Literary. Not literary. Does it matter?
I WROTE A BOOK
I’ve written a book. Have I said that before?! A whole book – all 80,000 words of it. A memoir to be exact. Well maybe not ‘exactly’. My story is indeed part memoir - the things I remember. But some parts might be categorized as more biographical as I was either unconscious or so out of it that my own memory of what happened is non-existent, incomplete, or in some instances I can’t separate fact from fiction. It’s a funny feeling to be unsure of whether what’s in your head is a true representation of what happened or whether it’s a twisted version of the truth or even a hallucination.
I have notes and diary entries to rely on that I started to write once I came out of hospital. I’ve also been able to go back through messages, and sometimes long conversations, via WhatsApp or Messenger that I exchanged with family and friends on 24th December 2022 of which I have no recollection. A significant amount of information I’ve gathered from Kim and from my medical journal.
My next mission is to get that book out into the world. I’m not looking for money or fame. I’m driven to share my story in the hope it might help somebody else one day. Maybe it will be someone who also gets attacked by one of these flesh-eating bugs or perhaps someone who has battled through some other traumatic life event that has turned everything they thought they knew about themselves on its head.
In the process I’m finding out about how to ‘sell’ a non-fiction book. It’s a steep learning curve. I’ve worked in sales and clinical research for decades. I’ve been involved in the writing of thousands of proposals offering a variety of services to a wide range of potential biotech and pharma customers. Every one of them slightly different. But a ‘book proposal’ is an entirely new game.
A book proposal is the document that you have to put together to submit to literary agents to try and grab their interest so that they consider representing you. But who are these ‘literary’ people. Google the definition of literary and you’ll find that it’s ‘concerning the writing, study, or content of literature, especially of the kind valued for quality of form’. Not good – I feel inadequate before I even start!
Am I ‘literary’ enough to even think I can write a book? I have no qualifications related to writing. I haven’t been on course. I haven’t worked as what I’d call a ‘real writer’ in some form. I have read a book or two and many, many years ago I did get an ‘A’ grade (the only one I got in any school exam) in English Language at the ripe old age of sixteen.
I know that I have much to learn. Yet I’ve been writing in one way or another all my life and I even teach people about the power (and conscious and unconscious impact) of the words that they use in business-to-business relationships. So maybe I have more transferable skills than I imagine?
Every agent wants something a little (or a lot) different. The ten proposals that I’ve submitted so far have ranged from 12 pages to 69 pages long. It’s not as easy as simply sending the book along with a cover letter as I naively thought. Some have online portals. Some let you attach documents. Others make you copy and paste every word into numerous separate fields. Some want proposals via email instead. Some want them in pdf. Others want it in Word. Others want the entire proposal copied into the body of the email.
There’s always a cover letter of some sort. Some want info in there about you. Others don’t. Some want to know what books you’ve read recently. Others don’t. Some promise to reply within a certain time frame and even occasionally offer an email address you can contact. With others it’s don’t call us we’ll call you. If we haven’t replied after XX number of weeks then assume we’re not interested. I do get it that they’re flooded with submissions from not only other novices than me, but also people with far greater experience. After all – everybody thinks they have a book in them, right? Others leave you totally in the dark as to when or if they’ll ever reply.
And the waiting is sooooooooooooooooooo hard…
The variations in proposal content and format requests aren’t difficult to deal with. You get used to them. You know that you need to play the game the way they want it. They set the rules after all. And many agents are very clear about what they’re looking for in their particular style of proposal, which is a huge help. Each proposal is simply a fresh challenge.
But here’s the hard bit. You’re often fishing in the dark. ‘Select agents who have an interest in your type of book’ is the advice you’ll find everywhere. And yes, many are relatively prescriptive when it comes to their fiction wishes. But for a ‘memoir’? Often that single word is all that you get. So your detective hat comes out and it’s time to delve through their existing clients, and the books that they’ve published, to see if there’s something relatable. Anything that might hint that they could be interested in your book. Maybe.
I’m convinced I have a powerful story to tell. I’m on a mission. And I won’t stop until I achieve my goal.
I’m sure I’ll be back to let you know what happens. In the meantime any advice will always be very gratefully received.
(And of course watch this space as you’ll have the opportunity to read the book, which I’ll publish here in instalments, starting in just a few weeks time.)