Kind Of A Big Book Deal

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You do not need a huge Instagram following, celebrity friends, weekly speaking engagements, or thousands of email subscribers to have an author platform worthy of a traditional nonfiction book deal.

What matters is whether you can promote, market, and sell your future book to the people it is written for. Sometimes that platform is public and easy to find online. Other times, it is a “secret platform” built through client relationships, corporate work, workshops, speaking engagements, and bulk-book-buying opportunities.

What is an author platform for a book deal?

An author platform demonstrates your ability to promote, market, and sell your future book.

Many people hear “author platform” and immediately think of social media. Social media can certainly be part of a platform, but it is not the only measure of whether you are positioned to get a traditional nonfiction book deal.

Your platform can include:

• Social media followers and the ability to reach them
• An email list
• Media mentions
• Podcast appearances
• Speaking engagements
• Workshops and live events
• A network of friends, colleagues, and clients
• Corporate relationships
• Opportunities to organize bulk book purchases
• Events where you can distribute books to attendees

The most important question is not simply how many followers you have. It is whether the audience, clients, relationships, and opportunities you already have can become book buyers.

Social media is not the only path to demonstrating a viable author platform.A strong online following may help, but it is not always relevant to the work you do or the audience you serve. 

If you have the ability to sell books that is not immediately visible through public metrics such as follower counts, media coverage, or online popularity, you have a secret platform. This often applies to people who work with corporations, but it can take many forms.

A book idea must have potential, but your ability to convert your followers, clients, and audience into book buyers is equally important when pursuing a traditional book deal.

If you want to assess whether you are ready for a book deal, take Meghan Stevenson’s free quiz at meghanstevenson.com/quiz.

Traditional publishing expert Meghan Stevenson blasts open the gates of the “Big 5”—Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette, and Macmillan—to share what every entrepreneur and expert needs to know about landing a book deal. 

In episodes released every Monday, Meghan shares wisdom and stories from 20+ years in publishing as well as interviews with authors, literary agents, and editors. She also answers questions from listeners like you. 

Whether you are an experienced entrepreneur with an empire, or are just starting out—this podcast will help you understand what you need to do in order to turn your dream of being a bestselling author into real life. 

Have a great idea for a book but don't know where to start? MeghanStevenson.com/quiz

Send us Fan Mail

You deserve help with your book — and that support can go beyond your editor at a publisher. If you are an entrepreneur, expert, or creator pursuing a traditional nonfiction book deal, having a literary agent, a publisher, and an in-house editor can be invaluable. But a collaborator can help you navigate the personal, intense work of actually getting the proposal or manuscript done.

Hiring help with your book is not a weakness. It can be a strategy for creating the best book proposal or manuscript possible.

An in-house editor’s job is to edit your completed draft and help in-house teams produce the book. Editors care deeply about the books they work on and often do detailed, thorough editing that makes the book better.

But editors have limited time and many responsibilities. Helping an author project-manage the delivery of a manuscript is not actually an editor’s job. A collaborator can provide deeper, more hands-on support throughout the writing and production process: helping you structure the book, manage timelines, complete assignments, incorporate revisions, and navigate copyediting and design proofs.

Three Reasons to Get Extra Help
1. In-house editors are busy: Editors care, but they cannot deeply support every part of an author’s process. They need to prioritize what only they can do: edit completed drafts and guide the book through their publishing house.
2. Many literary agents are not deeply editorial: Literary agents have major responsibilities: negotiating contracts, managing money and publisher payouts, navigating traditional publishing, and supporting dozens or even hundreds of clients. Your agent should be able to focus on being your agent: handling your contract, communicating with your publisher, and selling foreign rights.
3. You deserve support: Most entrepreneurs, experts, and creators write one book — maybe two. Writing and publishing a book, or even trying to get a book deal, is an intense and personal process.

A collaborator who understands the publishing industry and the people involved can make writing your book less stressful and more fun. Even if you are doing the heavy lifting of writing it yourself, having someone to answer questions, help with structure, or talk through an emotional moment can save time and be well worth the investment.

You deserve as much support as you want, need, and can stand: an editor, a literary agent, and a collaborator who has your back.

If you are deciding whether Meghan Stevenson Books is the right fit for your vision and your book, visit meghanstevenson.com/quiz.

Traditional publishing expert Meghan Stevenson blasts open the gates of the “Big 5”—Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette, and Macmillan—to share what every entrepreneur and expert needs to know about landing a book deal. 

In episodes released every Monday, Meghan shares wisdom and stories from 20+ years in publishing as well as interviews with authors, literary agents, and editors. She also answers questions from listeners like you. 

Whether you are an experienced entrepreneur with an empire, or are just starting out—this podcast will help you understand what you need to do in order to turn your dream of being a bestselling author into real life. 

Have a great idea for a book but don't know where to start? MeghanStevenson.com/quiz

Send us Fan Mail

A traditional nonfiction book deal does not start when you finish writing a manuscript. It starts much earlier — when you begin creating content, paying attention to what resonates, and building an audience.

The advice is simple: start writing and creating content now.

For April Snow, creating a podcast became an important source of insight as she developed Big Feelings, Big Joy. She interviewed highly sensitive people from different backgrounds and locations, asking them about their discovery stories and experiences.

As she reviewed those conversations, she could identify repeated themes. The recurring words, stories, concerns, and experiences in those conversations helped shape what needed to be included in the book.

Content creation and book development do not need to be separate processes. In fact, your platform can make your book better.

April’s book changed significantly over the course of the process: An earlier version focused more heavily on educational material at the beginning, with more practical guidance coming later. As the book developed, it became clear that readers needed practical, prescriptive support throughout the book — not only after several chapters of context and explanation.

Traditional publishing can move quickly in certain moments, but the full process takes time.

April and Meghan began working on her proposal in October 2023. Her book, Big Feelings, Big Joy, publishes on October 6, 2026. From the first call to the book’s release, the journey took about three years.

That is why it is so important to begin before you think you need to. Time will pass either way. Build the platform, audience, message, and body of work that can support your book when the opportunity arrives.

April Snow, LMFT is a licensed psychotherapist, author, and consultant. She specializes in working with highly sensitive people to help calm the storm of overload, guilt, and self-doubt to allow their innate sensitive strengths to shine through.

Deeply committed to changing the narrative of what it means to be highly sensitive, April supports HSPs around the world through her Sensitive Circles community, Sensitive Sessions workshops, and Sensitive Stories podcast. In addition to Big Feelings, Big Joy being published by HarperCollins in October, she has written Find Your Strength: A Workbook for the Highly Sensitive Person.

Find April on social
https://www.instagram.com/sensitivestrengths
https://www.tiktok.com/@sensitivestrengths
https://www.youtube.com/@sensitivestrengths

Find Big Feelings, Big Joy, at https://www.bigfeelingsbigjoy.com/book

Traditional publishing expert Meghan Stevenson blasts open the gates of the “Big 5”—Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette, and Macmillan—to share what every entrepreneur and expert needs to know about landing a book deal. 

In episodes released every Monday, Meghan shares wisdom and stories from 20+ years in publishing as well as interviews with authors, literary agents, and editors. She also answers questions from listeners like you. 

Whether you are an experienced entrepreneur with an empire, or are just starting out—this podcast will help you understand what you need to do in order to turn your dream of being a bestselling author into real life. 

Have a great idea for a book but don't know where to start? MeghanStevenson.com/quiz

Send us Fan Mail

AI is here — but so is traditional publishing. The authors who stand out will not be the ones who hand literary agents and editors a generic, AI-generated proposal. They will be the ones who protect their ideas, create work rooted in real expertise, and use AI without undermining the industry they want to join.

In this episode, Meghan Stevenson, traditional publishing expert and founder of Meghan Stevenson Books, shares three principles for entrepreneurs, experts, and creators who want to use AI ethically while pursuing a traditional nonfiction book deal.

You can use AI and still get a traditional nonfiction book deal. But AI should not replace the original thinking, expertise, and human-created work that make a nonfiction book proposal valuable to literary agents, editors, and traditional publishers.

A book proposal is typically sent first to a literary agent for representation. The agent then sends it to editors at major publishers. According to Meghan, those gatekeepers are seeing plenty of “AI slop” — work that feels generic, unoriginal, or disconnected from the author’s actual expertise.

The opportunity is to do better. Use AI intentionally for appropriate tasks, while ensuring that the proposal and book are recognizably yours.

The first rule: do not upload sensitive information, creative work, or unique intellectual property into a consumer-facing AI model.

Meghan’s guidance is to treat mainstream AI tools as though anything entered could someday be reviewed by a person, leaked, reused in training, or used as a marketing tool. This applies whether you pay for the service or use it for free.

A traditional book deal is not simply a reward for assembling information. It is an opportunity to create transformation for readers.

That is why how-to books can still matter in an AI-driven world. Readers can access information quickly, but a human author can help them understand, apply, and act on it.

Meghan’s third principle is about honoring other creators’ rights.

Write from your own expertise. Develop your own point of view. Create your own language, frameworks, stories, and arguments.

The goal is not to hand your creative process over to a machine. It is to use technology in ways that help you work more effectively without giving away your intellectual property, copying others, or producing work that agents and editors will reject.

Read Tim Ferriss’ blog post at https://tim.blog/2026/06/12/has-ai-already-killed-nonfiction/.

If you want to discover what may be blocking your path to a bigger book deal, Meghan offers a free five-minute assessment at meghanstevenson.com/quiz.

Traditional publishing expert Meghan Stevenson blasts open the gates of the “Big 5”—Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette, and Macmillan—to share what every entrepreneur and expert needs to know about landing a book deal. 

In episodes released every Monday, Meghan shares wisdom and stories from 20+ years in publishing as well as interviews with authors, literary agents, and editors. She also answers questions from listeners like you. 

Whether you are an experienced entrepreneur with an empire, or are just starting out—this podcast will help you understand what you need to do in order to turn your dream of being a bestselling author into real life. 

Have a great idea for a book but don't know where to start? MeghanStevenson.com/quiz

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode, host Meghan Stevenson — traditional publishing expert and founder of Meghan Stevenson Books — pulls back the curtain on what happens when a book proposal doesn’t result in the dream publisher and what smart entrepreneurs, experts, and creators do next.

If you finish a serious, salable nonfiction book proposal, get a literary agent, go out on submission … and still don’t get a book deal, there are really two paths Meghan sees most often:

1. You accept the outcome and move on.
2. You “relax and revise,” and try again with a stronger concept or positioning.

Either way, not landing a deal on the first try is not a moral failing, a sign you’re not “good enough,” or proof that your idea is hopeless. It’s a business outcome in a business that is inherently risky.

Meghan is clear about her own numbers:

• 100% of clients who finish a salable proposal get a literary agent
• 80% of those go on to get a book deal
• 20% don’t land a deal — at least not the first time

Who Meghan does not count in her success rate

1. Clients who finish a proposal and stop there

2. Clients who discover they don’t have a full book in them

3. Clients who lose (or don’t have) the platform to sell a book

Once those cases are set aside, you’re left with the clients who do go all the way: They finish a strong proposal, go out with an agent, and still don’t land a book deal.

The first path when you don’t get a deal is both the simplest and the most emotionally honest:

1. You feel disappointed.
2. You accept the outcome.
3. You move on.

Rejection from editors and publishers is not a sign that you did everything wrong. It’s a reflection of market timing, list needs, internal priorities and simple business judgment on the publisher’s side.

The second path is what Meghan calls relax and revise.

This path is for authors who:

• Get turned down by publishers
• Take the feedback seriously
• Decide to revise their proposal and try again — either soon or years later

“If my proposal doesn’t get me a deal, is there some kind of protection or refund?”

This is one of the most common questions Meghan gets. Her answer is clear and direct: No.

She cannot control what publishers decide to do and submitting a proposal to literary agents, editors, and publishers is an inherently risky business move.

Meghan’s belief — and experience — is that hiring someone like her gives you the best possible shot at landing a deal. Sometimes that shot lands the first time. Sometimes it lands on the second try — after you’ve relaxed, revised, and re-entered the market with a sharper proposal. But there is no guarantee, no refund policy that can erase the reality that publishing is a risk.

To find out whether you’re ready for a book deal and whether you’re a good fit to work with her, Meghan invites you to take a short quiz at meghanstevenson.com/quiz. By answering five questions, you’ll get her honest take on if and how she can help.

Traditional publishing expert Meghan Stevenson blasts open the gates of the “Big 5”—Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette, and Macmillan—to share what every entrepreneur and expert needs to know about landing a book deal. 

In episodes released every Monday, Meghan shares wisdom and stories from 20+ years in publishing as well as interviews with authors, literary agents, and editors. She also answers questions from listeners like you. 

Whether you are an experienced entrepreneur with an empire, or are just starting out—this podcast will help you understand what you need to do in order to turn your dream of being a bestselling author into real life. 

Have a great idea for a book but don't know where to start? MeghanStevenson.com/quiz

Send us Fan Mail

You don’t need a million followers — or to become an influencer — to land a traditional, nonfiction book deal. In this episode, Meghan Stevenson, a former editor at Penguin and Simon & Schuster and founder of Meghan Stevenson Books, explains how authors are getting six‑figure deals without huge social media platforms by building a deeper, more effective kind of author platform.

You do not need a massive social media following to get a traditional, nonfiction book deal.

What you do need is:

• A book idea with real market potential
• A clear, reachable target audience
• A platform that proves you can reach that audience — even if it’s not public and flashy

In the traditional publishing world, “platform” is shorthand for your ability to sell books to your target audience. It’s not just your follower count; it’s the total ecosystem of how you reach people.

Your author platform might include:

• A successful business or practice (therapy, coaching, consulting, medical, legal, etc.)
• Speaking engagements (conferences, corporate talks, workshops, keynotes)
• Media appearances (podcasts, radio, TV, YouTube channels)
• Press and features (legacy media like The New York Times, as well as digital outlets and blogs)
• Academic or professional authority (peer-reviewed papers, industry leadership, certifications)
• A strong network of fellow entrepreneurs, experts, and creators whose audiences overlap with yours

Social media can absolutely be part of this, but it is not the entire story. Your platform is about reach, trust, and relevance — how effectively you can get your message in front of the people who need your book and persuade them to care.

A huge misconception Meghan addresses in this episode is the idea that you “have to build a platform to get a book deal” — as if the book deal is the sole reason to grow your influence.

The mistake people make is believing social media is the only place you can grow your platform and the only reason to grow an audience is to get a book deal.

A book deal then becomes a byproduct of that growth — not the entire point of it.

You don’t need to build an empire or scale indefinitely to be worthy of a book deal. You do need a platform that is real, alive, and aligned with who you are and how you want to work.

Visit meghanstevenson.com/quiz to take the free assessment and see where you’re at in your traditional book deal journey.

Traditional publishing expert Meghan Stevenson blasts open the gates of the “Big 5”—Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette, and Macmillan—to share what every entrepreneur and expert needs to know about landing a book deal. 

In episodes released every Monday, Meghan shares wisdom and stories from 20+ years in publishing as well as interviews with authors, literary agents, and editors. She also answers questions from listeners like you. 

Whether you are an experienced entrepreneur with an empire, or are just starting out—this podcast will help you understand what you need to do in order to turn your dream of being a bestselling author into real life. 

Have a great idea for a book but don't know where to start? MeghanStevenson.com/quiz

Send us Fan Mail

Publishing is vulnerable enough to make even experienced professionals question themselves. The path to a traditional nonfiction book deal is not a checklist you can flawlessly complete — it is a long-term act of empathy, relationship-building, creative discernment, and learning how to work with the right people.

Traditional publishing often gets framed as a simple formula: write a great proposal, build a big social-media following, find an agent, get a deal.

But the reality is both harder and more hopeful.

A traditional nonfiction book deal comes from creating a clear, valuable book for a specific audience — and proving you have an authentic path to reach that audience. That proof is your author platform. But platform is not just Instagram followers, press mentions, or a rushed attempt to go viral. It is the accumulated trust, expertise, community, professional network, and real-world access you have built over time.

Literary agent Anna Sproul Latimer offers a more useful way to think about it: platform is not temporary scaffolding. It is a mountain.

To get a traditional nonfiction book deal, develop a book concept that serves a defined reader need, create a compelling nonfiction proposal, demonstrate a credible platform or audience pathway, and find a literary agent whose expertise and working style are a true fit for you.

For a prescriptive nonfiction author, a book that complements an existing business can be especially compelling. If you can credibly show that clients, workshop attendees, customers, members, or partner organizations will buy and share the book, you are demonstrating a concrete sales pathway.

Today’s guest is Anna Sproul-Latimer. She is a founding partner and president of Neon Literary, has over the course of her many years in book publishing sold multiple New York Times bestsellers, major book-to-film deals, and foreign translations in more than 50 languages. She represents all types of adult nonfiction — from memoir and history to pop culture, science, and parenting — as well as select literary and upmarket fiction. (For existing clients, Anna represents just about everything, but all of her clients’ careers start and primarily consist of work in one of her two focus areas.)

Anna is drawn to buzzing, bright, curious, slightly unhinged authors who are driven by enthusiasm so infectious that (inter)national audiences are already paying attention. She particularly loves books with the vibe of that one other sort-of-normal relative at the family reunion: humor, vulnerability, honesty, refuge, and relief.

A lifelong resident of the Washington, DC, area, Anna has spent her life watching power, money, and media interact to shape the line of history. Through her work as a literary agent, she hopes to take this access, experience, and privilege and lie down in traffic with it in an attempt to force it somewhere a little less depressing.

Prior to founding Neon, Anna spent nearly 15 years as a literary agent, foreign rights director, and developmental editor at DC’s Ross Yoon Agency, which has since folded into WME. A graduate of Columbia University (BA) and Oxford (masters), she lives in the DC suburbs with her family and travels to New York frequently.

Find Anna at https://neonliterary.substack.com.

Anna has offered 25% off a 1-year subscription just for Kind of a Big Book Deal listeners at this link: https://neonliterary.substack.com/6beefd17.

Traditional publishing expert Meghan Stevenson blasts open the gates of the “Big 5”—Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette, and Macmillan—to share what every entrepreneur and expert needs to know about landing a book deal. 

In episodes released every Monday, Meghan shares wisdom and stories from 20+ years in publishing as well as interviews with authors, literary agents, and editors. She also answers questions from listeners like you. 

Whether you are an experienced entrepreneur with an empire, or are just starting out—this podcast will help you understand what you need to do in order to turn your dream of being a bestselling author into real life. 

Have a great idea for a book but don't know where to start? MeghanStevenson.com/quiz

Send us Fan Mail

If your book is out there, your audience will find it…

Absolutely not.

That’s the hard truth at the center of this episode of Kind of a Big Book Deal, hosted by traditional publishing expert Meghan Stevenson of Meghan Stevenson Books. It’s not enough to have a brilliant idea or even a finished manuscript. If you can’t reliably reach the people your book is for, your impact — and your sales — will be tiny.

“I have a strong book idea. How do I make it more appealing to publishers?”

Meghan’s answer:

A great idea is necessary but not sufficient. To get a traditional nonfiction book deal — and to have your book actually sell — you need all three parts of her 3P Framework™:

• POTENTIAL – A book idea that genuinely works and is needed.
• PLATFORM – An established way to reach the readers who will buy and benefit from your book.
• PROPOSAL – A strong, industry‑standard book proposal that clearly communicates both.

Most aspiring authors over‑index on potential and ignore platform. Without developing a way to bring your ideas in front of people who would be interested in your book, once the book is in the world, no one knows about it. Don’t assume if the idea is strong enough, the book will sell itself, and don’t assume if the book is in stores and online, readers will somehow find it. That’s not how it works.

Meghan sees this assumption everywhere:

• Entrepreneurs assume the potency of the problem they solve will carry their book.
• Experts assume the depth of their credentials will carry their book.
• Creators assume “once it’s on Amazon” or “once it’s in bookstores,” readers will magically show up.

But in practice:

• Very few books sell because someone randomly walks into a bookstore and discovers them.
• Very few books sell because someone types a vague search and your title happens to appear.

You need an author platform to get a book deal — and to sell the book once you have one.

If you don’t know how to reliably reach the readers who want your book, the book is a much riskier bet — for you and for the publisher.

A great idea (potential) is only one P. To truly be ready for a traditional nonfiction book deal, you need all three.

Visit meghanstevenson.com/quiz to take the free assessment and see where you’re at in your traditional book deal journey.

Traditional publishing expert Meghan Stevenson blasts open the gates of the “Big 5”—Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette, and Macmillan—to share what every entrepreneur and expert needs to know about landing a book deal. 

In episodes released every Monday, Meghan shares wisdom and stories from 20+ years in publishing as well as interviews with authors, literary agents, and editors. She also answers questions from listeners like you. 

Whether you are an experienced entrepreneur with an empire, or are just starting out—this podcast will help you understand what you need to do in order to turn your dream of being a bestselling author into real life. 

Have a great idea for a book but don't know where to start? MeghanStevenson.com/quiz

Send us Fan Mail

What if landing a literary agent, securing a book deal, and writing a bestselling nonfiction book didn’t have to feel overwhelming — or even hard? What if it could actually feel… straightforward, supported, and maybe even enjoyable?

After more than 20 years in the industry, including roles at Penguin and Simon & Schuster, Meghan Stevenson has seen firsthand that getting a traditional nonfiction book deal can be far more streamlined when you approach it the right way.

So let’s answer the big question: Can getting a traditional book deal actually be easy?

Yes — but “easy” doesn’t mean effortless or accidental. It means strategic, supported, and efficient.

The authors who experience a smoother path to publishing aren’t guessing their way through the process. They’re aligning three critical elements:

• A strong book idea with clear market potential
• A visible and engaged author platform
• A professionally developed book proposal

When those pieces come together — especially when guided by someone who understands the industry — the process becomes significantly faster and more predictable.

A lot of the frustration comes from following incomplete or outdated advice.

Common pitfalls include:

• Relying on free book proposal templates that don’t reflect current industry expectations
• Pitching agents before building a platform
• Trying to navigate the agent search and query process alone
• Treating the book as the starting point instead of part of a larger business strategy

The result is often months or even years of waiting, rejection, or silence.

Instead of navigating the process alone, Meghan’s model centers on:

• Weekly collaboration to develop your ideas and content
• Building a tailored, high-quality book proposal over 3–4 months
• Strategically aligning your platform with your book concept
• Connecting with literary agents who are already a strong fit

Rather than sending pitches into the void, authors can find themselves in active conversations with interested agents who already understand and value their work.

Even after landing a deal, many authors hit another wall: writing tens of thousands of words while managing edits, deadlines, and production demands.

Here again, structure and support can transform the experience.

With consistent guidance and a clear process, authors can:

• Stay accountable with weekly progress
• Shape their ideas into a cohesive manuscript
• Navigate edits and revisions with confidence

Instead of feeling isolated or overwhelmed, the process becomes collaborative and manageable.

Visit meghanstevenson.com/quiz to take the free assessment and see where you’re at in your traditional book deal journey.

Traditional publishing expert Meghan Stevenson blasts open the gates of the “Big 5”—Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette, and Macmillan—to share what every entrepreneur and expert needs to know about landing a book deal. 

In episodes released every Monday, Meghan shares wisdom and stories from 20+ years in publishing as well as interviews with authors, literary agents, and editors. She also answers questions from listeners like you. 

Whether you are an experienced entrepreneur with an empire, or are just starting out—this podcast will help you understand what you need to do in order to turn your dream of being a bestselling author into real life. 

Have a great idea for a book but don't know where to start? MeghanStevenson.com/quiz

Send us Fan Mail

If you’re wondering how long it takes to land a traditional book deal, here’s the truth: it’s probably longer than you want — and for reasons no one tells you upfront.

How long does it really take to get a book deal? The honest answer is: it depends on how ready you are.

Not how good your idea is.
Not how talented you are as a writer.
But how prepared you are to sell books.

Traditional publishing is a business. For a publisher to offer you a deal, especially a six-figure one, they need confidence they’ll earn that investment back. That confidence comes from your platform: your audience, visibility, speaking presence, and proven ability to reach readers.

The #1 thing blocking most book deals is a lack of platform.

Platform means your ability to reach and influence an audience. Publishers look at:

• Your social media following and engagement
• Speaking engagements and audience size
• Email list and community
• Past book sales (if any)
• Media presence and authority

Even a great idea isn’t enough without proof that people are already paying attention to you.

Agents and publishers are asking one core question: “How will this book sell?” If the answer isn’t clear, the proposal won’t move forward.

Before you write a proposal, focus on:

• Growing your audience intentionally
• Refining your message into clear, memorable ideas
• Saying yes to visibility opportunities (speaking, podcasts, media)
• Validating your concept through real-world feedback

Think of your platform as your proof — not just your potential.

The fastest way to a book deal isn’t rushing — it’s preparing. Because when your platform matches your vision, “no” turns into “not yet”… and eventually into “yes.”

Visit meghanstevenson.com/quiz to take the free assessment and see where you’re at in your traditional book deal journey.

Traditional publishing expert Meghan Stevenson blasts open the gates of the “Big 5”—Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette, and Macmillan—to share what every entrepreneur and expert needs to know about landing a book deal. 

In episodes released every Monday, Meghan shares wisdom and stories from 20+ years in publishing as well as interviews with authors, literary agents, and editors. She also answers questions from listeners like you. 

Whether you are an experienced entrepreneur with an empire, or are just starting out—this podcast will help you understand what you need to do in order to turn your dream of being a bestselling author into real life. 

Have a great idea for a book but don't know where to start? MeghanStevenson.com/quiz