How I Got A Book Deal With The World’s Top Publisher Penguin: The Sexy Story [And The Unsexy One]
“How did you do it?”
“Do you have any tips?
“How do you pitch to a major publisher?”
In May, I announced my first publishing deal with Penguin Random House, the largest publisher in the world.
A dream come true.
I posted it on LinkedIn and Substack, and while the response and support were incredible, the pile of messages asking for tips and advice was overwhelming.
People wanted to know the story.
So here it is…
Full disclosure: this story was originally published on Medium but I had many questions from my subscribers so I’m sharing it here as well.
The sexy story
In December 2023, I started to think about my goals for 2024.
As a triathlete, I’m big on goal-setting because I need to visualize the finish line in order to build motivation and accountability.
My goal #1 was to publish a book with one of the Big Five.
I didn’t know how or where to start, but I knew what my finish line looked like. From there, I had to reverse-engineer and deconstruct success one brick at a time.
I took inspiration from Elizabeth Gilbert, who pitched a publisher the idea for a post-divorce travelogue. She persuaded them to advance her $200,000US$ and went on to travel the world for a year. The result was the bestseller “Eat, Pray, Love,” which has sold millions of copies worldwide.
The idea of getting a deal before writing the book sounded pretty cool, as it removed the pressure of finding a publisher later and gave my book a solid vote of confidence.
I thought, “Why not?” and decided to approach Penguin. Knowing they are a huge organization, I didn’t want to be one more email in an overloaded inbox. Medium to large-size publishers receive around 5,000 unsolicited manuscripts every year, and I had to come up with a better plan if I wanted to stand out…
I decided to leverage the power of digital and find a person, a real person I could talk to. I just needed one name, one face, one shot.
One opportunity.
Through my network on LinkedIn, I found one representative based in my region, South East Asia. I sent her a message with a brief intro saying that I would love five minutes of her time to pitch her my idea.
The crazy thing is that I didn’t have a pitch. I had a different strategy…
When we jumped on the call, after briefly introducing my background and previous books, I asked her what they were looking for in the non-fiction genre: what type of books, what trends, what kind of authors…
I wanted to understand where the gap was so that I could fill it. I didn’t want to pitch something I wasn’t 100% sure they wanted.
We had a brainstorming session, and she gave me a few ideas, ranging from business and finance to stories from underrepresented communities and self-improvement. They were interested in fresh stories and perspectives rather than just a nice read.
A week later, I emailed her my proposal with the title, synopsis, and chapter outline. My book was going to be on anti-procrastination but with a different spin. It was going to question the mass-adopted advice from productivity gurus and focus on one thing: self-awareness and how to know yourself to beat the procrastination monster.
I also added that most productivity books are written by middle-aged white men, and it would be refreshing to have a different face on the cover for once.
The editor jumped on board. She said it was different, risky, and bold, and that was something they could play with and market.
“Let’s move ahead,” she wrote back, “you can send us the manuscript by April 30th.”
April 30th?!
My heart started racing faster, and my head spun.
That gave me four months to write a book of around 60,000 words. I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it, but I knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so the only possible answer was “yes.”
Between January and April, I ran marathons and sprints on the keyboard. Some days, I would wake up at 4 am to write for two hours before the kids woke up; I would then keep writing during the day and add a few more mileage in the evening. I wrote nonstop.
Writing became my breathing.
I had never written so much and so fast in my life, but I was motivated because the finish line was getting closer.
On April 30th at 10 am, I sent my publisher the manuscript of “The Anti-Procrastinator.”
We are now working behind the scenes to take off on a January 2025 launch.
The unsexy story
That’s a pretty sexy story: one pitch, one deal, one book.
Sweet.
It’s the type of fairy tale people want to hear: the overnight success story, the magic formula that someone can copy-paste and replicate.
But that’s not how most stories go in real life, is it?
The true story began two years ago when I started writing while unemployed in a new country, Australia.
I published my first post on LinkedIn in June 2022 and decided to build my personal brand rather than invest in someone else’s, as I had done my entire career.
I started writing on Medium in September 2022 with 2 followers.
I started speaking on podcasts and shows even if I had never done anything like that before.
I spoke in over 30 LinkedIn Lives in front of a large audience, fighting my fears of going live in front of a camera.
I decided to bet on myself and start a new career at 41.
And for a long time, I heard crickets.
For months, I kept writing even when no one was reading.
I kept going when there was no one clapping. Talking to the wall.
I continued performing even when the stage was empty.
I kept knocking on doors that never opened or were shut in my face.
That’s the unsexy story behind writing people are not so keen to hear about.
In two years, I have published over 618 articles on Medium. 20% of them did great, but 80% didn’t.
My first book was rejected again and again by over twenty publishers, and I had to learn how to self-publish. I spent hours watching YouTube videos and online tutorials to learn the ins and outs of Amazon.
I researched the publishing industry and studied the submission guidelines of dozens of publishers, only to send my proposal and be ghosted. I read about pitching, book synopsis, and curating a submission that can make you stand out among the thousands of authors chasing the same finish line.
During that period, I built a digital audience of 20,000 across platforms and launched a newsletter that didn’t have traction for the first twelve months until one day it took off.
I failed miserably on X. You can read the article here:
I Tried To Make It Big On Twitter. This Is How It Went…
I invested money and time in a mentor who helped me improve my writing and technique.
618 articles, dozens of failed publishing submissions, over 50 podcasts, 5 books, 1 mentor, 1 book fair, 1 book signing, and a lot of rejections.
Until one day, I signed a book deal with the world’s top publisher.
That’s the unsexy story most people don’t want to hear.
Don’t believe in overnight success stories.
Believe in success stories that are written over many nights.
The day I got my first book deal with a major publisher I couldn’t believe it. Same as you - a long list of what hadn’t worked. Then it just happened.
This is by all means not a boast. But a confirm that it all does lead somewhere. Often when you least expect it
Love how you shared both sides of the coin. Great writing, Veronica!✨