The Steve Laube Agency is committed to providing top quality guidance to authors and speakers. Our years of experience and success brings a unique service to our clients. We focus primarily in the Christian marketplace and have put together an outstanding gallery of authors and speakers whose books continue to make an impact throughout the world.
Our Service Philosophy
Content
To help the author develop and create the best book possible. Material that has both commercial appeal and long-term value.
Career
To help the author determine the next best step in their writing career. Giving counsel regarding the subtleties of the marketplace as well as the realities of the publishing community.
Contract
To help the author secure the best possible contract. One that partners with the best strategic publisher and one that is mutually beneficial for all parties involved.
Recent Posts
5 Questions Your Proposal Must Answer: Question 1
Is Your Audience/Platform Big Enough?
This platform question is one of the more aggravating and frustrating issues most writers face. Either they try to explain it away, overestimate it, or avoid it entirely.
A publisher is not asking whether your topic has a large audience in theory. They are asking whether you can reach enough of that audience in practice.
There is a difference.
Many proposals mistakenly claim a sizable readership—“millions of Christians,” “thousands of leaders,” “anyone struggling with …”—but fail to connect that audience to the author. The assumption is that if the audience exists, the book will find them. It rarely works that way.
Your platform is the bridge.
Platform is not celebrity. It is not about being famous. It is about access and trust. It answers two questions: How many people are you currently reaching? and How many of them are listening?
A large but disengaged following is less compelling than a smaller, attentive one. Ten thousand readers who consistently open your emails, attend your events, or engage with your content are more meaningful than a hundred thousand passive followers.
Publishers look for evidence of this, not your eventual intent. A mailing list. Speaking engagements. Podcast downloads. Social engagement that reflects real interaction, not inflated numbers. These are indicators that your audience is not hypothetical but is already forming around your voice.
This is where many proposals falter in their marketing section. They lean heavily on potential: What the author plans to build, where they hope to speak, and how they intend to grow. But publishing decisions are made on what exists now, not what might exist later.
That does not mean you need a massive platform. It means you need a credible one. A clear path between you and your readers.
It also means understanding your audience. Who are they, specifically? Where do they gather? What are they already buying? And why will they listen to you in particular?
A strong proposal does not separate the audience from the platform. It puts them together. It shows that the author not only knows who the readers are, but is already in conversation with them.
If your audience is large but you cannot reach them, it does not help you. If your platform is growing but undefined, it does not persuade. The goal is not only scale. (Having 44,000 followers on a single social-media platform is meaningless if there is no engagement. Remember, we know there are ways to buy followers and inflate the data.)
In the end, a publisher is not just acquiring a book. They are investing in your ability to bring that book to readers.
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5 Questions Your Proposal Must Answer Series:
Question 1. Is Your Audience/Platform Big Enough?
Question 2. Is Your Idea a Book or a Magazine Article?
Question 3. How Is Your Book Different (And Is It Different Enough)?
Question 4. Will Enough People Pay for Your Book?
Question 5. Why Should You Write It? Why Not Someone Else?
Fun Fridays – April 10, 2026
Back before Captain Cook sailed the Seven Seas, I went to high school in Honolulu. (I know, someone’s gotta do it.) Today’s video was something I never knew about the state of Hawaii. Enjoy the trivia! (If you can’t see the video in your emailed newsletter, please click through to the site and view it there.) ShareTweet
My Pet Peeve Therapy Session
I have a lot of pet peeves. So many that this is the second time I’ve written about them. The first was three and a half years ago, when I vented about a host of things. Click here. I am not finished. Other peeves involve people who don’t wait for their turn. Like those who drive on the shoulder of the road to bypass traffic or those who try to get on the plane before their group is called. Another would be towns that allow trees and bushes to grow over road signs without trimming them, so a stop sign …
Uplifting One Another
When I was a romance novelist, a few authors who weren’t published looked down on me. They didn’t think I belonged in rarified air with authors consistently writing larger books. Interesting fact: I never felt slighted by those known as “big” authors when I was writing category romance. They understood the difficulty and work in being published. At. All. One of the best sayings attributed to St. Teresa of Avila, is, “Comparisons are odious.” Since I have been found wanting at times, I try not to compare. When I’m on top by the world’s standards, I’m even less likely to …
Monday Moments – April 6, 2026
Today’s moment is the second in a series of brief meditations I’ve created based on my new book, Sacred Margins: On the Spiritual Life of a Writer. Let me know your thoughts in the comments. The transcript of the video is below. If you cannot see the video, click through to our website or to YouTube, where you can view it. The book itself will be released on May 19th in paperback, ebook, and audio formats. You can preorder the book here: https://amzn.to/3P5jVj8. The first episode, “Why the Margins Are Sacred,” can be found on YouTube channel; click this link. …