Do you need a social media platform to get an agent or a book deal?
by Rhian Parry and Emily Barrett
Happy New Year! As we’ve been on Christmas hiatus for the last two weeks, we’re launching our new winter season today. From now until mid-March, we’ll be looking at Authors’ Fears and Frustrations – the ones we hear most often from writers looking to get book deals, and those who’ve secured one. We’re of course hoping to allay some of these dreads – or at least explain the context if we can’t.
Today we kick off with a question that no author before the noughties had to contend with: how important is social media in getting a book deal? The answer is a little different for fiction and non-fiction, so we’ve split out the answers.
FICTION (by Rhian Parry)
The first thing I want to be clear on is this: as a fiction author, if the mere thought of social media makes you break out into hives, don’t force yourself into engaging with it. It’s far more of a nice to have than a must do because when it boils down to it, no agent or publisher worth their salt will reject a fiction author’s book because they don’t have a pre-existing platform, online or otherwise.
Having said that … it’s no secret that the likes of BookTok have changed the game when it comes to launching an author’s career or blowing up a novel’s popularity. Being present on social media platforms gives you an opportunity to take advantage of this. More than that, immersing yourself in online writing communities can be a great way to learn about the market, seek support from other authors, and who knows? The right agent or editor might stumble across your post, reach out, and ask to look at your project! For these reasons, if it’s something you’re comfortable with, I always encourage fiction authors to build an online platform—even just a small one!
In other words, while having a social media presence isn’t vital in getting a book deal, it can give you a boost. If you actively talk about your writing online, an agent or editor might view this as you demonstrating your ability to market yourself and your book, and even better if you’ve got an engaged following (to note: there’s no ‘ideal follower count’ and it’s more worthwhile trying to build an engaged audience than a large but silent one). Social media also provides you with the opportunity to talk about your book before it’s even published, and ideally, accumulate readers who will hungrily click your pre-order links! If you have a newsletter, you might even be able to quote numbers when you (or your agent) are pitching your book. Then, once you’re published, I’m sure it goes without saying that a social media presence can help you maintain your existing audience as well as hook new readers.
Social media, without a doubt, played a big role in me successfully landing a literary agent of my own (twice!). It was where I learned all about how to format a query letter, where I identified agents to query, and how I made lots of writer friends who still guide, advise and support me today. It’s also a way in which I’ve earned some early editor interest in my book before it goes on submission. A lot of my writer friends are now published authors, and so there’s an extra benefit of already having a list of people I can ask to blurb my book, and who might kindly share any future bookish announcements of mine across their own social medias. All that to say, while being active on social media can be great for marketing purposes, the biggest benefit for fiction authors might actually be the community you can build there.
The platforms I’ve found most beneficial are TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter/X (although the latter has fallen off in recent years, thanks to a certain change of ownership...)
NON-FICTION (by Emily Barrett)
I won’t lie to you. Your author biography matters when it comes to getting a non-fiction book deal – but that doesn’t mean it needs to include ‘big social media platform’. Let’s dive in.
You might have heard people talking about agents as the ‘gatekeepers’ of publishing, but there’s an argument that there is only one real gatekeeper in the industry, and that’s retailers. Everything a publisher thinks about with regards supporting you to make a brilliant book – from giving you edits that will help you secure fantastic reviews, to delivering an eye-catching cover – is to make a retailer say, ‘We want to back this book because we think lots of readers will want to buy it’, and thereby order plenty of copies and give it prominence online or in-store ahead of other books. If agents want to make deals, then they of course have to think in the same way.
So: what makes a reader want to buy a non-fiction book? They might go into a bookshop, see it on a shelf, think it looks interesting and buy it then and there. But what would more likely compel them to do that, or to search for it online, is if they’ve already heard about it in positive ways. This might be through publicity, which covers everything from a review in the books section of The Times, to broadcast interviews (TV, radio, podcast), written interviews or features (magazines, newspapers and online) and events (perhaps standalone or at literary festivals).
When it comes to securing publicity, publicists pitch to their relevant contacts – and they are pitching the author as much as the book. An A-list celebrity author who the public already knows and likes can pretty much secure any of the slots they want. Cynically, this is because journalists know that having the A-list celebrity on the front of their magazine could help them to sell copies, and podcast producers know that having them as a guest on the podcast could draw in more listeners, which will help them to drive up their ad revenue.
But journalists don’t only want to interview celebrities and people with existing large audiences; if your book has a compelling USP or your story is extraordinary and they feel their readership/listenership/viewership will need or want it, then they’ll be interested. It’s just that, realistically, a large contingent of non-fiction books have one or the other of these things and the author is either famous, has a social media following or has another public-facing authoritative platform (for example, they’re the CEO of a charity or a well-known business). So truthfully, the further away you are from the category of ‘I bring a massive audience with me’ or ‘People will want to listen to me because of where I work/my expertise’, the harder it will likely be for your publicist to secure lots of publicity for you. And if when a retailer sees your campaign it’s smaller than other books, they could therefore say ‘not many readers will hear about this book, so let’s not order many copies’. (If you’re losing heart here – don’t stop reading yet; there is hope, I promise!)
As there isn’t a never-ending supply of A-list celebrities, and those celebrities will only do it for major financial reward, it has become increasingly true that publishers like acquiring books from authors who have engaged social media platforms. (I say engaged, because it’s not just about the number of followers you have – it’s about how many likes, comments, saves and shares you’re getting per post if you’re on Instagram and TikTok; it’s the number of readers who are paying for your content on Substack; and whatever platform you’re on, it’s about consistency and growth.) A social media star might still be of interest to traditional press so there could be some publicity opportunities, but what publishers recognise is the marketing potential. An author with a social media platform has proved there is an audience who wants to hear what they have to say, and, importantly, they can sell directly to that audience, for free. The bigger that engaged audience is, the more sales they’re likely to make – for themselves and also the retailer and the publisher. And, unlike publicity which tends to be centred around the first month or so after publication, an author with a social media platform might talk about it for years after the book has come out.
BUT (I’m sure you’re glad you’ve made it to the but!) – you do not need to be a celebrity or a social media star to get a non-fiction book deal or to go on to have a very successful book. What you need is a biography that is appropriate to the book you’re writing, and the audience it’s intended for – as then the publicist and marketer can make a campaign for you that will excite booksellers. What this means varies greatly depending on the category of non-fiction you’re writing in, but let’s look at one example.
If you are writing a revelatory history book about the Civil War, then the publicity that will sell your book might include high-profile newspaper reviews, an interview on a history podcast and talks at literary/history festivals. To secure these, you’re going to need to appeal to the journalist, podcast producer and event organiser, who in turn are thinking about what their audiences expect or want. And so you’re probably going to need post-graduate qualifications in history so they trust you know your onions. Perhaps you don’t have history qualifications, but you’re a journalist so there’s an immediate confidence in your writing and researching abilities, plus you bring an existing readership – and you have a personal connection to the history you’re exploring which provides a newsworthy angle. Or maybe you’re not a journalist, but that newsworthy personal connection you have is utterly unique – you’re the long-lost relation of Oliver Cromwell and found his diary in your attic. Or you might have proved people trust your historical prowess without qualifications, because you have a popular history YouTube channel or podcast. Any of these things could help to secure you a campaign to reach the target reader.
So if someone sends me a submission for a history book, I’m not looking for the author to specifically have a social media presence – I’m looking at their whole biography to see if it will translate into a publishing campaign that will support their book idea to retailers and readers. I follow this line of thought for all categories of non-fiction. I.e. What’s the realistic publicity and marketing campaign a publisher will be hoping to achieve to get retailers on board and draw in readers in this specific area of the market? And does the author have a bio that’s going to make this possible? It’s therefore very important to make sure who you are marries up with what you want to write, and that you sell that connection as hard as you can in both your query email and your proposal.
Finally, I am often asked what the magic number is when it comes to social media followings – what number do you need for a publisher to be convinced that you’re bringing along a large audience? There is no simple answer to this one. Again, it depends on the category of non-fiction your book would exist within. It also one hundred per cent depends on the book idea. If it’s fantastic and something people desperately need in their lives, and the publisher feels sure they can put together a campaign based on that and your biography outside of your social numbers, then a publisher will be planning on breaking it out of your specific audience and your social media platform becomes the cherry. If you DO happen to have a following on socials, this Venn diagram is the target to aim for.
Did you find this newsletter useful? Please restack or share if yes! And make sure you’re subscribed below:
Image courtesy of todaytesting.com