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One of the most exciting—albeit nerve-wracking and often demoralizing—stages of the publication process is the pitch stage. You’ve put in the work—outlining your book, enduring painful rounds of feedback and revisions, drafting a proposal, and approaching your book as a product to be positioned in the market—and it is finally time to send it out into the world in the hopes someone will want to publish it. We can’t kid ourselves into thinking this part is easy, in fact, it’s probably the most discouraging stage of them all; enduring one rejection after another is part of being a writer. But we can discuss some ways to make this process easier and hopefully increase your chances, especially from the perspective of someone in the neurodiverse, mad, and/or psychiatric survivor community.
I’m speaking to this community specifically because, as I’ve written on the blog before, I’m seeking to serve this population of writers in my own coaching work. Works from neurodiverse but especially psychiatric survivors are severely underrepresented in the literary marketplace, and I’m on a mission to change that. Some of these tips apply to any query or writer, but I’ve tried to tailor these suggestions to writers from the neurodiverse/mad/psychiatric survivor spaces.
- Keep it brief (400 words or less). It’s easy to get carried away when telling your story. Unless a book is highly technical, we do not need more than 400 words to cover all of our bases: an explanation of why you chose the agent, a short summary of your book, some recent comp titles, and a few sentences about yourself. I say it all the time, but agents have limited time and attention. Anything going over a page will allow their thoughts to wander.
- Explain potentially complicated terminology. Words we use frequently in the mad/neurodivergent communities may be unfamiliar or be defined differently in neurotypical spaces. You may have your own definition of what it means to be “mad,” “mentally ill,” or “neurodivergent.” If your definition is not what you think most people’s brains will immediately go to when reading your query, explain it.
- Deeply research the agents you’re querying. Pay attention to what they are seeking RIGHT now. You should know not only exactly what kinds of books they’re looking for; check out their social media, their publishing history, their most recently signed authors. Get acquainted with their values by seeing what they post on social media and the other underrepresented groups they’ve worked with. Don’t pitch to an agent simply because they represented someone you admire or a book you love (especially if it’s not even in your genre). They may no longer be seeking that type of work anymore and you’ll be wasting yours and the agent’s time by querying them.
- Stick to the facts and your story. If there are larger implications to the story you are telling, cite reputable sources for your claims. Use statistics to prove there is a readership/a need for this work in the literary space. There will be space in your proposal to expand on the bigger sociopolitical issues you’re bringing awareness to with your book, so stay concise, stay with your story, and stick with facts that the agent can pluck out of the letter.
- Know that you will be stigmatized, and that’s not on you. No matter how we mask ourselves, being neurodivergent, mad, psychiatric survivors, however you identify, people will make assumptions. They might do this consciously but more likely subconsciously. All you can do is prepare and protect yourself internally. Be conscious of these stereotypes but remember that these have more to do with the ignorance of others than they have do with you. If someone is unwilling to understand your struggles, thank them for their time, and move on.
- Remember that this is a business transaction. If you are going the traditional publishing route, this is essential to understand. The agent may be as passionate as you are about bringing awareness to neurodiversity or injustices in the mental health system, but they need to be able to prove they can sell the book. Anything you can do to speed that up for them will work in your favor. We can’t count on the agent to connect all of the dots as to how the book will sell.
- Stay away from broader statements that may come across as demonizing a group or institution. If you’re unsure how your audience may receive a particular opinion, speak as objectively as you can. For example, psychiatry can be an angel or a devil for folks, so some may not be receptive to statements condemning the practice entirely. Unless you know you’re on the same wavelength with the agent or editor on a particular topic, stay tied to how you personally have been effected and/or the statistics that support your arguments.
- Look for agents, editors, and publishers who make accommodations for people with disabilities. How simple is their submission process? Do they say they wish to serve disabled and/or neurodivergent writers, but do not provide the appropriate accommodations? This could be a careless oversight or simply a desire to streamline processes, but it could very well also be a red flag.
- Leave them wanting more. Do you hate that movie trailers these days seem to show you the entire movie in a span of two minutes? They so often leave you feeling, why should I even bother watching the full movie? The folks at “The Shit No One Tells You About Writing” Podcast talk about leaving “curiosity seeds” throughout your pitch, little hints at what’s to come without fully giving the story away. Give your reader an idea of what you’re up against in your memoir and the journey you’ll take, but leave them longing to know what will happen next.
- Hire an editor and/or coach to read through your letter. An editor can make sure your letter is free of spelling and grammatical errors, making it look polished and professional. A coach can read through your letter and provide feedback based on the substance of your letter; ie. are the comps the most relevant to your book, is your summary strong, are you bringing up the most relevant details in your bio, etc. Whether you need an editor, a book coach, or both will depend on which stage you are in your process and your experience in the industry. Feel free to book a discovery call with me to figure this part out.
It’s additionally important to invest the time in understanding the different ways to publish and understand which path is best for you. I’ve written a blog post breaking this down but there are plenty of other online resources available to help you should you need more information. Since so much of what we consume as readers is from the traditionally published space, most of us tend to assume that traditional publishing is the best path for us. But there are advantages to self-publishing and hybrid publishing as well, that could lend themselves to this particular subject matter.
If you are publishing a book with a strong message to bring about change in a specific industry, you not only wish to get that book in the hands of as many readers as possible, you also will likely require significant creative control over the project. Traditional publishing can help with wider readership, but self-publishing and hybrid publishing can give the writer more creative control. These are all things to consider.
If you’ve exhausted the free resources available to you and are still looking for additional guidance on your pitching journey, feel free to reach out to see if hiring a book coach may be the next step for you.
Again, don’t forget to grab my free resource to kickstart your marketing process here.
Featured photo by Tima Miroshnichenko.
Hanna Etu 