Do you need followers to sell a novel?
& other questions I ask literary agent turned novelist Abigail Bergstrom
(This Substack community is such a delight. Earlier in the week I hosted an ‘open mic’ comment thread where everyone shared what creative projects they are working on! 100+ comments and counting. Come and join in here!)
Abigail Bergstrom is widely regarded as one of the coolest people in publishing — the fringe, the brain, the style, the charisma! She also happens to be my former literary agent; now simply she is one of my dearest friends. She is a master at spotting talent and a brilliant editor, and runs her own literary agency and publishing studio, Bergstrom Studio (thirty-five of the titles she’s worked on have landed on the New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller lists!) She began her career as an editor at Simon & Schuster, working with feminist icons such as Laura Bates, who remains one of her clients. She was nominated for Literary Agent of the Year in 2020 and serves on the advisory board of the Cheltenham Literature Festival. I could go on.
In addition to all this, Abigail is also a novelist (she is also rebooting her Substack
). Her debut, What A Shame, was described by The Sunday Times as “intelligent, moving and darkly comic.” Her second novel, SELFISH GIRLS, is out this week. It continues in her signature tone — darkly comic, emotionally sharp — and explores themes of womanhood, sisterhood, and the complex nature of shame. And you can find information on Abigail’s book tour here.It was an absolute joy to sit down with Abigail for this conversation. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. xoxo
EMMA GANNON: I once heard someone say there’s a difference between a writer and an author. The writer works in solitude, doing deep work; the author is out there selling their wares. What are your thoughts on this?
ABIGAIL BERGSTROM: For me the author and the writer are distinguished by the nature of their approach to the vocation. Writing for many of us is a compulsion – it’s part of our being and who we are. It helps us understand the world and ourselves within it. Perhaps we journal or write a newsletter or spend hours agonising over a poem to read at a friend’s wedding – these are not acts of ambition but of expression. Whereas an author is more of a career writer. I think the ‘selling their wares’ is right, they are consciously trying to make money from their work.
EMMA: What are your views on the ‘author brand’ in 2025? Do you feel pressured to do certain things to grow a brand? Or do you actively push back against it?
Abigail: I think it’s a bit of a fallacy in that you’re told to build the brand before you can become a successful author. For a lot of writers the success of the book emerges first and the brand evolves more naturally alongside it. I’m not really interested in building a brand, I am only interested in sharing my work—the question is do we need one to enable the other? What comes first, the chicken or the egg? The most successful writers I’ve worked with over the years fantasise about coming off social media. They always say, ‘I want to be as successful as [insert name] so I can delete Instagram.’
“I’m not really interested in building a brand, I am only interested in sharing my work.”
EMMA: I’ve heard a rumour that authors need at least 10,000 followers nowadays to even get a foot in the door-is there any truth to that?