Hungry Authors

We’re jumping back into our series on the work of getting traditionally published, and this week Liz and Ariel are talking about literary agents: What do they do? Why do you need one? Where do you find one? How do you persuade them to take you on? How many should you pitch? When should you stop pitching?We’re big fans of literary agents – and not just because we have many friends who are agents; we’ve seen first-hand how having a literary agent can make all the difference in your publishing experience. In this practical episode, we’ll give you everything you need to know to find the right agent partner.Some of the links we mentioned in this episode:

When pitching and querying, we spend a lot of time waiting for an agent or publisher to say yes to us. But what if the road to that external yes isn’t just about having a killer idea, excellent writing skills, or a bucket full of perseverance. What if it’s about how we see ourselves? During this podcast interview, we explore the various internal no’s we can encounter, how they can lead to self-sabotage, procrastination, and prose that lacks the confidence needed to reach the finish line, as well as how to create the internal landscape that helps you say yes to your writing and yourself.Lisa Cooper Ellison is an author, speaker, and trauma-informed writing coach with an Ed.S in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and a background in mindfulness. She regularly presents on grief and resilience and teaches courses on writing about trauma, memoir, and the book proposal. A regular contributor to the Jane Friedman blog, Lisa’s essays and short stories have appeared in HuffPost, Hippocampus Literary Magazine, and Kenyon Review Online, among others. She writes weekly letters to her newsletter followers on how to write and live from a space of authenticity and resilience. To learn more and receive a free copy of her e-book Write More, Fret Less: Five Brain Hacks that Will Supercharge Your Productivity, Creativity, and Confidence, check out her website: lisacooperellison.com.

The #1 best tool you can have in your platform is a strong network! And there’s no one better to talk about how to build your network than today’s guest, Tyler Wagner. In this episode, Tyler shares his top tips for cold-emailing the people you want to connect with and using in-person events like conferences to make connections.

Tyler Wagner is the host of the Tyler Wagner Show and founder of Authorsunite.com, where he helps people become successful authors. His passion is in helping others spread their message with the world through the written word. Follow him on Instagram @tylerbwagner.

This week we’re talking about one of the most underutilized tools in publishing: comp books! “Comp” can stand for competing, competitive, complementary, comparable, comparative – there are lots of names, but they all share the purpose of helping you to identify other books like yours. In this episode, Liz and Ariel teach you how to find comps, use those comps as models for your writing, write a great comps analysis in your book proposal, and use your comps to pitch your book to agents and editors.It’s only when you know the other books on your topic that you can contribute something truly new and unique!To learn more about our masterclasses or register for the upcoming beta version of our Book Mapping Course, visit https://hungryauthors.com/.

When you’re pitching a book proposal to a publisher, you’ll have to submit a writing sample. But what do acquisitions editors look for in that writing sample? The strength of your writing can make or break the deal – and yet, we spend most of our time worrying about platform and other parts of the proposal. Today, we talk with acquisitions editor Stephanie Duncan Smith about how to improve your writing so that it impresses editors. Stephanie shares so many great insights about making a bold statement, learning to write by reading great books, and the writing that’s caught her eye.Learn more about Stephanie at WritingForYourLife.com, or follow her on Instagram @stephduncansmith.

Once you’ve clarified the big idea for your book, your next challenge is figuring out how you’re going to bring that big idea to life. In this episode, Liz and Ariel walk you through their book mapping process, giving a brief overview of the three key stages:

In each stage, Liz & Ariel teach the questions you should be asking and give examples of how you might visually map out your book’s content.

For more information about book mapping, read “Create a Book Map for Your Nonfiction Book” on Jane Friedman’s blog.

To learn more about our masterclass on April 19, visit bit.ly/bigbookidea.

Today we’re answering the question: How do you know if you have the right book idea? We’re joined by Kent Sanders, ghostwriter and author coach, to chat about why it’s so important to write the right book (and how to avoid writing the wrong book), how to test out your ideas, and how to balance your passion with what your audience wants. Each of us shares what we think makes a great book idea, and we have a friendly debate about what makes for great prescriptive nonfiction and great memoirs.Kent Sanders is the founder of Inkwell Ghostwriting, which helps leaders grow their business through books and other content. He is also the author and co-author of numerous books, including 18 Words to Live By: A Father’s Wisdom on What Matters Most and co-author of The Faith of Elvis: A Story Only a Brother Can Tell with Billy Stanley, Elvis Presley’s stepbrother.In addition to writing books for himself and his clients, Kent loves to help other writers. He is the host of the Daily Writer podcast, which helps writers cultivate the habits for creative success, and the founder of the Daily Writer membership community. He lives just outside of St. Louis and enjoys spending time outdoors with his wife and teenage son.To learn more about Kent and the Daily Writer Club, visit https://dailywriterlife.com/ or follow him on social media @dailywriterlife.

Yes, there’s hope for small platforms – but that doesn’t mean you don’t have to work hard to get your ideas noticed! In this episode, Liz and Ariel talk about what it takes to get published, and kick off a series of episodes on the following pieces of the publishing journey:

There’s a lot of work that goes into being traditionally published, so join us in coming weeks to learn more about how to work on each of these pieces.

Brittany Estes is the original hungry author! Brittany knew for years that she was meant to write a book, and the idea finally came together at the right time. She and Liz worked together to refine her book idea and her proposal. All of that hard work paid off when she landed an agent and then got a book deal! But that doesn’t mean it was easy; she had to work hard for the past two years to bring this book to fruition. In this episode, we hear about the gumption and devotion to your reader required to make it to the finish line.

Brittany Estes has been coaching and championing women for over ten years. She is a professional and certified life coach who has worked in large churches utilizing her skills. She is also wife to her high school sweetheart and mother to seven children, two through adoption. Days are filled with dance parties, confetti, and all the coffee. Brittany is not your normal mom or pastor’s wife. She is also a tattooed, pink-haired, firecracker of a woman who speaks her mind and cannot be tamed. The freedom she lives in drives her mission to help everyone she meets.

Get Brittany’s book, Flip the Script: Make Your Move From Broken to Brilliant.

Follow Brittany on Instagram: @jbrittanyestes

The publishing industry has changed drastically over the past five decades, and publishing executive Stephen Rubin has had a front row seat to it all! In this conversation, Liz & Ariel chat with Stephen about the shifting weight of platform and celebrity in acquisitions, the importance of a great proposal, the role of politics in publishing, trends in the industry, and why he considers himself an optimist.

Stephen Rubin joined Bantam Books in 1984 after a decade-plus career in journalism. Named president and publisher of Doubleday in 1990, he remained there until 2009, interrupted by a three-year stint in London as chairman of Transworld Publishers. He served as president and publisher of Henry Holt until 2020, and currently he is a consulting publisher for Simon & Schuster. Rubin sits on the board of the San Francisco Conservatory for Music and is the founder of the Stephen and Cynthia Rubin Institute for Music Criticism.

Buy Stephen’s book, Words and Music.

Learn more about Publishing Industry Terms & Definitions.