Think Random House might be interested in your story?

In my line of work, I talk to a lot of fascinating people who consider their stories worthy of Big House publishing. They’ve done the whole rags-to-riches thing, or overcome outrageous abuse, or performed the most amazing feats of courage. I mean, I’m awed by the human capacity for both suffering and accomplishment.

The question I hear at least once a week? Will my story sell? Will it attract an agent or get me a book deal?

Having a fascinating story is just the start. There are SO many considerations to take into account.

And that’s what I want to talk with you about today. I’m going to do that by sharing a recent conversation I had with my dear friend, John Beede, who just released his latest book The Warrior Challenge: 8 Quests for Boys to Grow up with Kindness, Courage, &Grit (Penguin Random House, September 2020).

John Beede is a youth speaker with a long track record (and a big platform). He’s been in the biz for a lot of years. He also has an amazing story. I mean, his adventures could fill a dozen books. His life is the stuff of Hollywood.

And yet, instead of writing the book I’d have expected him (and his healthy ego) to write–The 8 Lessons I Learned Nearly Dying on Everest–he wrote a camouflaged How-To book for boys about becoming good men.

Here’s what I asked him, more or less:

How much of your story did you include, and was it hard not to be the hero of your book?
Why did you put yourself in the background instead of the foreground?
Did you decide to aim for traditional publishing before you wrote this book? Or after you got going?
Why go traditional when you’ve had good experience with self-publishing? How will this choice impact your career?
You speak to boys and girls about goal achievement, so why did you chose this particular angle–how to become a man in this brave new world?
Which came first, the idea, or the publishing house connection?