Against all odds—and without millions of followers—I sold a memoir. You can, too! I landed a book deal for my memoir, and I’m not the least bit famous. Nor am I a professional writer by trade.
So, how did I do it? It only took 44 rejections over two years. And a unique story. This was the key--the unique story. If you’re hoping to land a traditional publishing deal for your memoir but you don’t have a Kardashian-like following, think long and hard about how your story differs from others in the marketplace. In my other life—as mentor to start-up founders—the first question I ask entrepreneurs is how does their product/idea/service differ from what’s in the marketplace already. It’s also what was asked of me when I swam with the Sharks on Shark Tank in 2011. In the literary world, it doesn’t seem to be top of mind for many of the amazing writers I’ve met. Their writing skills far exceed mine and they have incredible true stories to tell, but figuring out what makes their book a must-have for publishers is not the first thing they’re thinking about. I get why it’s this way—the process of writing a book is a massive, gnarly animal in itself. Who wants to think about marketing when you’re just trying to get your damn book written?! And most people don’t look at things from a marketing perspective. As a lifelong marketer, I do. Annoyingly so, at times. So, here’s my advice… Research the Marketplace Before you dive into writing your memoir, start researching what’s out there that looks similar to yours. And then come up with reasons it’s not similar. I’ll use my memoir, Little Voices, as an example. There are a million memoirs written by psychic mediums and folks who’ve endured near death experiences. And then there’s mine… Little Voices stands out from other books on the market in the following ways:
Think about what type of memoir you’d like to write and sell. My agent was very clear when we met that memoir (spiritual memoir, at that) is a VERY hard sell unless you’re famous. If you check out Publisher’s Marketplace (they have a monthly subscription), you can see what publishing house acquiring editors are buying. In my case, I knew (intuitively) that I had to push forward with the traditional memoir style, i.e., braided essay; however, I wasn’t necessarily opposed to transforming my book into more of a “narrative nonfiction with how-to” format. It’s an easier sell. If all doors had been closed to me to sell my book as a memoir, I wouldn’t have changed it up and tried to sell it as self-help. I ultimately didn’t change the structure of mine because I got a book deal. Here’s what I mean by narrative nonfiction with how-to… If you organize your book by topics/lessons—telling your story to match the topics/lessons per chapter and then including tips the reader can use to make their own lives better—you’ve got a winning combo. And it doesn’t put you squarely in the memoir category competing against the Demi Moore’s of the world. Your book will be categorized as self-help, but you’ll still be telling your story. So, there you have it. I hope what I’ve shared helps make the book-selling process easier for you. Reading about your life will help me in my life. I want to read your book, and I want to see you succeed! It might take more than 44 rejections and more than two years of pitching, but you can do this. If you tell agents and editors of the publishing world WHY your story stands out—and why it’s worth the risk for them— you’ll be well on your way to landing the book deal of your dreams. #writer #author #memoir #adviceforwriters #nonfiction #bookdeal #posthillpress #simonandschuster #kierstenhathcock #littlevoices #advice
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You know that moment you realize you're the luckiest person in the world?! Well, I had one of those moments about a month ago. My favorite painter in the world (and wonderful friend) agreed to let me use a photo of one of her paintings as the base of the cover of my book. Over the years, Erica and I have talked about using her artwork on my cover, but I really didn't know if I'd ever get published. It was long before I had an agent or even a finished manuscript. And honestly, I didn't know how it would work. And then it all came together. Magically. Post Hill Press loved the idea, too, and put a cover artist to work making the cover art right for publishing (colors, scale, etc). In this blog, I want to share more of Erica's background and work. If you haven't seen her paintings before, you're in for a treat. ARTIST BIO
Erica Vhay is known for capturing the emotion and movement of a moment in time. Her fascination with patterns and negative shapes can be seen in both her figurative and abstract work - with her focus on the negative shapes as much as the positive. From a family of artists, her mother was a painter and her great grandfather was the 20th century American sculptor Gutzon Borglum - most notably known for his sculpting of Mt. Rushmore. Other influences in her work can be seen in Egon Sheile, John Singer Sargent, and the more recent Malcolm Leipke and Michael Carson. Erica attended college at the University of Oregon where she studied sculpture and drawing. Although she has been creating art since she was a child, she has focused solely on painting for the last 20 years. Originally from Nevada, Arizona has been her home for the last 23 years. Galleries: Altamira, Jackson Hole, Wy Altamira, Scottsdale, Az Brix. Flagstaff, AZ CONTACT: info@ericavhay.com | ericavhay.com Grace and Nat obviously lived through our separation and all that came with it. It's not something I'm proud of, that's for sure. I'll forever feel pain for what they endured, but I also appreciate just how much they both learned about what love means and what it feels like. This song is written from Scott's point of view watching me spiral into a dark abyss, unknowingly trying to heal little Kiersten. While Little Voices shares the journey of how intuition helped me heal from hidden and not-so-hidden abuse, it also chronicles a beautiful and simultaneously heart-wrenching love story of two people who defied the odds. Throughout our three-year separation—and during soul-crushing abuse I endured at the hands of a sociopathic predator—there was still great love, respect, and friendship between Scott and me. And on Scott's part...there was hope. This song is about that hope. Here's Honey (Understand)... I have some news to share!
I landed a book deal with a traditional publishing house! To all of my friends and family, THANK YOU. You’ve all been so incredibly supportive and wonderful, reading passages from my manuscript, cheering me on…I just can’t thank you enough. You kept me going. After 44 rejections from major, medium and small publishing houses over the past year and seven months, I got a publishing deal with Post Hill Press! They’re distributed by Simon and Schuster, and based in NYC and Nashville. My memoir with the working title, Little Voices: How Kids in Spirit Helped a Reluctant Medium Escape and Heal from Abuse, will officially launch this September 2022. But, let’s back up because the story of the book deal is a story about trusting intuition in and of itself. I started writing Little Voices in late 2017. Two years later, I partnered with a wonderful agent by the name of Tina Wainscott. It took about three months to find and pitch Tina, alongside 14 other literary agents. I knew it would be an uphill battle due to the subject matter, but the Universe had my back. My intuition told me that I’d sign with an agent and ink a publishing deal. I didn’t know how or when, but I knew it was written in the stars as long as I did the work and stayed the course. Tina later told me that intuition told her to take me on as a client even though she knew the odds of selling a spiritual memoir written by a first-time author who isn’t a celebrity and who doesn’t have millions of followers is slim to none. Still, Tina took a chance. She started pitching my memoir to publishing houses mid-April of 2020. Around that same time, I reached out to two of my favorite people who happen to be intuitive healers/mediums (Cynthia Spiece and Katie Beecher) about my book and both told me, unbeknownst to each other and about two weeks apart, that the publishing house I’d land would have a tree in its logo. All of my intuitive “spidey senses” agreed with what they were channeling. I knew in my soul that the tree logo was spot on. Naturally, I researched every damn publishing house with a tree or leaves in their mark and I made sure that Tina knew what was being channeled about my upcoming book deal. Over the next year and seven months, we received some “we were really close to offering a deal on this book, but…” feedback, some “I can’t figure out how to sell this” replies, a few “this is incredibly interesting but it’s not a fit for our publishing house” comments, and lots of “her platform isn’t big enough” rejections. No one would ever love me as much as he did. At least, that’s what he told me. From day one, he made it very clear that my wellbeing and happiness was his first priority. On paper (and on Facebook), his love for me read like a romantic novel or a Twilight movie without the vampires. To the outside world, he appeared to be the most romantic, caring man on the planet. Little did I know, he was slowly conditioning me to accept his controlling behavior. As an independent, strong, emotionally intelligent person, I never thought I’d end up in an emotionally abusive relationship. But that’s exactly what happened. And here’s the kicker—while it was happening, I didn’t see any of it as controlling or abusive. In my mind, we were simply a once-in-a-lifetime, passionate, devoted couple who couldn’t get enough of each other. After I finally ended the three-year-relationship—and a judge granted a restraining order to help protect me—I dug deep to figure out how I didn’t see what my life and my relationship had become. And why I stayed with him long past first realizing something was not right. Here’s what I discovered… |
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