Evaluate Your Publisher’s Platform Before Signing a Book Deal

Authors have been told for years that they need a platform if they want any chance of finding an agent and/or getting a book deal with a major publisher, but you rarely hear about publishers’ platforms. Plenty of authors lacking traditional platforms have had successful books published by publishers of all sizes, while remainder bins are full of books by authors with large platforms and Big 5 publisher imprints on their spines who never earned out their advances. If you’re querying a publisher—big or small, traditional or hybrid—you should be evaluating their platforms long before they’re evaluating yours. In this session, you’ll learn some of the most critical planks to look for—each one as important as the size of your advance, and far more important than the size of your own Twitter following or email list.