The Q&A on platform for students who didn't get to Q last night
This is the Q&A session we weren't able to hold at last night's class, plus, links to the Substacks of the writers that we workshopped.
Hello and Happy Thursday!
Last night we had a super lively masterclass on “Getting Platform Right” where we busted myths about platform, talked about different kinds of newsletters, learned how to brand our online bios and develop “umbrella categories” for our writing, and even discussed what initiatives it’s worth spending money on when you’re trying to build a platform.
We had four special guest stars from the audience who bravely shared their work—we will get to these wonderful writers in a second.
But in the meantime, for those of you who took the class live, you’ll know that because we did four live workshops during the class, we ran out of time for Q&A. I promised participants that they could write any questions they had about the material presented here in the comments. And that’s what we’ll be doing today.
But first!
We started off the evening with an exercise where we sketched out all the things we like to write about, plus our quirks and passions, and then attempted to come up with “umbrella categories” that can help us “brand” our writing and work toward building platform. Three intrepid people let me call on them at random—one of the presenters, Kate, was someone I’d picked out of the AMA comments to talk to about her platform before class.
These writers all have Substacks in different stages and I’d like to present them to you!
Introducing four of our Subscribers’ Substacks:
Jill Kolongowski writes Tiny True Stories - 5-minute reads about everyday magic and little letters of recommendation. Jill has a book she's out there shopping, so let's all root for her.
Kim Van Bruggen pens Life Unlearned - Personal essays, an advice column and interviews on unravelling ingrained beliefs and habits that no longer serve. She aims to help readers navigate big life transitions and publishes weekly on Thursdays. (That’s today!)
Donna Zuckerberg writes Myth Takes a newsletter with irreverent feminist analysis of classics, literature, parenting, and more. From essays on “mom rage” and Achilles’ rage, to appreciation for the best classics-influenced video games, to further investigation into why ancient depictions of dolphins are so horrifying. Her first book "Not All Dead White Men: Classics and Misogyny in the Digital Age" came out in 2018 with Harvard Press and her forthcoming book ANTIQUATED will publish with Simon & Schuster so let's all be on the look out for it!
Kate O’Neill is a writer with her first book, “We Grow Accustomed to the Dark – A Love Story from the Drug War” coming out in 2025 from Knopf. Though it’s been dormant for a bit, Kate’s Substack is Leap after Leap. One of the things we workshopped last night are the things that she can write about during the personal essay tour of duty her publisher is going to put her on, and newsletter topics to help rest and energize her mind after writing those off-the-book-pieces.
Let’s give these writers our support as they build toward the writing life—and books—of their dreams. Throw them a subscribe!
Back to the topic of the Q&A we didn’t get to last night.
Unlike the AMAs, which are for everyone, this Q&A is only for students already enrolled in my Platform class. In the comments, you can ask the question you didn’t get to ask last night. This is also the space for students who are watching the class after the fact because they couldn’t join live to ask questions. I’ll keep checking this space and answering questions— please try and ask just one question per person and be patient as I take time to respond. And check out other people’s questions and the answers to those questions—it’s a nice way to build community, reading through these comments!
Again, this is not an AMA. This is a forum for people enrolled in the Platform class to expand on what we learned in class. Thanks for your understanding! See you in the comments.
xo
Courtney
Thank you for a wonderful class! I've taken a few on platform and this was by far the most actionable and useful (I knew it would be!). Thanks again to you and to all the the other participants for their helpful and kind feedback on my work
Thanks for a great class last night. I had to leave before class was over so you may have answered this question during the Q&A or previously on Substack -- I am wondering about how you manage the volume on Substack as more and more writers join? I am a bit overwhelmed about who to subscribe to as well as whether it is important to post notes? Some writers are recommended which can be helpful. I like to check out their writing before I become a paid subscriber, but understandably some writers aren't interested in offering a free peek. I currently subscribe/pay to read many published writers, but I am not keeping up. Is anybody else talking about this dilemma? Thank you for any insights you can offer.