How important is platform in 2019?

soulrodeo

Banned
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
99
Reaction score
23
I'm writing YA paranormal/urban fantasy and I hope (ha!) to end up with an agent and a book deal. It's been a few years since I last dipped my toe into the world of trade publishing. I've spent the better part of a decade ghostwriting mostly, so I haven't built any sort of platform for myself. But I keep being told that the only way to get an agent's attention in this climate is by having a strong platform, high social media numbers, etc. I don't have any social media. Of course I'm willing to get a Twitter account, Instagram, etc -- but I wouldn't build up any significant platform between now and when I hope to start querying in a couple months. Things are so different now to when I was first playing in this sandbox years ago.

So are chances basically slim to none without a platform these days?
 
Last edited:

lizmonster

Possibly A Mermaid Queen
Absolute Sage
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 5, 2012
Messages
14,534
Reaction score
24,104
Location
Massachusetts
Website
elizabethbonesteel.com
But I keep being told that the only way to get an agent's attention in this climate is by having a strong platform, high social media numbers, etc.

If you're writing fiction, this is absolute rubbish. Write a good book, write a good query, and have at it.
 

Chris P

Likes metaphors mixed, not stirred
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 4, 2009
Messages
22,617
Reaction score
7,297
Location
Wash., D.C. area
If you're writing fiction, this is absolute rubbish. Write a good book, write a good query, and have at it.

Yep. The platform is more important for non-fic. The way I understand it is that for non-fic, I am writing based on credentials and past research, and depending on the subject after a professional history of publishing research or other articles, speaking at symposia, and if I'm an academic by teaching in class. Another type would be a journalist, or a blogger like Tucker Max (or not, as your tastes might run). In any case, I should have some street cred before I'm going to go up against David McCullough, Niall Ferguson, or Neil deGrasse Tyson. Another way to put it: I need to have been producing product as evidence of my credentials. With product comes a platform, and a set of eager buyers.

However, how is a novelist to build a platform of followers without having produced any product? Nobody gets 20,000 Twitter followers just because they promise to write a killer book. Although many, many authors do publish short stories or a popular blog before hitting it big, (without evidence of my own) it's usually only after an author's book gets popular that the short stories or blogs get any traction whatever. Publishers know this, and can recognize a book that will sell independent of whether or not the platform exists. Fiction doesn't depend on credentials nearly to the degree non-fic does.
 

cool pop

It's Cool, Miss Pop if You're Nasty
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 20, 2009
Messages
660
Reaction score
131
Location
Texas
If you are a newbie then in fiction a platform doesn't matter. In nonfiction it is everything.

If you are a published author of fiction, then your platform matters a lot if you're searching for a new agent or publisher in hopes to get a new deal. If you have a good sales record, that might help you get in the door with pubs or agents. If your books flopped like a drunk fat man falling down a flight of stairs at the Astros game, then agents and publishers will scurry away from you like roaches.

So...:Shrug:

Being a newbie is great in fiction. You're a clean slate. No horrible sales or any other negatives under your belt you have to duck and dodge for the rest of your career.

Trust me, writing fiction is the one time you want to be the virgin. :Thumbs:
 
Last edited:

CameronJohnston

Great Old One
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 7, 2017
Messages
1,201
Reaction score
119
Location
Glasgow, Scotland
Website
www.cameronjohnston.net
It's not necessary but it is desirable.

Unless you have hundreds of thousands of followers that social media presence will not help you get an agent or for an editor to like and show interest in your book, but if it gets taken by that editor to acquisitions then the sales and marketing people get involved. They will calculate the production and marketing costs to the company and the potential returns - if you have a pre-existing recognisable name, existing audience, or market reach then that is always going to be tick in your favour. The biggest thing in that equation is writing a good book - hype can be created, and publishers have their own reach to get your book into the hands of reviewers.
 

soulrodeo

Banned
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
99
Reaction score
23
Thanks, everyone. That's great to know. I really don't have time right now to focus on platform building so I'm happy to tick that off my list of things to worry about.
 

babbage

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 4, 2019
Messages
111
Reaction score
12
Smartly said.

It's not necessary but it is desirable.

Unless you have hundreds of thousands of followers that social media presence will not help you get an agent or for an editor to like and show interest in your book, but if it gets taken by that editor to acquisitions then the sales and marketing people get involved. They will calculate the production and marketing costs to the company and the potential returns - if you have a pre-existing recognisable name, existing audience, or market reach then that is always going to be tick in your favour. The biggest thing in that equation is writing a good book - hype can be created, and publishers have their own reach to get your book into the hands of reviewers.
 

CameronJohnston

Great Old One
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 7, 2017
Messages
1,201
Reaction score
119
Location
Glasgow, Scotland
Website
www.cameronjohnston.net
Thanks, everyone. That's great to know. I really don't have time right now to focus on platform building so I'm happy to tick that off my list of things to worry about.

Just as an aside, you are on AW now - if your book is getting published let us know and the many great people on here will be more than happy to help signal-boost by retweeting on Twitter and the like. It's a great and very supportive community :)
 

soulrodeo

Banned
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
99
Reaction score
23
Just as an aside, you are on AW now - if your book is getting published let us know and the many great people on here will be more than happy to help signal-boost by retweeting on Twitter and the like. It's a great and very supportive community :)

That’s very kind, thank you. :)
 

1sa1ahsMum

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 10, 2019
Messages
81
Reaction score
5
Location
East Coast, USA
Actually, I've seen many agents ask for social media follower numbers. They want to know that someone out there finds you interesting. But, it seems to be the more newer agents.
 

Albedo

Alex
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 17, 2007
Messages
7,363
Reaction score
2,924
Location
A dimension of pure BEES
Actually, I've seen many agents ask for social media follower numbers. They want to know that someone out there finds you interesting. But, it seems to be the more newer agents.
Which confuses the hell out of me, tbh. Like, you're marketing books. Surely you want a good book, not a writer so electrifyingly interesting they've attracted a cloud of followers just by being. I've never, ever bought a book just because I thought an author was an interesting person, but I've bought plenty of adequately marketed books by authors I've never heard of. Insisting authors come pre-packaged as marketable entities = putting cart before horse. Movie trailer before CG shots done. Global advertising campaign before exploding prototype issue addressed.

And in what ways is an unpublished author meant to become fascinating online, anyway? Witty commentary about current events? Being rude to celebrities? Shitposting? Trying to build a social media platform for an unpublished novel is like trying to erect a tent on quicksand. Some of us are boring. Some of us are the most interesting man in the world, but resolutely do not consent to join the great social media anxiety vortex. Agents gotta justify asking this question, IMO.
 

Drachen Jager

Professor of applied misanthropy
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 13, 2010
Messages
17,171
Reaction score
2,284
Location
Vancouver
Like, you're marketing books. Surely you want a good book, not a writer so electrifyingly interesting they've attracted a cloud of followers just by being. I've never, ever bought a book just because I thought an author was an interesting person, but I've bought plenty of adequately marketed books by authors I've never heard of.

I think agents look at authors a bit like sports teams look at prospects. ie. they look at the ceiling and the floor of potential authors.

An amazing, new, innovative book from an unknown might have a really high ceiling, but amazing books get rejected by publishers all the time (just ask J.K. Rowling) so the floor is basically 0 copies sold, no revenue for the agent.

An author who has 250,000 followers on social media has an instant sales platform. Probably not everyone on their list will buy their book, but it's a safe bet many of them will. As long as the book is fairly good they'll probably get picked up by a publisher and at least sell 10,000 copies. With luck, timing, etc. even a mediocre book by a big social media presence can out-sell an amazing book by an unknown. It sucks, but it's simply the way things work. So this author has a pretty high floor, an agent can count on a return AND the ceiling isn't too bad either.

Sucks, but there it is.

On the flip side, if you're not already internet famous, there's not much point in trying to expand your platform (unless you have an amazing, outgoing personality and a unique spin to put on things) because to most agents the difference between 50 and 5,000 followers is inconsequential.

My first agent sent me a link to John Green's videos after I'd been with her for a few weeks with a note along the lines of, "Can you do something like this?" But that was when social media was just starting to explode and I think she didn't quite get it (a lot of agents around that time were going nuts over social media presence, be thankful that time has attenuated that trend).
 
Last edited:

MaeZe

Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 6, 2016
Messages
12,774
Reaction score
6,482
Location
Ralph's side of the island.
Actually, I've seen many agents ask for social media follower numbers. They want to know that someone out there finds you interesting. But, it seems to be the more newer agents.

And you know this how?

If my book's not good enough to interest an agent or publisher, then I need to keep working on it. I know there are writers who specialize in income generating books. That's fantastic. I'm truly happy for them. And some of them are incredible writers. I read a lot of their work. I love YA and Romance.

But there are always things in those books I want to change. And I love the writers that make those changes in their work.

I have a story to tell. I hope people want to read it. If they don't, it doesn't change the fact this is the story I want to write.

Sorry, I'm rambling.
 
Last edited:

screenscope

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 5, 2005
Messages
681
Reaction score
78
Location
Sydney, Australia
Some agents express interest in Twitter follower numbers, but in my experience most followers of authors (unless major) are other writers, so I'm not sure the value is there in terms of potential sales.