My clients have earned more than $7,000,000 to date in advances from top publishers including Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette Books, Macmillian, and Hay House (among others). My weekly emails share my insights on how entrepreneurs and experts can position themselves to land literary agents and six-figure book deals with traditional publishers.
How Many Followers You Need to Get a Book Deal
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In this email I’m not going to give you a specific number you need to fit in order to please the Publishing Goddesses and get a book deal. Because there is no magic number. Sometimes I wish there was — like when a client with the ability to sell lots of books gets turned down by literary agents for what I think are dumb reasons. Or when editors at publishing houses don’t see what I do in a project. Traditional book publishing is subjective and whimsical (and not in a good way). One of my favorite stories to tell is that I only got to buy what became a massive bestseller because the publisher’s son believed in it. Not my colleagues, not the boss. Nope. The boss’s son, who at the time wasn’t even out of high school yet. I’ve been in rooms where people who don’t know how Instagram works or even that Canva exists say that a million followers isn’t enough. I could tell you more but I don’t want to discourage you. Because there is hope. When folks ask me for a magic number, what they’re looking for is a level of certainty that doesn’t exist. However, the certainty that does exist is this:
How many people do you have listening to you? How many of those folks have bought from you before? How many people can you reach through the network you have? How will you mobilize your customers, network, and audience to not only buy the book but also spread the word creating a network effect where word of mouth starts to sell your book? When you can answer that . . . you could be ready for a book deal. So instead of trying to figure out a magic number that doesn’t exist . . . take my quiz to find out where you’re at on your publishing journey. The quiz is free, meant to help you, and won’t take more than a few minutes of your day. |
Hi — I'm Meghan Stevenson.
My clients have earned more than $7,000,000 to date in advances from top publishers including Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette Books, Macmillian, and Hay House (among others). My weekly emails share my insights on how entrepreneurs and experts can position themselves to land literary agents and six-figure book deals with traditional publishers.
Hi Reader — I’ve worked in traditional book publishing for 20 years, and a statement I hear all the time is that “books don’t make you any money.” This can be true, especially if and when you choose to self-publish because the money to produce the book is paid upfront by the author. In that model, you only make money when and if you earn those costs back. So — let’s say you paid $10,000 to self-publish and your book is $10. You would need to sell 1,001 books to make any money. In traditional...
Hi Reader — The most important thing to know about me and my team is that we don’t write book proposals for folks who aren’t ready. 93% of you reading this email aren’t ready. I know that because for the past few years, I’ve been keeping track of the people who reach out to me wanting to work together, and the conversations we have. I know most of you aren’t ready because you talk about yourselves instead of your readers. I know most of you aren’t ready because it’s clear from a two-minute...
I loved being an editor in traditional book publishing. Being an editor at big publishing houses — like Simon & Schuster and Penguin, where I worked — requires a lot of different skills. You have to be willing to socialize constantly — to build relationships with literary agents, to curry favor with authors but also your colleagues — designers and marketers and publicists and the entire production department. At the same time, you must be willing to hidey hole somewhere for days in order to...