Agents and editors don’t want to know what your book is “about.” We want to know what it *does.*

On a genius pitching no-no I learned from James B. Stewart's FOLLOW THE STORY.

I love James B. Stewart’s Follow the Story so much that I bring it up daily in editorial conversations. DAILY!!!

If you haven’t read it, you must. There are lots of super-cheap copies available online, and there is always also the library.

While ostensibly a guide to writing longform nonfiction, I think this Columbia J-School professor’s book holds equal value for writers writing fiction, nonfiction, scripts, features, podcasts, kids’ books….basically anything they want to sell to major publishers and outlets. That’s because the book doesn’t really focus on reporting; it focuses on how to construct a story that makes editors go gaga and readers click “buy.”

I believe that any writer who understands, internalizes, and masters the information in this book will have an easier go in their career inside and out of book publishing. I know they will have an easier go in publishing, as they will be able to submit and sell their book faster and for more money. I also know that their agent will weep with gratitude at the months and months of editorial development time they’ll save.

Follow the Story covers the issues I tackle 99% of the time I need to do editorial work with clients. It’s for professionals: authors who are already talented and qualified enough to publish a book or score a national longform feature assignment, at least in theory.

Even from that high plateau, however, most of the people in that category will need to reach higher in their proposal concept to get to “yes” with a big publisher. They will need to understand what tantalizes editors and readers, what makes people purchase books like theirs, and then execute on that understanding.

Stewart’s book contains tons of advice about how to do that. None, however, is more important than the following two paragraphs. You will note I have underlined them in my copy so excitedly that I accidentally jumped the rails there below: