Landing an Agent
Today’s success story comes to us from Author Accelerator certified book coach Amy Goldmacher and her writing client, Kate Evans! After two years of coaching and working together, Kate just landed an agent for her upcoming nonfiction book Ditch Your Sh*t!: Declutter the Crap Out of Your Life and Home. Kate will be working with Cindy Bullard of Birch Literary on the project.
What pitch formats did you use to approach agents? Did you talk to agents at writing conferences, through online contests, through cold pitching, or something else?
Cold pitching to the agent list we put together and referrals by a creative executive from the Pipeline Media Group (Kate won runner-up in the 2022 Book Proposal contest).
What pitch format ultimately worked best?
The referral.
How were you involved in the writer’s process leading up to publication? Did you help them develop or revise their manuscript? Prepare their pitch? Something else?
We worked on her proposal, query, and agent list together. And we stayed in touch throughout the querying process to see if anything needed to be reevaluated.
What are you most proud of in terms of this coaching relationship?
Kate did it! She started with the scrap of an idea, committed to it, and made it to agent rep. She has been on this journey for three years, and kept her eyes on the goal. She persevered when things got tough. I know her book will be a success!
What is most attractive about the agent that was selected? Why was this agent chosen and why were they the best choice for your writer?
The agent loved the proposal and manuscript and made very few changes to them. She seems to consistently get her writers book deals. She seemed to truly believe in my book and has a vision for it that I hadn't even articulated. She's an author too so she understands that side of it.
What is your favorite thing that the agent said about the manuscript?
She wanted to keep reading it!
What advice do you have for writers approaching the pitch stage?
It all comes down to this! All of the work you did on the Blueprint will pay off at this stage because you know what your book is truly about and who it's for. Now just get it down to ~300 words!
What’s next for the book?
It’s out on sub!
Congratulations, Kate and Amy!
Learn more about Amy Goldmacher’s book coaching services by visiting her website or connecting with her on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter/X.
