How to pitch nonfiction

~ Lou Tondeur

Pitch first, write later

The main difference between pitching book-length nonfiction and fiction is that you don’t have to write nonfiction first. The same is true of short form nonfiction: you can pitch it before you write it! There are always two distinct phases to the process, if you like:

  • writing the thing – including redrafting, editing, proofing etc.
  • and pitching the thing

but when it comes to fiction you write first and when it comes to nonfiction you pitch first.

A couple of caveats

Once you get more experienced and more published there are some instances where you might pitch fiction before writing it (esp. commercial fiction) but I’m assuming you’re not there yet.

You may also get commissioned to write both nonfiction and fiction – someone asks you to write an article or blog post or short story, for example. With nonfiction this is likely to come because of your expertise in a particular field. With fiction, this comes with prestige from previous publications.

In the post I’m talking about pitching any kind of nonfiction on any subject. But literary nonfiction – for which there are only a few outlets – tends to get treated in the same way as fiction when it comes to pitching. There’s no general rule. Check the submission guidelines for each opportunity carefully.

Sending out lots of arrows so one hits home

But in the main: pitching is a big part of writing nonfiction and because it’s quicker than writing the whole thing, you can send out, say, twenty pitches, in the expectation that you’ll get a ‘yes’ for one or two.

I did a challenge a few years back with Mridu Khullar Relph – then known as the International Freelancer – who got us to send a pitch a day for 30 days. After that I developed a system for recording pitch ideas. The system is:

  • based on different categories (stuff I know about, life experiences, jobs I’ve done etc.)
  • accessible, so I can quickly scribble down a few words in a notebook to refer back to later
  • flexible: I leave lots of white space because I tend to turn these scribbles into pitches 10 at a time
  • ready to go. Combining idea generation process and pitching means I end up with lists of possible pitches.

I also collect a list of possible markets in the same notebook – and that also stimulates pitch ideas. Having a bank of pitches and markets like this is certainly a useful resource.

Writing ‘on spec’

Having said all of that, sometimes I still write the blog post or article first before pitching it. (This is called writing ‘on spec’.) I do this if I’m not sure what I want to write or how long it’s going to take me to say what I want to say, word-length wise. Then I turn the article into the pitch. If the editor wants the article, I can send it after one more read through. If they don’t, I can amend the original pitch and send it elsewhere. I suggest using this approach if:

  1. You can write fairly quickly
  2. you’ve never pitched before.

Top tip: use subheadings in your blog post / article and these can become bullet points in your pitch. Here is an article I pitched and wrote using the subheadings method. And here’s an example of some submission guidelines from a journal that takes submissions of short creative nonfiction.

I suggest pitching feature articles before writing a longer book. This isn’t necessary or obligatory, but it gets you used to the process. Also, if you write shorter nonfiction, you will know how long it takes you to research and write (for instance) 1,000 words. You can, to a certain extent, multiply that time to work out how long a nonfiction book will take to research and write.

How to pitch a nonfiction book

As with any kind of writing, take a good look at the submission guidelines on several publishers’ websites and look into nonfiction books that you love to read. Find out who represents the author and whether the publisher is taking submissions. Here’s an example of some submission guidelines from a press that publishes nonfiction.

Often the submission guidelines for nonfiction will be fairly prescriptive, asking you to come up with marketing ideas or comparable titles and a time scale for writing. You might also be asked to send sample chapters or an outline for the whole book. So researching what publishers want in advance is a good idea for this reason.

I used the subheadings method to pitch my nonfiction book – I wrote out the main ideas I wanted to get across and wrote subheadings underneath each (plus research tasks) then I wrote mini-subheadings under each of those. I used these subheadings to structure the book and come up with chapters and the resulting document became my pitch and the outline I used to both research and write the book.

Here’s an explanation of how to use the subheadings method as a nonfiction writer. [Downloads as a PDF.]

Practical steps

So, what can you do if you want to publish nonfiction? I strongly suggest that you do the following:

  • Keep a notebook that you can add ideas to (a pitching book if you like) under categories – categories stimulate your brain to produce more specific ideas. Keep the notebook somewhere you can see it.
  • Having a regular look for markets for your writing (start with what you love to read yourself or a particular area of expertise). Use the handout on where to find opportunities to get published to help.
  • Use the subheadings method to plan your work – these subheadings can turn into bullet points in your pitch.
  • Read the submission guidelines well in advance.

Where to find out more

This is the transcript of a podcast called How to Pitch Nonfiction.