The platform, the platform, what is your platform?

My comment left on a writing site:

"Platform" is just a buzz word - yes, losing some currency, but at its peak about 5 years ago -

the ultimate platform is all writers write about good vs. evil.

JK Rowling worked at Amnesty International but that was not her platform - and I don't think it helped her sell books, though she has been very generous with donating to Amnesty.  Amnesty clients are in poor countries, in prison - they don't buy many books there.

The books themselves helped her sell books.

I think these buzz words are over-rated and it's how money is got from the ultimate suckers - aspiring writers.

I even hate it when people call me an "aspiring writer" "an emerging writer" etc etc.

A writer is someone who writes, period.

We may be aspiring to write like Dickens, but we are already writing, not "aspiring to write."

We may be trying to get published - By the way, the darned platform may change -

who says writers don't also write for money or to pay the bills?

Kyi May Kaung