You do not need a huge Instagram following, celebrity friends, weekly speaking engagements, or thousands of email subscribers to have an author platform worthy of a traditional nonfiction book deal.
What matters is whether you can promote, market, and sell your future book to the people it is written for. Sometimes that platform is public and easy to find online. Other times, it is a “secret platform” built through client relationships, corporate work, workshops, speaking engagements, and bulk-book-buying opportunities.
What is an author platform for a book deal?
An author platform demonstrates your ability to promote, market, and sell your future book.
Many people hear “author platform” and immediately think of social media. Social media can certainly be part of a platform, but it is not the only measure of whether you are positioned to get a traditional nonfiction book deal.
Your platform can include:
Social media followers and the ability to reach them
An email list
Media mentions
Podcast appearances
Speaking engagements
Workshops and live events
A network of friends, colleagues, and clients
Corporate relationships
Opportunities to organize bulk book purchases
Events where you can distribute books to attendees
The most important question is not simply how many followers you have. It is whether the audience, clients, relationships, and opportunities you already have can become book buyers.
Do you need social media to get a traditional book deal?
No. Social media is not the only path to demonstrating a viable author platform.
A strong online following may help, but it is not always relevant to the work you do or the audience you serve. For some experts and consultants, promoting themselves on Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok may not be appropriate. Their business model may also mean that they have a modest email list, limited media coverage, and no public-facing influencer network.
That does not mean they cannot get a book deal.
If you have direct relationships with an audience that can buy your book, you may have a platform that is far more valuable than it appears from a Google search.
What is a “secret platform”?
A secret platform is an existing ability to sell books that is not immediately visible through public metrics such as follower counts, media coverage, or online popularity.
This often applies to people who work with corporations, but it can take many forms.
Consider Sarah, a corporate consultant who had more than 7,000 LinkedIn followers but an outdated profile and website. She did not have a major social media presence, celebrity connections, frequent stage appearances, or an enormous email list.
However, she worked with C-suite leaders at household-name companies. Her clients invested six and seven figures in executive coaching, and the initiatives she led with her co-founder and team reached thousands of employees each year.
That is a powerful platform.
Sarah could potentially ask corporate clients to purchase a copy of her book for every employee reached through her training programs. This creates a path to meaningful book sales from relationships she has already built.
Why publishers care about platform
A book idea must have potential, but your ability to convert your followers, clients, and audience into book buyers is equally important when pursuing a traditional book deal.
Literary agents and editors need to see a realistic path for a book to sell. A platform helps show that a publisher could make a profit on its investment in the book after publication.
Corporate clients, speaking engagements, workshops, and bulk-buy opportunities can be valuable because they represent established relationships. You are not starting from zero — you already have people and organizations you can potentially ask to support, promote, or purchase the book.
For example, a consultant whose programs reach 5,000 employees annually may have an opportunity to arrange book purchases for those employees. That potential is meaningful to literary agents, editors, and publishers because it helps demonstrate how the book could reach readers and sell copies.
How to assess your own platform
Start by considering every way you could promote, market, and sell your book to your target audience right now.
Ask yourself:
How many people follow me on social media, and could they become book buyers?
Do I have an email list, and how likely is that list to purchase my book?
Have I received media coverage or appeared on podcasts?
Can I speak at events, conferences, workshops, or live programs?
Do I have a network of colleagues, friends, clients, or professional contacts who could help promote the book?
Do I work with organizations that could buy books in bulk?
Could I purchase books myself to distribute at events?
Could clients or other businesses use the book with employees, customers, or program participants?
Then create a ballpark estimate of the number of books you could potentially sell through those channels.
Your platform does not need to look like anyone else’s. It needs to demonstrate a credible ability to reach and convert the people most likely to buy your book.
How Meghan evaluates book-deal readiness
Meghan Stevenson is an expert in traditional book publishing and the founder of Meghan Stevenson Books. In her consultations, she uses her 3P Framework™ to evaluate:
The potential of your book idea
Your existing author platform and ability to sell books
Whether you are ready to write a book proposal
A strong book idea is only one part of the process. Your platform — whether public or private, conventional or “secret” — can show that you have the ability to help your future book find readers.
If you want to assess whether you are ready for a book deal, take Meghan Stevenson’s free quiz at meghanstevenson.com/quiz.
Questions Answered in This Episode
What is an author platform?
Do you need social media to get a traditional nonfiction book deal?
How important is author platform when getting a book deal?
What makes an author platform worthy of a book deal?
What is a secret author platform?
Can corporate clients count as an author platform?
Can speaking engagements help you sell books?
Do workshops and live events count toward your author platform?
Can bulk book purchases help you get a book deal?
What if I have a small email list?
What if my website and LinkedIn profile are out of date?
Do literary agents care about an author’s ability to sell books?
Why do publishers care about an author platform?
How can I estimate how many books I can sell?
What does Meghan Stevenson’s 3P Framework™ evaluate?
