Many literary agencies want info re an author’s “platform”, which might be thought of as the author’s “star” status (number of followers on social media, for example). The literary agency wants that info to boost its chances of persuading a big, well-known publishing house to agree to publish the author’s new book. Consider the following 2 cases:

1. Case 1—Thomas Kuhn (1922-1996). In 1949, Harvard University awarded him a PhD in physics. In 1962, the University of Chicago Press published his book “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions”. The book was a sensation. More than a million copies of the book have been sold; it was translated into 24 languages; and it became one of the most cited works of all time in the natural and social sciences. Kuhn received 5 honorary doctorates, and The History of Science Society awarded him the 1982 George Sarton medal. Given that info, Kuhn definitely was a “star”, which translates into an impressive “platform”. Despite his “star” status and the impressive platform, Kuhn’s book and POS are seriously flawed!
2. Case 2—John Kennedy Toole (1937-1969). In 1963, 25-year-old John Kennedy Toole submitted to Simon & Schuster a manuscript in hopes of it being published. He spent the next 2 years revising the manuscript in response to editorial criticism. Simon & Schuster ultimately rejected the manuscript. The revisions and rejection took their toll, and in 1969, Mr. Toole committed suicide. His mother then became determined to have the manuscript published, believing it would prove her son’s talent. Over a 5-year period, she sent the manuscript to 7 publishers; all rejected it. “Each time it came back I died a little,” she said. Thanks to his mother’s untiring efforts, Mr. Toole’s manuscript finally was published (in 1980). In 1981, the book (A Confederacy of Dunces) won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. It has sold more than 1.5 million copies, in 18 languages. The published version is Mr. Toole’s first draft with minimal copy-editing, and no significant revisions! So here is a case where an author with no platform at all produced a Pulitzer-Prize-winning book, although it took more than 5 years for the author’s mother to find a man who recognized the book’s quality.

Conclusions:

1. As a consumer, I'm not buying the author; I'm buying the book the author wrote. Per Case 1 supra, a highly-regarded author can produce a flawed book, and per Case 2, an unknown author with no platform at all can produce a suberb book. So tell me about the book--not about the author!
2. If I were a literary agent, I would spend my time assessing an author’s manuscript instead of his or her platform.