Below are questions I received recently about how to build a writer platform followed by my responses. My hope is that these questions are broadly representative of those many writers have about this often vexing topic.

Before I jump into the questions, let me first define what I mean by platform. An author’s platform is essentially any means an author has for promoting her book.

These days one of the key metrics for a platform is email subscribers. This is because email is one of the most effective ways to market anything right now. Marketing expert Neil Patel said, “Email remains one of the most effective channels of marketing, with a median ROI that’s nearly 5x that of other channels like social media, direct mail, and paid search.”

With that as background, here we go! First question . . .

Q: “My biggest roadblock, honestly my greatest frustration, is platform. I understand what it is and why it’s so important for nonfiction writers, but what escapes me is exactly how large one’s platform has to be to get a traditional book deal with a major publisher. I have seen some articles that say 10,000 email subscribers, still others say 100,000! Those numbers are vastly different. Which one is most accurate?!”

Having a platform is important to landing a book deal. In fact, in my experience too small a platform is the number one reason publishers turn books down.

The rule of thumb I offer to writers is to have at least a thousand email subscribers before you start submitting your book proposal. Having a thousand subscribers takes work, but I believe just about anyone can do it—with some hustle and time.

The ultimate measure of the effectiveness of your platform is this: If a publisher sent a thousand or five thousand (or whatever number of) copies of your book to your garage or basement, could you move them?

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At this point you might be tempted to balk. Isn’t it your job to write the book and the publisher’s job to promote it? In a word, no, not when it comes to trade publishing.

Publishers have always relied on authors’ ability to promote their work. One result of this is that you as an author are in competition with authors who are quite willing to do that promotional, platform-building work.

If you were a publisher and you were deciding where to invest your capital, would you pick an author who had the ability and desire to help you promote or the author who thought promotion is entirely the domain of the publisher?

So aim for a thousand subscribers to start. Then keep serving your audience, collaborate with people in your niche who already have an audience, do giveaways, write great guest posts for other bloggers. The list of ways to build your list is endless.

Q: “What’s the best way to establish a platform and build an audience if you’re still working on the manuscript?”

The best way to establish a platform and build an audience is to begin serving the audience you envision for your book.

You can do this in many different ways. For example, you can repurpose snippets of your manuscript in content that you publish via your blog, vlog, or podcast. You don’t want to get too carried away with this, but a bit here and there is no problem.

You can also build your platform by inviting people to go on the journey with you. Let them know you’re writing a book. Let readers know you want to make the book as engaging or as helpful as possible, and would they go on the journey with you?

They’re out there, I promise. Your tribe is waiting for you to call them together.

You’re not at a disadvantage to be working on your platform prior to completing your manuscript. In fact, if you can get feedback on your blog content, your manuscript will likely benefit. As you publish posts, you’re going to learn about what resonates with your readers. You’ll naturally shape your manuscript accordingly.

Q: “What kind of content should be in a blog or website to build an audience for a work in progress?”

In short, blog for the audience you envision for your book. What questions do they have? What problems can you help them solve? What interests them? What do they like to geek out about? Use your blog to serve them.

If you keep using your blog or website to solve problems for your audience, they will respond when you have a book to offer because they will trust you.

Q: “Can I work with a publisher if I haven’t previously written a book and have no sales records to show?”

Yes! In fact, it is generally easier to land a book deal as a first-time author than it is to do so if you’ve written a book that has not sold very well.

In most cases you don’t need a sales record to land a book deal. Publishers make publishing decisions based on three primary factors: how compelling a concept is, how effective a platform is, and how engaging the writing is (aka the three C’s: Concept, Crowd, and Craft).

If you can demonstrate you have those three things, you have a really good shot at a book deal.

Question: What questions do you have about building a writer platform? You can leave a comment by clicking here.