Are You Ready to Land a Book Deal? (Answer Inside)

Hiya! 

Answering your most common questions has been fun for me, and I’ve been getting great feedback. Thanks to those of you who hit reply and told me that this is helpful.

(Check out #1, #2, and #3 if you have no idea what I’m talking about.)

Today I’m going to answer #4 — 

What kind of numbers/metrics do I need to work with you on a proposal?

For those of you who don’t know, in prescriptive how-to nonfiction you get a book deal based on a proposal. Something that’s different about MSB is that we don’t write proposals for people who aren’t ready . . . . and most of the time people aren’t ready because they don’t have an audience or platform big enough.

Naturally, the next question a lot of folks have is about the magic number. 

How many followers and email subscribers will make you ready?

I’m going to tell the truth and say that I used to have numbers. 

But I don’t anymore because I realized, painfully, that metrics don’t tell the whole story. A client can seem to have the right metrics — thousands on an email list for example, or a huge social following — but not have enough unique content for a proposal, much less a book. 

Or, a client can have a very small social media platform but unique content, a great network of support, and unwavering confidence that makes writing a killer proposal easy.

Publishing is a subjective business, which is why I don’t guarantee success.

I can believe in a client wholeheartedly, feel strongly that their idea and platform is worthy of a six-figure deal, and get turned down by a dozen literary agents or have every publisher say no. That doesn’t happen often, because I’m very good at what I do and am picky as fuck about what clients and proposals I take on — but it does happen. 

About 10% of the time, in fact.

So: This answer is short. 

Numbers and metrics don’t qualify you to work with me on a proposal. 

Instead, I look at numbers and metrics but also the uniqueness and salability of your idea, the overall feel of your brand, what other books are being published or had recent deals announced, how you show up when we talk, and what’s going on more broadly in our culture, the world, and publishing as an industry. 

Spotting someone that’s ready is a lot like pornography: I know it when I see it.