too, of course, and if the weather warms up by then I hope some of you Chicagoland blog readers might come on out and see what I come up with to talk about! The program is free, and you don’t have to be a member of SCBWI to attend. You do need to RSVP, though, so I’ll leave you here with the invitation they sent out:

January 11, Saturday, 10 A.M. – 11:30 A.M.
BUILDING YOUR PLATFORM

Where: 920 W. Wilson, Chicago, IL 60640, Garden Room, off lobby

Parking is available on the street (paybox). Also accessible by CTA Redline, bus #78 and bus #151.

RSVP to janehertenstein@gmail.comIn today’s publishing environment a writer has to do MORE than write. Marketing and promotion requires an author to perform on many platforms. Often an agent or editor will ask: Does he/she have a platform?

Beth Finke is an award-winning author, NPR commentator, blogger, and participates in numerous school visits. As a journalist she has used many different mediums and media to deliver a message. Come hear Beth speak and get your 2014 writing career off to a good start. (She might even tell us about how her part-time job modeling nude for university art students led to an essay on NPR’s Morning Edition and an appearance on Oprah!)