The Truth About Platform (Book Excerpt)

When Ariel Curry approached me to run an excerpt from her and Liz Morrow’s book “Hungry Authors: The Indispensable Guide to Planning, Writing, and Publishing a Nonfiction Book,” I couldn’t resist—I take being a digital surrogate seriously! The following excerpt makes sense for this newsletter’s readership, so I hope you find it helpful. I think the information here also applies to fiction books, FWIW.

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The Truth About Platform

You can’t get anywhere far in pursuit of traditional publishing before you run into the term “platform,” usually placed like a big brick wall in-between authors and their dreams. Typically, platform is reduced to mere numbers—and social media numbers, at that. You’ll hear authors and publishing industry insiders alike spouting numbers like, “You need 100,000 followers to get a book deal,” or “You need 10,000 newsletter subscribers to get a book deal.” Everyone seems to have a different number—and all of them either make prospective authors (who don’t have those numbers) feel like failures or offer prospective authors (who do have those numbers) a false sense of security, as if a book deal is guaranteed. The emphasis on platform is so overblown that most people forget that, in fact, you do need those other two components of a great idea and great writing—and, as you’ll see, sometimes it’s still just not a good fit for a publisher, for legitimate reasons that have nothing to do with the author or the book. On the other hand, many authors with little to no social media following achieve traditional publishing success all the time.

To prove it, let’s take a look at a small selection of New York Times bestsellers from July and August 2023 and their authors’ social media followings as of that time in Figure 14.2. Whenever you’re reading this, feel free to peruse the current NYT list and do your own analysis. Yes, the celebrities and high-profile influencers will be there, too—but you’ll be surprised at what you find!

Figure 14.2 New York Times Bestselling Authors’ Social Media Followers

Three of these books’ authors have audiences of less than 6000; two have less than 50,000—all still firmly in the category of “small” social media followings. And yet these authors have achieved what many consider to be the pinnacle of publishing success.

So forget about the myths and misconceptions you’ve heard about platform. Let’s get to the truth.

Platform is more than just social media.

Your platform is the collection of possible avenues you have for reaching readers in your potential audience. Platform is a set of tools that goes well beyond just social media. It includes social media and…

• Your email newsletter list

• Your website/app viewers and users

• Any organizations you are part of that serve your audience

• The other influential people you are connected to, who would promote your book to their audiences

• Speaking engagements and consulting business

• Articles you’ve written in both large and small publications online

Platform expectations differ by genre.

Genre determines most everything else about your book—including, perhaps surprisingly, the author platform that readers will expect. 

For self-help and other prescriptive nonfiction genres, readers expect that the author will have significant credibility and expertise on their topic; that’s why they’re qualified to give others advice. No one wants to read a book about proper nutrition from someone who’s never studied nutrition. Not only do you have to have the credentials, though; you also have to show publishers that people actively look to you as an authority on that topic. That means you probably speak on that topic at conferences or give workshops. Ideally, you are an “influencer” on social media on that topic and you cultivate a thriving email list of people who look forward to the advice you send out on your topic. Prescriptive nonfiction authors are held to the highest platform standards. 

For creative nonfiction genres, the platform requirements are often much lower. Readers don’t expect that memoir writers will necessarily have a massive platform; they simply don’t need to. In Chapter 2 we shared Jane Friedman’s analysis of authors who were signed for memoir deals in 2022. Her big finding was that, contrary to popular belief, you do not need to be a celebrity to write a memoir! Anyone can come from any life background and have an incredible story to tell—that’s part of what makes memoir so fun to read. Narrative nonfiction is the same. When it comes to social media in particular, many bestselling memoir and narrative nonfiction authors often have a small presence or no presence whatsoever.

Platform expectations differ by publisher.

The “Big 5”—that is, the five largest publishers in the U.S., all owned by larger media or private equity companies—usually expect their nonfiction authors to come with a “large” platform. While, again, numbers differ based on who you ask, typically they are looking for authors with tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of readers, through their social media and/or through bylines, speaking engagements, etc. That doesn’t, however, mean that an acquisitions editor at a Big 5 publisher or one of their imprints won’t sign an author with a much smaller platform; it happens all the time. It just means that there will be significant barriers and that those authors will likely hear many more “nos” before they hear a “yes.”

Smaller independent, niche publishers are often more amenable to authors with small platforms. They often care more about the authors’ credibility and associations than stark numbers.

You need an audience, but it doesn’t have to be your audience.

During the pandemic, sales for books on distance learning skyrocketed as students transitioned to doing school at home with their families. Books about politics always do better during a heated election period. Obviously, you can’t always predict events like this. But you can find topics and subjects that have large followings and that are uniquely relevant to the times. 

Author Catherine Baab-Muguira used this principle to great success with her first book, Poe for Your Problems: Uncommon Advice from History’s Least Likely Self-Help Guru. She writes:

When I sold my nonfiction debut back in 2019, I had the same modest following that I do now: a few thousand on Twitter, and effectively none on Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube. The way I made my case was by focusing on my subject’s platform instead. I wanted to write a book about Edgar Allan Poe, so in my book proposal, I spent a great deal of time outlining Poe’s platform, both his online following and its physical, meat-world manifestations.

Sure, the guy has been dead for almost 200 years, and still he has 3.6 million Facebook fans—more than James Patterson or Danielle Steele. …If I were a marquee-name writer with a track record of bestsellers, I wouldn’t have a bigger platform than Poe. (Baab-Muguira, 2022)

This brilliant strategy led to a book deal, and Cat has been teaching other prospective authors to use the same strategy ever since. She writes that you can find similar ready-to-buy audiences all around you! Just look for the groups on Facebook, the communities on Reddit, or the people asking fervent questions on Quora. Start paying attention to what interests people around you, and you might stumble on an audience that’s just waiting for the book you’re going to write.

There is no magic number.

10,000, 100,000—there’s no consensus on the “right” number because there is none. Bigger is always better, but even a “big” platform is no guarantee that a book will sell to publishers, or that, once published, it will sell well. Just ask Billie Eilish and Justin Timberlake, both of whom have millions of followers across social media platforms and whose books did not meet sales expectations. These instances, and many more besides, are just proof that the number of people following you doesn’t necessarily translate into real sales. It’s very easy to get someone to tap “follow” on social media—but it’s very hard to get that person to spend $20-30 on a nine- or ten-hour time commitment without a better reason than just “I think they’re cool.”

Every publishing professional thinks about platform differently.

We’ve met agents who say “platform doesn’t matter,” and we’ve met agents who say, “Don’t talk to me unless you have 100,000 people on your email list.” The only truth about platform is that no one quite agrees on how valuable or necessary it is to your publishing success.

We take all of this as very good news. Yes, if you decide to pitch a proposal and you don’t have gajillions of followers, you’ll likely hear “small platform” as a reason for rejection at some point. But hopefully you see that it’s still worth it to try; you’ll just have to work harder to make your idea, your credibility, and your writing as incredible as possible, and find the right fit for you and your book. 

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This is an excerpt from Hungry Authors: The Indispensable Guide to Planning, Writing, and Publishing a Nonfiction Book by Liz Morrow and Ariel Curry (Rowman & Littlefield, 2024). Available wherever books are sold!

Liz Morrow is an author, ghostwriter, collaborator, and thought partner for entrepreneurs, leaders, industry experts, and high-net-worth individuals. She has been writing professionally for over ten years, sold book proposals for multiple six figures, and published with “Big 5” publishers.

Ariel Curry is a senior editor for nonfiction at Sourcebooks with over 10 years of experience in traditional publishing. As an editor, she enjoys brainstorming and outlining new book ideas, bringing clarity and purpose to prose, and helping authors build their self-efficacy.