How many followers do you need to get a book deal?

How big does my email list need to be?

How many Instagram followers is “good”?

Do I need to be on Snapchat? And what the hell is TikTok?

Unfortunately, I don’t have answers for you.

I don’t really know what TikTok is either, though I suspect it’s a new version of Vine (which I never used either).

Speaking of which . . . remember those Flip Video cameras?

Okay. So - in all seriousness, I can share that a top agent once told me that she wants to see 10,000 subscribers on an email list and 1,000 followers on Twitter.

But that was just one literary agent. And she told me that in 2017.

I could also share that I’ve seen authors with millions of followers write books that flopped. (Mostly YouTube celebrities, but also rock stars and experts.)

I could also tell you that I’ve had publishers reject authors with great connections, who had all the “right” stuff in place. (A proposal I worked on had endorsements from Danny Meyer and Tyler Florence, but still got turned down by every house in Manhattan.)

So honestly?

It’s a crapshoot.

There’s no benchmark to hit, because whether a platform is “good” or not is subjective. Every agent and editor is going to have their own opinion.

But every author needs to have a platform.

And I’ll admit that it’s a total pain in the ass to build one. For most authors, it doesn’t come naturally or easily. But you can do it.

The mistake a lot of would-be authors make is writing first and marketing later.

But you know better than that if you’ve been reading these emails for a bit.

So, what should you do instead?

Work on your platform daily. Nurture the audience you have, whether your list is 5 or 5,000. Pick a couple platforms you like being on and work that sh*t. Start sending emails, crafting posts and following a schedule. Stay consistent.

And above all else, as Marie Forleo says, focus on progress not perfection.

What publishers are really looking for is not a specific number.

Instead, agents and editors want to know that you’ve proved your concept. That people will buy from you, that they’re interested in what you have to say, and that when you have a $15 or $29 book available, your audience is likely to buy it.

If you market with that in mind — not some arbitrary goal number — you’ll offer your audience bits and pieces of what they want. You’ll seed the sale. And that’s really what platform is about in the first place.