How I Got 6 Book Deals (and How You Can, Too)

Everything you need to know about writing a killer proposal, landing an agent, and getting publishers to say yes.

This is a question I get fairly often, right alongside things like how to start or grow an online business. Somewhat ironically, publishing and entrepreneurship are two areas in which I’ve had considerable success at a relatively young age—I say this with no intention of bragging, just reporting—yet they’re two subjects I very rarely feel like talking about.

Honestly, these days, they mostly bore me. (Or at least I should say they don’t thrill me like they used to.)

I realize I’m probably leaving a number of sizable economic opportunities on the table because of this. After all, there are people far less credentialed in these areas than myself making an absolute killing teaching (purportedly, anyway) others how to get published or how to get rich.

OK, look—I don’t know if I can teach you how to get rich (though I think I’ve got a few interesting things to say about being an entrepreneur), but I am fairly confident I can teach you how to get published—or at least significantly increase your chances of getting published.

That’s a big promise, I realize, but I intend to back it up—and only ask one small favor in return: share this post with however many people you think might be interested, and reference it wherever it makes sense to do so. Or don’t! Let this free, highly valuable information rot in obscurity. Totally your call.

(Another quick note: you can also subscribe to my Substack, if you like—just please realize I almost never talk about publishing here. This is really just a philosophy blog!)

Step 1: Set Expectations

So, the most obvious thing, first: getting published is… hard! Like, really hard. And by “getting published,” I mean you actually get a deal that doesn’t completely suck, offered by a publisher that’s at least decently big or well-established. That sort of “getting published” is what’s quite difficult—a task that many attempt, but very few succeed at. (Of course, there are lots of boutique and independent publishers that aren’t hard to get in with, but that’s not what we’re talking about here.)

So to begin, I’ll tell you a bit about my own publishing history and experience, and then I’ll lay out—step by step—everything you need to do to improve your odds of replicating or exceeding my level of success. Again: nothing I’m going to say will make any of this easy, but it will ensure that your efforts are spent wisely.

Sound good?

My Publishing Background

I’ve got six traditionally published books (not counting my self-published stuff).

My three most recent books.

My first book deal—which was a For Dummies title with Wiley—was signed when I was still in my early twenties and, in fact, still an undergrad.

(I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t always a joy to stumble across your own book while wandering through Barnes & Noble or wherever—and yep, that’s me on the cover, back when I had much shorter hair!)

That deal, I should note, came about in a rather unusual way: the publisher recruited me. But how that happened is still relevant to traditional publishing efforts, because it only happened because I had a platform and caught the attention of someone already signed with Wiley. That person—who would go on to be my co-author—asked me to come on board as the fitness expert for a book in an ongoing series. I was happy to agree, and the arrangement worked out quite nicely.

Long story short: that book—despite its terrible title (one I fought tooth and nail)—sold well and led to two more deals with Wiley. Two more For Dummies titles, in fact.

And it would’ve probably led to more, except I’m not someone who can just keep talking or writing about the same things over and over. I didn’t want to write about fitness anymore, and I didn’t want to do any more For Dummies books. They were great for credibility at the time, but the messaging and branding is, of course, considerably restricted. I appreciated the opportunity—but decided it was time to move on.

My agent at the time (whom I picked up after getting my first book deal—again, backwards from how it typically works) advised me not to change course. She insisted I keep the ol’ gravy train rolling.

I told her no—I didn’t want to do that.

She then said she wasn’t interested in representing me in my new direction.

So I said I wasn’t interested in being represented by her in any direction.

And that was that.

At which point, I started all over—this time in the usual fashion (which I’ll detail how to do below): I crafted a pitch for an agent. I put together a list of agents I’d be glad to work with.¹ I pitched the first agent on my list and—no kidding—I heard back right away and signed with him almost immediately.

He—Giles Anderson—is still my agent today. A wonderful man, very pleasant to work with.

I don’t want to say my pitch was crazy amazing, but it worked in a way that is quite unusual—I was anticipating many objections at this phase, yet that just didn’t happen. Again, this is very unusual, so don’t let that shape your expectations.

After, I worked with Giles on refining the proposal for what would become my 2019 book How to Be Better at Almost Everything. Once that was complete, we shopped it around and, from what I remember, got some pretty decent interest before ultimately settling with BenBella, for various reasons. A smaller publisher than Wiley, but very results-driven insofar as they publish fewer books but invest more into each individual project, rather than just throwing a whole bunch of spaghetti at the wall and hoping enough of it sticks—and just an absolute joy to work with. (I returned to them for my most recent book).

My next book was The Best Argument for God, published by Sophia Press. Again, nothing but great things to say about them—their production process and their very effective (if exhausting, on my end, due to the seemingly countless interviews, podcasts, articles, etc.) promotional campaign.

After that, I returned to BenBella to write what I thought I was finished writing about—fitness. Really, I wrote this book because while the For Dummies titles were cool, they weren’t really my brand, so to speak. I needed a firmer statement—a manifesto, if you will!—that was thoroughly Pat Flynn. This was that.

So there you have it. Six books out, in about the same amount of time I managed to have six children. None of them total flops, I don’t think, and some of them quite successful, insofar as they’ve continued to sustain a decent volume of sales over time—even if none was a total runaway #1 NYT bestseller or whatever.

Now, before we get into the details of this entire process, let me also help set monetary expectations appropriately. Very likely, even if you manage to land a deal with a big (or bigger) publisher—and even if that deal doesn’t completely suck—writing is almost certainly not going to make you rich. It probably won’t even be able to pay most of your bills, starting out.

So, I must tell you—do not venture into this because money is your primary objective. Of course, I’m not saying you can’t make money writing books—you can, and I definitely have (though it’s far from my primary source of income). It’s just that, for most people who aren’t Oprah, they really only begin making good or decent money once they have a solid handful of books out, all doing decently well. It’s a cumulative effort to turn it into something you can comfortably live off.

(That said, I do know at least two people in my respective circles—one of them a pretty good friend—who landed the million-dollar-plus book deal. But since I’ve never pulled that off, I won’t speak to it. And really, the people who did accomplish that only managed it because they already had enormous independent success thanks to the sheer size of their platforms—a situation that probably doesn’t apply to most people reading this article).

What Publishers Actually Want

Let’s get into the details now.

Effectively, there are two things you absolutely must focus on to increase your chances of getting published:

#1: A Sellable Idea (a hook!)
#2: A Way to Sell It (a platform!)

That’s really it.

Said differently, you need a great idea that is curiosity-arousing and makes a clear promise—something inherently attractive and sellable. Then you need to convince the publisher that you can actually sell it. You need a hook, and you need a platform from which you will actively promote it.

If you remember nothing else of what follows, remember this: getting published is a business deal, at the end of the day. And every business deal comes down to simple economics. Ultimately, you must convince the publisher that you are a winning deal. Minimally, that there’s no major risk in working with you—but more importantly, that you are an investment that’s going to pay off.

That means everything about how you approach getting published needs to be filtered through that lens—not about what a wonderful writer you think you are (perhaps that’s true), or how thoughtful your solutions are to the problems of contemporary society (perhaps that’s also true). What matters—perhaps all that matters—to the publisher is: are you going to make them money?

Crude? Unfortunately.
Depressingly capitalistic? Probably.
True? Absolutely.

And it’s a plain fact that a great many people forget when trying to get published.

So, before we get into what specifically to do, here’s what not to do:

DO NOT write an entire manuscript around your favorite pet project and just assume it’s going to get picked up. That’s backwards, and almost certainly ineffective, because chances are your pet project does not have the sort of hook a publisher is looking for. It’ll just come off as self-indulgent.

Plus—why put in all the work of actually writing an entire book before getting a deal to write it? (This, of course, is what advances are for: a financial incentive—usually lame, but… whatever—to actually write the book you proposed.)

Here is what to do instead.

First, come up with an idea—or, perhaps better, recycle an idea—that has some inherent plausibility as the main sellable hook. You don’t have to start from scratch here. And what I mean by this is, lots of ideas I’ve had for a book started elsewhere—an article, a social media post, etc.—that gave some basis for their being sellable. In fact, lots of book deals emerge from articles that went viral (not always a good thing—very often, articles make for bad books) simply because such virality signals a sellable idea.

If you’re a content creator already, you probably have some idea of what people have bitten at. If so, ask yourself if any of those ideas are suitable for turning into a book project.

How to Build a Sellable Hook

There is, as well, a cliché marketing formula for all this—one that’s pretty effective and that I already revealed: arouse curiosity; make a promise.

I think my book The Best Argument for God hits this really well. It certainly arouses curiosity—what ever could that argument be? It also makes a promise—delivering a rational case for the existence of God (and presumably, a good one). It’s simple; it’s direct.

My 2019 book does something similar: How to Be Better at (Almost) Everything.

And while my most recent book, Strong ON!, doesn’t hit that formula immediately in the title, I definitely aimed to satisfy it with the subtitle: 101 Minimalist Kettlebell Workouts to Blast Fat, Build Muscle, and Boost Flexibility—in 20 Minutes or Less.

The odd number thing is another marketing cliché meant to grab attention and arouse curiosity—I don’t know what else to say here aside from the fact that it just works. Kettlebells themselves are still unusual enough to arouse curiosity on their own, and the promise is pretty compelling with respect to efficient workouts.

So that’s probably your best place to start: come up with an idea that you can create a title around that does those two things really well—arouse curiosity; make a promise.

From there, you need your elevator pitch—your 1–2 sentence “here’s why you should read this book over any other like it” spiel. This is what direct marketers call your unique selling proposition: it needs to answer very quickly and clearly why your book, your idea, should be the one people—including publishers—pick up.

It is, of course, very difficult to develop a USP, but it is critically essential. If you cannot clearly communicate exactly why your idea is the one to pick up, then surely it does not deserve to actually be picked—and it almost certainly won’t be. I can tell you from experience that few things impress agents or publishers more than a very clearly thought-out and well-articulated USP. If you can lead with that, your chances of getting published are significantly increased.

To give one of my own examples, I’ll return to Strong ON!, the USP of which is something like this: I help busy people get 3x the fitness results in 1/3 the time through the power of high-intensity kettlebell complexes, combos, circuits, and chains—building strength, muscle, flexibility, and endurance, all in the same workout; no need for separate routines.

The USP builds upon the formula of arousing curiosity and making a promise, and in fact, another good formula you can use to develop your USP is this: how to get the thing that rocks without the thing that sucks (i.e., how to lose fat without counting calories, or spending hours a day working out, etc.).

OK, that’s about all I’ll say about your initial hook and USP. You just need to spend a ton of time thinking about this, because if you drop the ball here, nothing is going to pick it back up again—either your hook and USP seize attention, or your project gets passed over.

For what it’s worth, this is similar to the advice YouTubers give about video creation—yes, your actual video content matters a lot—but you should spend just as much time, maybe even more, thinking about your title and thumbnail. Because if those don’t do the initial work of getting people interested, clicking, etc., your content will never get watched. It’s good advice.

Build Your Platform

Let me now speak about something few people wanting to get published want to hear—namely, the need of a platform.

Of course, most want to get published so that they can have a platform—but that isn’t typically how it works these days. Again, the most important thing publishers care about is this: Will this book make money?? And the best guarantee of that is signing people who have a decently sized, engaged audience they can sell that book to. Once this is understood, you can appreciate why having a platform hugely increases your chances of getting published.

Naturally, this isn’t to say you can’t get published without a platform, or that just because you do have a platform you’ll definitely get published. Neither is true. What is true is that having a platform helps. A lot. Because it’s one way—and maybe the strongest way—of signaling to a publisher that you’re not the riskiest venture; that you might actually be able to make them money.

Please don’t let this discourage you, especially if you don’t have much of a platform. You don’t need a huge platform to get a good deal. In fact, I suspect many publishers are finally wising up to the fact that having tons of (say) Instagram followers doesn’t immediately translate into selling tons of books. The type and quality of followers matter a lot more. People with smaller platforms but more of an engaged audience—people who really listen to what they say, trust them, seek their recommendations—that’s the stuff.

In this respect, the best sort of platform you can have is an email list—and one where you have a proven sales record—for the obvious reason that it shows your publisher your followers actually mean dollars, to put it crudely. Again, this isn’t essential, but it is hugely helpful. In all my proposals I include information and screenshots not just of my social media followers and email subscribers, but also sales numbers. That, I know, made a major impact—and I know because the acquisitions people told me!

Again, I understand very few people have this. But what can I say? Work on it! You want to get published, yes? Then get to work! I had this stuff going when I was 19–20—that is, getting people onto an email list and selling stuff (ebooks, online courses, etc.). It’s work—sure—but it’s exactly the kind of work you should be doing if you want a shot not just at getting published, but at getting a halfway decent deal.

OK, so my advice, then, on having a platform is this: First, absolutely get an email list going. After that, pick just two other platforms and dominate them.

Honestly, even if you just picked one and crushed it, that would be good. But I think having at least two helps, and building two sizable platforms is definitely doable if you consistently produce beautiful content on them. (For what it’s worth, I actually have lots of different platforms—40k on FB, 25k on Instagram, millions of YouTube views across several different channels, millions of listens across several different podcasts, etc.—and of course, this lowly Substack. But not all of these platforms are effective—or even enjoyable—for me. Instagram is sheer fluff, hardly a good use of my time, which is why I’m rarely on there. FB is bad for organic engagement these days, but decent for paid advertising. YouTube has done a lot of good for me, even without a huge number of subscribers on some of my channels. Email list is by far the most impactful platform for me economically; nothing else comes close.)

How is Substack for a platform? Not bad! I mean, I’ve built a decent little following here without even really trying—and by that, I mean doing very little to actively promote my Substack the way I do my other platforms. I’ve just posted about the sorts of things that interest me philosophically, and things sort of happened organically.

This is promising, of course—or at least it should be—because it shows that Substack isn’t a total pay-to-play operation. Produce good content and people will consume it—maybe even occasionally pay for it. And if you’re not lazy like me, and actually work the usual tactics of platform building (particularly cross-promotion with others), Substack could probably serve you quite well.

YouTube is definitely still very promising as well. In fact, about a year ago I started a new channel, Kettlebell Quickies, and just posting on there somewhat lazily has resulted in a pretty decent-sized platform—I mean, for example, my last video is now over 40k views, with lots of engagement. Not bad! (And again, this was entirely from scratch, just taking advantage of the “rules” of YouTube to get the algorithm to pay attention to me.)

Naturally, you should go with whatever platform plays to your strengths. I really like writing (especially longer form), but I’m also halfway decent on camera, so email and YouTube naturally suit me. Some people really like the pithiness of other platforms, like X (personally, I don’t—just not substantive enough.).

Finally, let me mention just a few things about building an email list, since I must insist on doing at least that much. First, have some kind of incentive for people to join your email list, of course—for example, I have all sorts of opt-in offers (free eBook-type stuff, always with a catchy hook) for my fitness email list. Second, promote your email opt-in on all your other platforms, obviously—but also consider paid advertising. It doesn’t cost a whole lot to run targeted ads on Facebook, and it can be a very effective strategy not just for getting new subscribers, but for getting the right kinds of people in front of your message.

Much more can and should be said about these strategies—and maybe in another post I’ll say some of it—but for now, I hope the general advice is enough to get started on.

Crafting a Great Proposal

Once you have your hook and platforms figured out, you’ll obviously need to craft your proposal. I’m not going to say there’s one exactly right, super-scientific way of putting a proposal together—but I will tell you what I’ve done, because it’s worked for me, repeatedly.

It’s pretty simple, really. The hard part is everything we’ve already talked about. The proposal is about presenting it well.

In your proposal, I recommend the following sections:

• Title and Overview

• Table of Contents

• Target Audience

• Comparative Titles

• Marketing Plan & Platforms

• Sample Chapters

OK—let’s take each of these in turn.

…

Title and Overview: This is where you present your hook and unique selling proposition (embedded in the overview of your book). This part needs to be sharp and catchy. Seriously—this is where all that work you put into making your idea as sellable as possible needs to show up, plain and clear.

Here, for example, is the title and overview from my latest proposal for Strong ON!:

Strong ON!

101 Kettlebell Workouts for Blasting Fat, Boosting Muscle, and Building Strength

Overview: The secret to a good exercise program? Strip it down to its fewest most essential components, and leave it at that. Or so says fitness-mad scientist and self-styled minimalist Pat Flynn. And he’s ready to prove it with his results-driven Strong ON! kettlebell program.

No idea what a kettlebell is or how to use one? No sweat. This book details The Big 6 kettlebell exercises you need to get 4x the fitness results in 1/4x the time, mapping out a straightforward, science-driven workout agenda—that takes just 15-20 minutes per session.

Already a kettlebell enthusiast? Optimize your kettlebell training and achieve your top fitness goals with “choose your own adventure” programming that hits everything from strength to lean muscle building and more.

*Finally! Burn fat, boost muscle, build strength, and improve flexibility ALL IN THE SAME WORKOUT - no need for separate routines*

The kettlebell workouts in the book are generalist (covering all the bases, from fat loss to muscle growth) and minimalist (burning the most calories in the least time). You’ll scorch more calories automatically throughout the day because of the metabolic impact of these workouts and will notice eye-catching, functional muscle definition swiftly emerge.

So grab your kettlebell and get ready to become Pat’s next major transformation story through the power of high-intensity kettlebell complexes, combos, circuits, and chains (oh my!) and — for the seriously dedicated — his internet-famous 300 Kettlebell Challenge.

…

Next: Table of Contents.

My best advice here is just not to make your TOC bland. In other words, understand that each chapter is itself a title—a marketing opportunity; a chance to arouse even more curiosity and stack more promises. Most people totally miss this opportunity. Don’t be one of them. Make sure your TOC is doing real work for you on the attention-grabbing front. Make it as enticing as possible.

Since examples help, here again is the TOC from my Strong ON! proposal (from what I remember, we stuck pretty close to this in the final product):

Table of Contents

Chapter 1) All of Fitness in a Single Sentence

Fitness isn’t rocket science (says the neuroscientist). The basic principles of fitness success are surprisingly simple and easily distilled – in a single sentence, in fact – even if they are frequently overlooked for whatever the current gimmick is. Appreciate these facts, work within the boundaries they set, and success is all but guaranteed. Stray from these principles and risk gaining and losing the same 10lbs, over, and over, and over…

Chapter 2) The Strong ON! philosophy: Generalist (cover all the bases) and Minimalist (least time and equipment)

Want to become better than most people at most things? Want to be strong AND lean, muscular AND mobile, powerful AND pliable? That’s generalism. Want to achieve those goals through the ideal intersection of effectiveness (doing the right things) and efficiency (doing things right)? That’s minimalism. This book pushes a minimalist approach toward a generalist outcome. Here’s why that’s the best way to go about fitness.

Chapter 3) Why the Kettlebell is the Minimalist’s Ultimate Secret Fitness Weapon

Efficiency often comes down to picking the right tool for the job. Why dig a hole with a spoon when there’s a shovel available? For someone who wants to acquire robust general physical preparedness alongside a classically ripped physique, the kettlebell is dynamite, allowing you to train muscle strength, muscle, endurance, mobility, and flexibility – all in the same workout. In other words, go ahead and retire the gym membership… if you want.

Chapter 4) The Big 6 Kettlebell Lifts and How to Do Them (also, Why Beginners Have Bad Technique and How to Fix It)

- Swing: the exercise one legendary strength coach calls, “the ultimate fat-burning athlete builder.” For kettlebell training, this is square one.

- Goblet squat: strengthen your back, build resounding glutes, and explode your lower body strength to Mars with this deceptively simple movement.

- Military Press: quickly slap on slabs of lean, hard upper body muscle with this (literally) battlefield tested exercise.

- Turkish Get Up: this little known total body exercise builds the wiry, functional strength of a commando.

- Clean: for radically enhanced power and coordination. This is the one exercise every athlete (and even more, non-athlete) needs.

- Snatch: the “mother of all kettlebell lifts”, designed to produce never-say-die conditioning, indefatigable shoulders, and the grip strength of a gorilla.

Chapter 5) Choose Your Fitness Adventure:

- Weightlifting for Weight Loss. How to achieve 3x fat loss in 1/3 the time with kettlebell complexes, combos, and chains (oh my!).

- Functional Aesthetics. Build muscle that makes a difference not just in how you look but what you can do.

- Old School Strength. Become powerful and pliable, like a puma.

- Lungs that Never Quit. Triple your endurance within 30 days.

- I’m Greedy, I Want it All! How to blast fat, boost muscle, build strength, and improve flexibility all in the SAME WORKOUT.

Chapter 6) Here it is. The literal motherlode of (101) kettlebell workouts. Open the page, grab your workout, and get awesome results.

Here it is. 101 (literally) kettlebell workouts for blasting fat, building strength, boosting muscle – and everything else you could possibly want. Either take these at the draw of a hat (and experience an incredible, full body workout, every time) or plug them into one of the exercise programs above for targeted results.

Appendix 1) The 300 Kettlebell Swings Challenge. 300 Swings per day for 30 days = a leaner, harder YOU.

For the seriously adventurous. If you’re ready to crank your workout intensity or are just looking for the perfect Metabolic Kickstart, Pat Flynn’s (internet-famous) 300 Swings Kettlebell Challenge is for you. 1 exercise + 300 reps for 30 days = the secret to faster fat loss and lungs that never quit.

Can you do it?

Appendix 2) The World’s Simplest (Yet Actually Scientific) Diet Plan

An intelligent exercise program will take you places. But an intelligent exercise program with an equally intelligent (and sustainable) eating plan will transform your body at lightspeed. Nutrition, like exercise, is best kept simple. So, here’s what you need to know…

…

Target Audience:

The target audience specifies your audience—I mean, duh. But there’s a trick to it: you want to name an audience that makes the publisher say, “Oh yeah, we definitely want those people.” Ideally, this audience is large, active, and presents a juicy opportunity to tap into.

Even better if it’s a timely audience—one currently engaged with a big trend. For example, I specifically mentioned Joe Rogan’s audience in my proposal, especially since Joe himself has promoted kettlebell training.

That said, if your audience is too restricted, the publisher will probably pass. But if you’re too vague, they’ll assume you haven’t thought things through—also likely to result in a pass.

The sweet spot is to be specific enough to show you can reach a real segment of the population, but broad enough that that segment could drive serious book sales.

(I’ll be honest: some topics are just way easier to sell than others because they have a larger, more engaged target audience. I will always sell more fitness books than philosophy books; philosophy is just inherently less appealing to the general public.

So if you’re writing a philosophy book, you really need to figure out how to angle it toward a wider audience. If you’re just trying to appeal to hardcore philosophy nerds… well, that’s tough.)

…

Comparative Titles:

Same basic idea as above—you want to compare your book to 3–4 titles that are clearly appealing and already selling well. You’re trying to associate your book with winners—without being too on-the-nose about it. As with anything, the comparisons need to be legitimate, but obviously (obviously!) you don’t want to align your book with titles no one’s heard of or that aren’t moving any copies.

You need to explain how your book is like a current bestseller—enough to ride that market wave—but also how it’s different, and why that difference matters to your intended audience.

What makes your book a natural fit for the existing trend, and what makes it a fresh take that people will actually care about? That’s what you need to specify here.

…

Marketing Plan and Platforms:

This is where you flaunt it if you got it—namely, the size and effectiveness of your platforms. Lay it all out—your reach, engagement, past sales, etc. Obviously, the bigger the better here, but don’t discount the value of showing reach even on a smaller scale—especially if you can make the case that the people you’re reaching are relevant and engaged.

In my proposals, I just took screenshots and shared stats from all my platforms—YouTube, Facebook, email list, the whole thing. Honestly, I’m trying to overwhelm the publisher a bit, to make them feel like it would be foolish to pass on someone with this kind of firepower. Whether that always works or not, that’s the goal.

But just listing your platforms isn’t enough. You also need to lay out how you’re going to use them to actually promote your book. The more specific you can be here, the better. A clear, detailed, step-by-step marketing plan—both for the initial book launch and for long-term sales—is what you want to provide.

This could easily be the most detailed section of your proposal (aside from maybe the sample writing), and there’s a strong argument for why it should be.

I’m not going to share my whole plan here; suffice it to say, it’s a lot. I broke down exactly how I planned to use my email list—what kind of automated campaigns and live promotions I’d run to sell the book, how I’d coordinate those with content across all my social media platforms, and what types of content I’d be creating before, during, and after launch to keep the book moving.

I also talked about things beyond my own platforms—how I’d leverage the platforms of others (if you’ve got friends with influence, this is where you name names and explain how you’ll call in favors), how I’d run targeted ad campaigns, how I’d pitch myself to media outlets, and how I’d happily participate in any other publisher-organized media or promotional efforts. Publishers love to hear upfront that you’re willing and eager to show up for these sorts.

For example…

…

Sample Writing:

Not much to say here, aside from the fact that you had better do what you can to make the absolute best impression you can. Even if you do a great job with everything else, if—at the end of the day—your actual content and writing sucks, you’ll probably still lose the bid.

So: take your time. Write as best as you can. Make it as engaging as possible. And edit the crap out of it.

Don’t—whatever you do—send in slop. There is no excuse for it.

I mean, this is important: everything about your presentation needs to scream consideration and polish, especially whatever sample writing (usually 1–2 sections is sufficient) you decide to send in.

Finding an Agent

You’ll notice I put crafting your proposal before pitching an agent—that was intentional. While you’ll almost certainly refine and improve your proposal once you’ve signed with an agent, you’re much more likely to actually get signed if you already have an impressive working proposal in hand. In fact, you’ll want to use that proposal when pitching agents in the first place.

Now, typically, you just send a query letter—but what’s in the query letter can (and should) be condensed straight from your proposal. That means your title/hook, a quick overview or synopsis, a brief author bio (don’t forget to include your platforms!), and a call to action offering to send the full proposal or hop on the phone or both.

The query should be relatively concise. Lead with a strong hook, try to impress the agent with your platform and (if you have them) any previous publications—these can be published articles, not just books—and then offer to send over the full proposal.

Now obviously, if you do have some connections that could introduce you to an agent—people who are already published and believe in your work—leverage that. The easiest deals usually come from people who know people and who can endorse you to the people they know.

But assuming that’s not the case, then you’re doing it the old-fashioned way—which still works. (It’s how I landed my most recent agent.) Just search around for the right contacts using Google or whatever. There are plenty of resources for finding relevant representation.

From there, make your pitch and—SO IMPORTANT—follow up. If you don’t hear back right away, write them again. Be persistent—right up to the point of being annoying. (How you phrase your follow-ups matters a lot. A little humor can go a long way—though it can also backfire. Everything is risk, but also potential reward. Use your judgment, I guess?)

And maybe don’t pitch a million agents at once; pitch just a few and see what happens. If there are no immediate bites, you might at least receive some feedback from which you can refine your query and be more likely to succeed in subsequent pitches. Just a thought.

Last little thing about this: success—assuming you’ve got at least a modicum of talent—is often just a numbers game. The people who make it are usually the ones who took more swings at the plate, who didn’t quit after the first few (or even few hundred) strikeouts. Expect, and get used to, being rejected. Take the good criticism, if you can recognize it. Disregard the bad. Be polite (never burn bridges), and just keep pitching. Keep following up.

So many people I know—both in traditional publishing and academic publishing—quit after the first or second rejection. This is not the way! Rejections are just part of the process. You have to expect rejection and not be discouraged by it. I don’t know what else to say here except: suck it up and keep going. Rejection isn’t the end of your publishing dreams—quitting in the face of rejection is.

Final Thoughts

There’s a lot here, but a lot goes into getting published.

I guess I just want to finish with expectations again. I feel like a lot of people will read this and feel overwhelmed—especially about the platform bit. But maybe here’s a better way to think about it, especially if you don’t have much in the platform department.

Rather than spend 1–2 years getting rejected because you don’t have a platform, spend 1–2 years building a platform you can pitch from. This isn’t unreasonable. One to two years is not a long time, and if you really hustle, you can build a platform—possibly more than one—that’s impressive enough to catch a publisher’s attention in that time. (Again, my Kettlebell Quickies channel is a nice case study.)

Plus, in testing ideas on your platform, you may well come up with a great—or at least much better—idea for your actual book. Maybe even something that went a little viral, which in turn gives you leverage in your proposal.

I’m going to leave it here.

If you have any more questions—including very specific ones—I welcome them in the comment section and will do my best to answer.

1. Actually, my wife compiled the list—she’s very helpful!