If you’re trying to get a book deal right now, I’m going to guess you might be feeling one of three things (or maybe all): 1) frustrated 2) discouraged 3) overwhelmed
With constant access to information, every author, coach, and online publishing guru has a giant list of rules to follow. Send fifty queries a week! Pitch your ms in person! Post three times a day on TikTok! Write a fantasy romance because everyone else is doing it! Hire an editor! Don’t hire an editor! Get an agent! Don’t get an agent! Self-publish! Don’t self-publish! Just write a good book!
The advice is endless.
Most of it, in my opinion, is exhausting, overly complicated, years out of date, or simply doesn’t apply to you.
Having published thirteen books over the years—in both fiction and nonfiction—and working with writers every single day of my life, I can tell you that this industry does not work the way most people think it does.
And while I definitely don’t know everything, I do love to share what I have learned, what shifts I’m seeing, and what you can do when you feel like you’re stuck.
If I had to start all over from scratch, here is what I would skip, and where I would actually put my energy instead.
1. Treating social media like a digital billboard Real talk: social media does matter, especially if you’re writing nonfiction where platform is king, or fiction, where BookTok can now make a breakout hit. But what I would skip is the mindless “content creation” trap: posting generic quotes, unboxing videos, or dancing with a manuscript. Making content about your book doesn’t sell books. Connection sells books. In my experience, people buy more than a book; they buy a piece of you, your world, or a perspective they can't get anywhere else.
2. Pitching cold before testing the narrative in the wild Sending blind queries into a slush pile of 5,000 unread emails is the hardest, lowest-converting way to get published today. FULL STOP. Expecting a complete stranger to read 90,000 words without any prior signal that your voice, premise, or concept lands with actual humans is playing this game on ultra-hard mode. Proof of concept gets deals. Give agents a reason to pay attention by showing them your story already moves real people before it ever hits their inbox. (More on that below.)
3. Waiting for an agent or publisher to validate your story’s value Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, waiting for a green light from an industry gatekeeper before you start building momentum around your work is a mistake. An agent doesn’t create your momentum—they leverage the momentum you’re already building. Action creates opportunity. The moment you stop twiddling your thumbs, waiting for someone to say yes, and start gathering your own audience, you shift from a hopeful applicant to a valuable partner.
1. Borrow existing audiences through micro-partnerships If you don’t have a massive follower count, stop trying to build one from scratch one reel at a time. Go borrow someone else’s. If you write nonfiction, pitch guest posts or host joint webinars with creators who already serve your target reader. If you write fiction, partner with three adjacent authors or book bloggers in your genre to cross-promote short stories, character teasers, or digital ARC swaps. An editor cares far more that you have direct access to 2,000 hyper-engaged genre nerds than 20,000 random, disengaged social media followers.
2. Reverse-engineer your Competitive Titles using 1-star reviews Instead of just listing mega-bestsellers like Gone Girl or Atomic Habits in your pitch, find three recent books in your exact lane that underperformed. Go straight to their 1-star reviews. Figure out what readers felt was missing, rushed, or disappointing. Then, build your pitch around solving that gap.
If it’s fiction: “Readers loved the dark dark academia setting of [Book X], but hated the slow pacing in Act II—my novel delivers that same atmospheric setting with a relentless, fast-paced thriller structure.”
If it’s nonfiction: “Readers bought [Book Y] for the premise, but complained it lacked practical exercises—my proposal directly solves that by...”
When you do this, you instantly look like a sharp market partner, not just a hopeful writer.
3. Use short-form storytelling as a proof of concept Before pitching a full book, test the core engine of your writing on a smaller scale. If you write nonfiction, publish the central argument as a single, punchy 1,500-word essay. If you write fiction, write a tight 2,000-word prequel short story or character origin scene. Put it on Substack, pitch it to a digital magazine, or drop it on a reader forum. If that piece gets shared, commented on, and passed around, that is your query leverage. Dropping a line into your pitch that says, “The prequel short story for this novel generated 1,500 reads and 300 email sign-ups last month” makes an agent sit up real fast.
Getting published today is all about being smart with your time, testing your voice in real-time, and positioning your work so clearly that an agent or editor can instantly see how it connects with human beings.
Despite what it sometimes feels like, we aren’t helpless writers waiting to be discovered.
We are the owners of our own creative work.
If you’re currently in the trenches trying to get published, whether it’s fiction or nonfiction, what’s the single biggest hurdle you’re hitting right now?
And if you’re already an author, what would you do differently if you were just starting out???
Tell me.
Rea
P.S. My Thomas & Mercer thriller e-books are all on sale for the month of August!! Send to a reader who loves a good page turner! 🙏
DEAR MOTHER: $1.99 US | $1.49 AU | $0.99 UK
WHEN SHE’S GONE: $2.49 US
DON’T FORGET ME: $2.49 US
P.P.S.
I’m being honored at Nashville Lifestyle Magazine’s Women in Business event, here in Nashville! I’d love if it you’d grab a ticket for August 20th and join!
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.