Featherstone 
Write the Book Only You Can Write (and Watch What Happens)
Some of the most powerful non-fiction I read is written by people without a much-lauded ‘platform’.
But whether trad or indie published, a platform in and of itself, doesn’t guarantee a great book. And it doesn’t guarantee great sales either.
So what actually makes a powerful book?
For me it’s one that leaves me thinking long after I’ve put it down. That builds my empathy bank. Makes me chortle or laugh out loud. Helps me change my ways, or at least get a better understanding of the ways of others. It might solve my problems or entertain me with its candour and freshness. It might shock me. It might hold me.
A great book breathes and feels alive, as though the author and I are chatting; or that I’m by their side watching them wrestle with things.
For an author though, a powerful book is one that changes them in the writing of it.
You might not have a platform yet. You might not have even started writing your book. But just know: sometimes when you write a book that only you can write (and do it well!), the platform (with some out-of-the-box thinking, strategy and hard work on your part) appears. It has for me, and for many of the authors I’ve worked with.
One of these authors is Todd Ley, author of SMASHED: Prodigies, Parents and Parasites. His book is not perfect, yet it’s unputdownable.
My conversation with him at the 2025 Byron Writers Festival has just been produced by Natasha Mitchell for ABC Radio National’s Big Ideas and you can listen in now.
Listen on ABC Radio National Big Ideas: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/bigideas/tennis-prodigy-todd-ley-on-the-underbelly-of-elite-junior-sport/106493886
And if you want more on why memoirs by unknowns are so powerful, I wrote about that here: https://annafeatherstone.com/why-memoirs-by-unknowns-are-so-powerful/
If you need help with yours, here are some of the ways I can help.