Of Platforms and Publishing

My latest at Patheos:

In my recent post on publishing, I noted that “To publish a book with an established press, you ordinarily need a “platform” from which to write a book – in the world of religious history, the most common such platforms are an academic position or a pastorate,” and that “Platform is a much bigger issue, increasingly connected to social media reach. Michael Hyatt does a great job explaining why a platform is essential, but Scot McKnight recently registered some important doubts about platform-based publishing.”

McKnight’s sobering post got me thinking about the problems with “platform-based” publishing, or publishers’ calculations about the size of one’s probable audience prior to offering contracts. We can all agree that there are serious downsides to platform-based publishing. In case you had not realized it yet, the bestseller lists and front tables at Barnes and Noble do not necessarily display the highest quality books! Similarly, in the Christian publishing world, well-known figures with huge churches or big lists of Twitter followers do not necessarily produce the most profound texts. And yes, little-known authors with no obvious platform (an academic position, a pastorate, a well-followed blog, etc.) struggle terribly to get book contracts with major publishers, no matter how worthy their project.

Read the rest here: