platform---- great for how-to-books. my thoughts are that 'platform' is crud. where were platforms twenty-thirty even ten years ago. platform is just a 'cover their a.. excuse for untalented editors. if the writer has 'platform' the editor can point at that aspect and claim that despite the poorly received book being poorly written, the risks were inherently reasonable because the author talks at a ton of conferences and pitches his books at those events so it was worth the risk. whatever happened to 'talent'. you-who, oh editor... read the manuscript. if the writing is sub-par-dont publish it. every time you do, you do the art of literature a disservice. i for one am not going to put my energies into constructing a platform, then spend the advance on promoting/advertising my own book. it stands or falls on its own. if i write good enough, an editor, somewhere will appreciate that and tell the board-- this guy has zero platform but writes his ass off. the blog world is powerful. join the revolt against 'platform' the king has no clothes. just say that. it's true. think of all those no talent big names getting books published. dr. phil couldn't write his way out of study hall. his wife? what qualifies her to write a book? her wifely duties to phil? see the ridiculous nature of publishing by platform? Bill O'Reilly? give me a break. phil is a great tv host... bill is awesome in his tv field, but books. stop it. they probably contributed ten pages in actuality. the writers are the 'writing community'. when they somewhere along the line capitulated to this farce called platform, all that did was dilute the quality on the shelves. The bums masquerading as authors are really counterfeit. they should be ashamed of themselves, but aren't. unmask these frauds, then you who are truly talented will get published or get a fair chance. if not... you are doomed to be rejected for 'lack of platform'. The 'platformers' will hate this--- the true writers will embrace.