The digital author blueprint: build your platform before the pitch

When it comes to securing a book deal, having a meaningful social media following can make or break you

If writing a book is on your to-do, it’s time to start getting your digital strategy straight. Many of our clients at M.T. Deco are published authors - or aspire to be - and there’s one very consistent question that comes up over and over again, no matter their level of fame, which is: will your followers on social media buy your book?

You might not realize this, but your community online can impact every step of the book writing process. It can indicate whether or not a publisher even considers you [especially if you are unknown or a first-time author], the advance you get, it opens up your options for agents, and with the right audience, it can even push your proposal into an auction so publishers bid on you. It’s wild [disclaimer that a social following is not a be-all end-all - you can of course have a unicorn concept that blows everyone’s socks off, but for most people, we stand by your social following is a highly significant element].

And before you panic and do something insane like buy followers or engagement - which, please don’t do [there’s totally an emergent industry coming where digital strategists will be rehabbing accounts, which is something we want no part of] - breathe first and read on. The most crucial thing to drill into your brain is that the quality of your followers is far more important than the quantity.