How I Got My Literary Agent
Where it began, the email I got from my Literary Agent 15 minutes after being introduced to me and my TED Talk.
I am taking you behind the scenes in publishing my book. Starting with how I found and signed with my literary agency.
My experience in finding and signing with a literary agency is a bit unique. Most people write book proposals and then try to find interested agents. The book proposal is the business plan for your book. It not only gives a feel for what is included in the book, it helps you learn more about the author and how the author plans to sell the book. This is what is taken to publishers to sell the book. Proposals are a mini book themselves - averaging 75 - 100 pages.
Most people have a book proposal in hand before they query agents. Which is knocking on the doors of a bunch of literary agents to see who is interested in seeing your proposal and starting a conversation. The goal is to find an agent who believes in your idea and feels like the right fit to represent and sell your work. Some agents get 1000 - 1500 queries a month - it’s a challenging process to get their attention!
When my talk went on TED.com, it hit a half million views in two days. Within the first week, I had a few different literary agencies reaching out to me. The wonderful Susan Harrow (the same woman from this Off the Mat post about Aikido) connected me to her agents. 14 minutes after she sent the email introducing me and my TED talk, they sent me an email. They got her email, watched my TED talk and immediately reached out.
A few days later I was on the phone with Roger Freet and Jeff Kleinman, having our meet cute. They knew my expertise and my TED talk, but had never seen my writing. Roger asked "Do you want a ghostwriter?" I said "No, I intend to write every word." I heard Roger suck his breath in and pause on the other end of the phone. I smiled and fought back a laugh. I get it. Many people have the dream of writing a book, but not enough have the skills or discipline to do so.
I told him to check out a specific post on my website, figuring he would look after the call. “If you want a good sense of my writing, this post gives a good example of my writing style,” I told him. Less than a minute later he said "Oh yeah, you've got the writing chops for this."
After meeting with different agencies, I felt like Folio was the best fit. They shared my vision for the book and had ideas on how to go even bigger. We finalized the details and signed a contract. My experience is definitely not standard. Many people develop book proposals and query agents for months. I did the opposite. I signed with Folio in February and we worked on the proposal until September.
Oh - the post I sent him to? It was this one.
Stay tuned for more on the book proposal, shopping the book and taking it to auction and writing the book.
Want to receive more articles like this one? Sign up for Brain Food here.
