Mark Malatesta Review by Mike Croissant | Mark Malatesta Reviews

Mike Croissant, author of Bombing Hitler’s Hometown: The Untold Story of the Last Mass Bomber Raid of WWII in Europe, published in hardcover by Kensington Publishing, provided this review of former literary agent Mark Malatesta. Mike worked with Mark and got nine offers for representation from top literary agents. Scroll below to learn more. Click here to see all Mark Malatesta reviews. And click here to learn more about Literary Agent Undercover and The Bestselling Author after you read the review about Mark Malatesta below by author Mike Croissant.

Mark Malatesta Review by Mike Croissant

I got nine offers of representation from literary agents—in less than one week—and my book is now being published in hardcover by Citadel Press, an imprint of Kensington Publishing. I heard back from some agents in less than an hour, including the one I ultimately went with, who’s responsible for multiple New York Times bestsellers in my genre.

I was blown away, it’s been surreal.

After spending a decade on this project, I was tired. Going through your process was even more work, as you warned me it would be. But it was good, including sending queries to so many agents. That helped me get many offers, and that allowed me to choose the best agent. My agent spoke very highly of my book proposal, and the credit for that goes to you. He sent it to all the major houses right away, and we got interest from multiple publishers.

I’m thankful my book is finally getting out. One of the surviving veterans in my story thanked me on behalf of all the children of veterans honored in the book. He said they wouldn’t know what their dads went through, without my book, because veterans don’t usually talk about their experiences. I feel blessed to be the shepherd of this story, and to have been entrusted by the men I talked to about their experiences.

When I finished writing my book, it jumped around in time and was too academic. One of the best things you did was get me to make it linear, put everything in my own words, and get rid of the long quotes from academics. You also said the book was too long, so I cut around 80,000 words. My editor is the Editor-in-Chief for Citadel, and she didn’t change a single word of the book. Not even the title!

I was floored.

I’ve always been the sort of man who knows his limits and knows when he needs help. I was afraid I’d fail if I tried to get a literary agent and publisher on my own. So I found you on the Internet and didn’t look at any other coaches after that. You hooked me right away. Your testimonials and what you said on your website really clicked with me. Hiring you was the best decision I could have made.

Working with you wasn’t hard, but it was time-intensive, as you said it would be. I like that you really respected my time. You were always on point. I knew as soon as you answered the phone that it was going to be your show. You were going to tell me, based on your experience, exactly what I should do. And I knew, because I trusted you immediately, to just shut up and do it.

That’s what I did.

I was still an active CIA officer at the time, so doing things like making a website and promoting myself to build my platform went against every fiber of my being. I’m still not a big self-promoter, but I’m growing more comfortable with it. I’m glad, because me doing that led to me getting a blurb from General David Petraeus, who read my book and called it a brilliant page-turner!

It was a leap of faith and a financial sacrifice to go with you, but it was worth every penny. It’s something I’ll always be grateful I did. I don’t think I could have done this alone. I’m almost 100% sure I couldn’t have done it alone.

Sending you heartfelt thanks,

Mike Croissant

Bombing Hitler’s Hometown: The Untold Story of the Last Mass Bomber Raid of WWII in Europe (Kensington Publishing / Citadel Press)

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Do You Want to Be Like Mike Croissant Who Provided this Review About Mark Malatesta?

Do you want to put yourself in the best position to get representation offers from top literary agents, and a book deal with a publisher like Kensington Publishing? Click here to get instant access to the Free Resources on our websites for authors and click here to find out how you can Schedule an Introductory Coaching Call. Mark Malatesta is founder of The Bestselling Author and Literary Agent Undercover, helping authors of all genres (fiction, nonfiction, and children’s books) get top literary agents, publishers, and book deals. The above review of Mark Malatesta was provided by author Mike Croissant.