Archives for February 2012

Monday Muse #4 is Sean Platt, who wrote a blog post for me two years ago that delved into his history of blogging anonymously and how his internet life changed when he was found out. But my introduction to Sean was about a year earlier through Writer Dad where he wrote from the heart about everything under the sun.

Beyond blogging, Sean is a novelist and grammarian and frequently helps wannabe writers get their words onto the page. He’s a natural born communicator, tweets @SeanPlatt, and explains himself below.

What is your background and how do you participate in the world of the web?

I’m a lifelong entrepreneur, but have only been online for a few years. I began my business life, at least the grownup version, when I bought my first business at age 18 – a small flower cart in Long Beach, California. Within five years, this expanded to a small network of satellite flower carts and storefronts, with the mother store being the location my parents opened in 1980.

After working with flowers for 12 years, I left the business to open a preschool with my wife, a teacher of 17 years. We wanted to spend as much time as we could with our son and daughter during their first few years before they went to kindergarten, which we both knew would fly by far too fast.

Once my daughter went to kindergarten, I knew it was time to start thinking about our next transition, and closing the preschool. I’d just started writing, and figured self-publishing would be a BIG trend within the next few years, making it a great time to begin building my eventual audience. I went online and we closed our preschool a few months later.

That was 3 1/2 years ago. It’s been a rough, long road. But in the and, remarkably worth it. I spend every day online: writing, networking, and adding to my eventual legacy a word at a time.

How do you decide what content to blog about?

While I still have the occasional off-the-cuff blog post, for the most part, traditional blogging no longer makes sense for me. All the content I publish on Ghostwriter Dad is made up from excerpts out of books I’ve already published, or am publishing to Kindle. The blog is part of my broadcast engine, and the chapters in my books serve as marketing materials.

Every project starts with the book, I then break the book into smaller pieces and use individual chapters and chapter fragments as blog content.

I did this for the entire second half of last year at Ghostwriter Dad, and it was the most significant growth the site has ever seen.

How do you define social media?

Social media is more than the modern water cooler, which is what I’ve heard it called more times than I can count. Social media is the hub of online, and therefore most modern life. Whether you spend your time on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, or your own WordPress blog, social media is where online communication happens.

And social media is non-negotiable if you’re building an online business. What people say about you will always be more important than what you say about yourself, and social media is where people are saying it.

I’m not sure the definition of social media has changed. It’s the same as it’s been since my first days online, the only thing that ever really changes is the amount of time I spend tending the garden.

When you think back to the time you blogged anonymously, do you laugh at yourself?

No, not at all. Early anonymity was an important first step for me. I’m the kind of guy who is incredibly shy, until I’m not. Once I’m comfortable, I’m able to step in to my space and make it my own. But I always have to get comfortable first.

When I started my first site, Writer Dad, I’d only been writing a few months. I wasn’t yet comfortable calling myself a writer. My family didn’t even know I was writing, so anonymity gave me a stronger voice and allowed me to find myself without the scrutiny I would’ve had if people I knew were reading my posts. Besides that, I was openly discussing closing the business, and it was an appropriate time to put that information out there in the real world.

If anything, I’m proud I was able to draw a large crowd painting in such broad strokes.

Even now, there are times when anonymity would be most appropriate. For example, if I’m going into markets where my name isn’t an asset, using a pen name makes a lot of sense.

I spent a couple of years as a ghostwriter, which means I’ve been anonymous more time than I haven’t. I’m perfectly comfortable writing in someone else’s voice and taking none of the credit. Anonymity has helped me get as well known online as I am today.

What is the biggest challenge the publishing industry will face in 2012?

I think there are two primary challenges. The first is separating the bad from the good, and the good from the great. Because anyone can self-publish, many writers do, even when they shouldn’t, or aren’t yet ready. Poorly written copy, or even decent copy that hasn’t seen a final edit, is EVERYWHERE.

This will be the year when buyers start speaking loudly, pushing the worst to the bottom and pulling the best to the top. Everyone keeps saying that there are no gatekeepers. That’s not true. There are a ton of gatekeepers, more now than ever. The gatekeepers aren’t the publishers deciding who can or can’t get published, they are the readers deciding who’s most worthy of attention.

The other, bigger challenge is streamlining the industry. Readers want one format that will work across all their devices. What we have now with each of ePub, Mobi, and all the other file types isn’t reader friendly. It’s like HDTV versus Blue-Ray or VHS versus Beta all over again. We’ve seen the eBook explosion, but will see the true eruption once formats are standard.

From her blog to her tweets, there is a down-to-earth quality that attracts me to Susan Murphy. I discovered her about two years ago and haven’t looked back. Her motto of creating, sharing, learning, and being brilliant — is amazing.

Maybe it’s the storyteller in her, an aspect she elaborates further down this Monday Muse interview.

As an instructor of a social media certificate, how do you define social media; and how has that definition changed since you first entered the scene?

I am an old timer when it comes to social media.

I got into the scene after attending Podcamp Toronto in 2007, where I met a few guys who, at the time, were relative unknowns, but were on the leading edge of this great shift in how people communicate. You might recognize some of the names: Chris Brogan, Christopher Penn, and Julien Smith. Not trying to be a name dropper, of course ;), but these guys opened the door to an amazing new world for me. I wouldn’t be where I am today if not for them. I’m incredibly grateful for their inspiration and support, especially in the beginning, when I was first trying to make sense of all this social media stuff.

I don’t know that the actual definition of “social media” has really changed over the years, but the media themselves certainly have begun to mature. Social media are kind of like rebellious teenagers now — shaking up traditional marketing — and forcing many companies to re-think the way they connect with people.

The social media bubble is still alive and well. As an instructor and coordinator of a social media program, I am finding that there are still so many people who are just trying to navigate these strange new waters.

People are not used to the fact that we are all publishers now. They are trying to wrap their heads around this ability they now have to share their unique perspectives and stories with the world, and what this means for how they communicate about themselves and their businesses. The term “social media” is still scary and unknown to lots of people, and to me, education is the primary way we can help people to overcome their fears.

As a teacher, TV producer, blogger, and other hats you wear, what do you like most about what you do?

I consider myself a storyteller. My original profession was as a TV producer, and it’s something I’ve been doing for a little over 20 years now – so I come by my storytelling bug honestly. We live in amazing times. The Web allows us to express ourselves in so many ways – through the written word, video, audio, or images (or any combination of these).

There has not been another time in history where we’ve had the opportunities to express ourselves freely that we do now. But self-expression is not something that comes naturally to a lot of people.

What I love to do most is help people to find their stories, and then find the best ways to tell those stories.

What is your daily routine?

I fell into this bad habit last year of waking up in the morning and heading straight to the computer to start working. I thought that hitting the ground running every day would give me an advantage. Instead, it was actually stressing me out. So I’ve been working on changing my daily routine, so that my days start out more peacefully.

I wake up around 5:30 a.m. I love the quiet of early mornings, before anyone else in the house is awake. I spend about 15 minutes in silence; either meditation or just simply sitting still. I usually will do some yoga or exercise next (getting the brain and body moving first thing in the day is essential for productivity!). Then I make breakfast and crack open the Kindle app on my iPad and read for about 15 minutes. Then I will flip over to check in on Twitter and Facebook and blogs for another 15 minutes or so.

Then, I always shower and get dressed. I work from home most days when I’m not teaching, so the temptation to stay in pajamas all day long is great. If I ‘get ready for work’, even if ‘work’ is in my home office, I feel more prepared to take on the day.

I use Leo Babauta’s method for organizing my tasks during the day. I always have my 3 MIT’s (Most Important Things) and those get done before anything else, even email. I batch certain tasks like phone calls and email, which get processed once my MITs are done. I keep a running list of upcoming stuff too, so that I have my expectations set and don’t forget things. I turn all notifications and ringers off on my phone and computer, so I am not tempted to be distracted by these things. Some days are meeting days – I try to group meetings together as much as possible as to not break up my dedicated work time too much.

Evenings and weekends (if I’m not teaching), are usually dedicated to spending time with family and friends, or working on personal projects and charity work.

Who influenced you the most growing up, and who is your internet influence today?

My parents are my biggest influence. They set the example for me and my brother for just about everything. They showed us that hard work is the secret to success, but that family comes first before anything else. They demonstrated that giving generously of your time and money to things you believe in, without expecting anything in return, is a secret to happiness. They believed in my brother and I and supported our choices (and have always been there to help pick up the pieces when we made bad choices too). They demonstrate every day how to have a happy marriage; they celebrated 50 happy and loving years last September. So, yep… Mom and Dad have been a primary influence on who I turned out to be, for sure.

As far as internet influences, I’m still heavily influenced by Chris, Christopher, and Julien I mentioned earlier. I’ve learned an awful lot from them over the past 5 years or so. It’s amazing how much information and advice they provide to all of us through their blogs and social presences, for free! They are incredibly generous people online and “in real life” and I’m glad to know them.

I would also have to say that professionally, I’m heavily influenced by Mitch Joel [and Monday Muse #1], not only for his dedication to publishing fresh new content every day, but also for his ideas. Every post he writes gets me thinking and pondering. Personally, my friend Jon Swanson has been a tremendous support to me. He is very wise and has helped me through many of those times when I am feeling less than confident or unsure.

What do you know now that you didn’t know at 18?

My first inclination is to say EVERYTHING, but I suppose I should give myself more credit than that. I was lucky to know from the young age of 10 exactly what I wanted to do when I grew up – be a TV producer. So I didn’t waste any time after I graduated from high school at 17; I jumped right into the TV Broadcasting program at Loyalist College that same fall.

To say I was young and naive at that time was an understatement; I was the youngest person in my class. But I was devoted to learning and working hard (something my parents taught me). My hard work paid off and I managed to land my first producing job upon graduation at the age of 19, working for the local community access channel. What I lacked in life experience I made up for in enthusiasm and boundless energy.

My first few months on the job, I was given some wise advice from my boss, Andre, who, to this day, remains a close friend and mentor to me. I was stressing out because I was working on a really challenging show and nothing was going right. I kept going to him and complaining that this was wrong and that was wrong. I was looking to him to solve the problems for me. In his calm and gentle way, he told me that even when faced with big problems, I needed to always focus on finding the solution, no matter what.

Nobody wants to hear your problems, and your problems are just that: yours. Complaining to people about them doesn’t do any good. Always work to find ways to solve your own problems, instead of pushing them back on other people. If you need help, ask. But always come to the table with some potential solutions. That’s advice that I’ve carried with me since, and it’s served me well.