I'll admit that I was skeptical about the marketability of "another cancer memoir" when Valerie Reiss' book proposal first crossed my desk. There are so may of them out there these days, and memoirs by the non-famous are such a tough sell, and, and, and... then I read it. It's true that it was a cancer memoir. But it was a cancer memoir with a clever and charming voice, intelligent, well-written content, and a very unique angle. In fact, the proposal was so good that we didn't even need to edit it!

 

Valerie had queried agents on her own in the past, but hadn't made much headway. We offered to go to bat for her and her fantastic project via our agent matchmaking program, and in late January we sent out the first round of submissions.Over the next several weeks we got a handful of passes, as is par for the course, but more importantly we also got a handful of quick requests. One request came from our friend Mollie Glick at Foundry Literary & Media (who represents another TED author, Dr. Steven Knope!) Mollie held on to the proposal for a couple of weeks before she decided that even though she liked it a great deal, she wasn't sure she was the right agent for it.

 

She did, however, pass it along to a new agent at Foundry, Brandi Bowles. We had actually become friendly with Brandi several months earlier when she was an agent with Howard Morhaim Literary, so it was a happy coincidence that the project landed in her hands through a roundabout way! Less than 24 hours later I received an e-mail from Brandi, who had quickly fallen in love with the project and wanted to offer representation to Valerie. Valerie accepted, and the pair is currently preparing the project for submission to publishers in New York.

It was only about eight weeks from the date TED sent out the first query on behalf of the project until the agent contract was signed - a remarkably fast turn-around in the publishing world. I love inspiring stories like Valerie's, because - let's face it - the path to publication is often a long and grueling one. The long hours of crafting queries and reaching out to agents can often feel like drudge work, but when a project like Valerie's comes into Agent Matchmaking, it's all worth it. Our good working relationships with agents and literary agencies help ensure that when we feel a project has merit, it'll get to the right person at the right time. Congratulations, Valerie, and best of luck with your book!