Playing the numbers

Pitching to editors? Patrick Forsyth recommends a systematic approach

I once sent out a book proposal, albeit to a publisher I had written for previously, and got acceptance by return. Great! But that is vanishingly unlikely to happen often. Usually, all writers must cast a good deal of bread on the waters to get a proportion of what they suggest accepted and inevitably some falls on stony ground (sorry, now I am really mixing my metaphors!). The ratio here is important and allows some planning, indeed some targeting.

If you take note, you will soon know that on average say, half, one in five, ten or whatever of your suggestions result in commissions. This may vary for different genres depending on the nature of your work, but it allows you to plan regular activity that has a reasonable likelihood of producing what you want.

You can then schedule to send a specific number of pitches each week or month depending on what you want to achieve.

Similarly, you can allow time to follow up with those that do not reply (and that may be the majority) and even to take other action, for instance amending a suggestion and submitting it elsewhere or just leaving it a while and resubmitting it again maybe some months on. I have found it surprising how an editor will sometimes accept something that they rejected maybe six months ago.

Writing work can often go in fits and starts – what is usually referred to as feast and famine – and that is the nature of the beast. All the more reason to operate systematically.

Doing so is not likely to remove the problem, but it can act to usefully smooth the flow.