Editors look for things like a high level of engagement – not just a lot of followers, but how many people are interacting and retweeting with an author.
Interview with Mark Gottlieb, Literary Agent at Trident Media Group
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The web long ago emerged as a major launching platform for creative careers. Audiences today go online to enjoy music, art, performances, and storytelling of all kinds. Literary agents go there, too, in search of future bestselling titles. And not only the written word is source material. Literary agent Mark Gottlieb of Trident Media Group has struck literary gold in everything from tweets and GIFs to comics and podcasts. Online creators, he explains, come with a built-in audience.
“When approaching a publisher without that built-in platform, all you can really say to them is this is a great book. Please make an editorial evaluation,” Trident Media Group agent Mark Gottlieb tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally. “Whereas now, the publisher doesn’t just make an editorial evaluation. They can make a business evaluation. So I think it ends up being a win-win for publishers and authors.”
Once and famously a business of “the gut,” publishing today is as data-driven as any enterprise. When reviewing the literary quality of a submission, editors are also looking out for how many followers, how many likes, and how many downloads.
“It’s even begun to permeate the world of fiction as well. Whereas fiction was primarily driven by the quality of the writing and then, by extension, the author becoming a household name, now publishers are drilling down into even the social media numbers of a lot of authors,” says Trident Media Group’s Mark Gottlieb. “Editors tend to look for things like a high level of engagement – not just a lot of followers, but how many people are interacting and retweeting [with the author].”
