Many authors, understandably, seek to discover if there’s enough interest in their work for them to toil to build a platform. If there is no interest in Devotionals for Grasshopper Farmers Who Crochet, then why go to the trouble and expense?
One, if you discover on your own that exactly fourteen people will buy your devotional, and ten of them are your mother and her friends, that’s a good thing. Better to find out yourself that your book has no audience than to end up with 500 copies of a book that didn’t sell and a publisher who won’t offer a second contract because they are warehousing or remaindering 2,500 copies of said title.
A more likely scenario is that you’ll write a great proposal, with a passionate plea as to why your book should be published today, only to secure rejections from every major traditional publisher.
No problem, you think. I found out that there isn’t enough interest from a publisher before I went to the effort to build a platform. Good news, right?
Wrong.
Because by sending out your work before you could offer a solid platform, you wasted your first impression. That opportunity will never return once it’s spent.
Let’s say an agent does take your project on the merit of the idea and writing. The agent may sell your project. Congratulations!
However, if the agent collects a bunch of kind and lovely rejections, then if you decide to continue working together, the agent will need to take you out a second time with another project. The editor will remember seeing your work and rejecting it before. A great agent can certainly pitch one project after another and pitch your work well so you may land a contract after several attempts. Still, wouldn’t it be nicer to gain a contract early, strengthened by a solid and growing platform?
Only you can decide.
Your platform is your character,
the person God made you to be,
and you hone this to be sure
it is out there for all to see.
To find an agent’s courtship,
and always will be hit or miss.
Success is such a heady trip,
but yet you must firmly resist
the urge to reframe who you are
in desperate pursuit,
for that will leave a lasting scar
that always will impute
you for a lack of steadiness
when faced with such a tempting test.
Absolutely true. At least one agency I approached wouldn’t even talk to me because I had no platform. The days of selling books on their merit are long gone.
You had me at “grasshopper farmers.”
There was a time when your windows were cleaned along with pumping your grass. A platform involves ego. As a therapist aI have chosen not to be on social media. After 3 decades of family abuse I have connected my life dots molded for abuse and to abuse. My book is a warning that toxic personality disorders are dangerous and can destroy you. My book gives the clinicals to identify abuse with 19 healing tools. Once an agnostic, I now have a Simple Faith with joy and peace every day. My goal is to help hurting people with the Lord using me with His power. The more books sold the more profit for the publisher. So I find buyers, and write the book. What does an agent do? I see many ads selling programs on how to write? If true a writers only option is to self publish? Would you share with me one with a heart for the hurting who is Christlike?
Joan, thanks for stopping by.
I don’t think the authors I work with are publicity hounds. Their ministry is not about them, but about letting people know about their books written for God’s glory. Thus, there is a huge difference between a writer looking for a dopamine hit from a bunch of “likes” to one who is sharing news about Christian books, be it their books or someone else’s.
A literary agent guides an author’s career, offering, among many other benefits, friendship, partnership, strategy, and care. One duty of an agent is to get a publisher’s attention for the author and book. We are asking publishers to invest a large sum of money in acquisitions, several rounds of edits, the physical and digital copies of the books, distribution, and marketing and publicity. We help the author show why her book is the one out of a thousand others the publisher will profit by publishing. The publisher is not wrong to ask to make a profit. The publisher has to make a profit to pay bills. The Lord understands this, as we are asked to give a portion of our earnings to maintain the church.
An author entering the market with a platform is demonstrating that potential readers have discovered the author and that the publisher’s efforts to market the book align with the author’s efforts to maximize sales. Readers rely heavily on social media to find books, hence the necessity of a platform. Authors who prefer not to be on social media can invest heavily in finding a large audience for their newsletters through speaking engagements, ministries, and other ways of reaching readers.
Successful indie authors have to find a way to reach their audiences. If you’re considering indie publishing, I suggest joining groups focusing on this career path and making connections there.
Also consider referring to The Christian Writers Market Guide to find contacts you need to be successful. Hope this helps!
Oh dear. Reading this was like being hit with a freezing cold wave of regret. I have been working hard to build a social media platform, but goodness it is slow going. I guess I need to find better strategies. So I have been querying in the meantime as the project itself feels so strong, polished and ready. I suppose I should have been more patient and certainly should have started sooner. Any advice on fixing the mistake or improving your chances?
Thanks. Your blogs are always so helpful, though sometimes a bit of a tough reality check.
Jackie, thank you for understanding my heart, that I intend to help writers. I appreciate your encouragement.
The fact that you have asked and are now in the know means that if the project is marketable, the agent can strategize on how to proceed. That may mean waiting to approach editors after the platform is built.
Great question! Thanks for asking!
I don’t have a social media footprint and I’ve tried to create a platform but I have no support team. I’m trapped in lower Alabama surrounded by small-minded people for lack of a better word. No matter what the subject is, my simplest thoughts comes across to them as deep scholar discussion.
Even the preacher with the congregation over 500 looks at me as if I’m speaking in French when I present a query of what he said.
I commented on other posts from this agency and receive no reply just as I’m doing now.
God has blessed me with a imagination long before I could read or write. And right now I’m working on at least eight separate story lines ranging from a Christian sci-fi to a revision of the classic movie monsters. These stories are not single novels but a series of them.
Question is:
If I had a platform with let’s say a million followers, why would I need an agency or a publisher when I created the audience on my own and what they provide I can accomplished on Amazon etc and can keep the profit for myself?
My overall ideal is to have a platform or the publishing company where the fans of my stories can submit stories that could be added to the Multiverse I created. Something like a Fan’s library gallery. Of course creating their own characters and not using my.
Thank you for asking. The publisher takes the author’s platform further than the author can on his own. So if an author brings a million followers with them to an agent, the agent can leverage that reach and find the right publishing partner that fits their particular talents, and then help manage that author’s career from a business perspective. The publisher can use their powerful marketing team to sell books and grow their reach beyond the million that were brought to the table. So yes, a partnership with a significant publishing house is beneficial to authors, publishers, and readers.
Thank you for the insight, Tamela. I am working on building my platform and hand out my business cards to everyone who seems like a good prospect. More people now have access to my writing, which sounds like the right way to go!
That sounds like a perfect plan!