Second question first. All the people with bipolar disorder are not your audience. Big statistics like that are meaningless because there's no way to GET TO those 7 million people. Take out statistics like that in terms of talking about your audience.
First question: all those things take a long time to bear fruit. This is ok. If your bo…
Second question first. All the people with bipolar disorder are not your audience. Big statistics like that are meaningless because there's no way to GET TO those 7 million people. Take out statistics like that in terms of talking about your audience.
First question: all those things take a long time to bear fruit. This is ok. If your book may be author-platform-dependent (memoir can go either way, tbh) then I would spend 6mo to a year developing that before you query. If your book is not platform dependent, then query away. Note that when an editor or agent passes on your work, you can go back to them and say "will you read this again? I have 100k followers now."
That's a great point re such a huge audience. Can it be narrowed to help pitch the need for your book? For example, something like: a certain percentage of bipolar sufferers aren't served well by existing books, which only adds to their suffering, your book relieving that (while also showing there's a sizeable audience). Then show how you can reach those people specifically and have the authority to speak to their situation.
Just curious, how would one know if a memoir is author-platform-dependent? I was told that unless you have an out-of-this-world story with amazing writing that your memoir needs a platform...
I would agree with whoever told you that about platform. So you may need a platform. There's no checklist that will tell you Yes/No here, unfortunately. Look at the memoirs and non-fiction books you like/read. How did you find out about that author? How/why do you trust them? What is their platform/background? That might help you put yours in context. And read this if you have not already. https://katemckean.substack.com/p/what-the-is-a-platform
I disagree with Stephen (hi Stephen!) here that one of these has to be a book from said agent's list. It might not work out that way! If it does, sure that's fine, but if it doesn't, don't stress. I kinda don't care if a querier can name other books on my list as long as their book is in a genre I represent.
Second question first. All the people with bipolar disorder are not your audience. Big statistics like that are meaningless because there's no way to GET TO those 7 million people. Take out statistics like that in terms of talking about your audience.
First question: all those things take a long time to bear fruit. This is ok. If your book may be author-platform-dependent (memoir can go either way, tbh) then I would spend 6mo to a year developing that before you query. If your book is not platform dependent, then query away. Note that when an editor or agent passes on your work, you can go back to them and say "will you read this again? I have 100k followers now."
That's a great point re such a huge audience. Can it be narrowed to help pitch the need for your book? For example, something like: a certain percentage of bipolar sufferers aren't served well by existing books, which only adds to their suffering, your book relieving that (while also showing there's a sizeable audience). Then show how you can reach those people specifically and have the authority to speak to their situation.
Just curious, how would one know if a memoir is author-platform-dependent? I was told that unless you have an out-of-this-world story with amazing writing that your memoir needs a platform...
I would agree with whoever told you that about platform. So you may need a platform. There's no checklist that will tell you Yes/No here, unfortunately. Look at the memoirs and non-fiction books you like/read. How did you find out about that author? How/why do you trust them? What is their platform/background? That might help you put yours in context. And read this if you have not already. https://katemckean.substack.com/p/what-the-is-a-platform
Thank you, Kate!
Anyone else here have an example of how they described their target audience in the book proposal? : )
For readers of X and Y, at least one of which is a book by the agent being queried to show you know their list.
I disagree with Stephen (hi Stephen!) here that one of these has to be a book from said agent's list. It might not work out that way! If it does, sure that's fine, but if it doesn't, don't stress. I kinda don't care if a querier can name other books on my list as long as their book is in a genre I represent.
Yes, good point. I agree.
Love the newsletter!