Hey everyone,
I got the notes back on my book proposal from my British agent and the editorial director at the agency, and I’m thrilled. Other than two or three word choices, there was nothing they wanted to change. “It’s such a pleasure to work on a proposal that is already in such strong shape!” my agent wrote.
(By the way, I learned how to write book proposals from the absolute best in the business. My mentor and friend Linda Sivertsen, a New York Times bestselling author herself, has helped authors get six- and seven-figure deals for their books, and she teaches an excellent course on the subject. Check it out here. You’ll see my testimonial right on top.)
My agent has asked me to add one section, though. She wants me to make clear that we’ll need the publisher to pay for my travel to India to work with my co-author. This delighted me more than I can put into words. I was beginning to make peace with the fact that this book would have to be written with the aid of Zoom and YouTube, but my agent’s having none of it. She wants travel expenses for me to write it in India (post-pandemic, obvs), and travel expenses for my co-author to promote it in the UK and US.
The difference between an agent who has your back and one who doesn’t? I’d say this one conversation summed it up for me.
As I’ve always said, all I can do is plant seeds. Come up with good ideas, write to the best of my ability, and keep putting my work out there. The more I put out there, the more chance there is to succeed.
I know some of you will think, this is all fine Tash, but I can’t write as fast as you do, and that’s a fair point. But I think it’s important that I remind you it took me seven years to write my first novel and that I am on my third agent. I write faster now, and I also write better. I’m more confident in how I tell my stories, in my ability to keep a reader’s attention. I have access to more tools in my storytelling repertoire because I played around with quite a few during the writing of my first two novels. I make fewer mistakes because I’ve made so many along the way.
I may have my down days, but for the most part, I do believe that good work and good writers, once committed, always find a way.
Either my readers will find me or I’ll find them.
Until then, I’m here. Still writing. Still working.
Cheers,
Natasha