Karen Sargent, author of the Christian novel Waiting for Butterflies (Amphorae / Walrus Publishing), winner of the IAN book awards for both Outstanding Christian Fiction and Book of the Year, provided this review of former literary agent Mark Malatesta. Karen worked with Mark to improve her query letter, synopsis, and manuscript, which resulted in multiple requests from literary agents and ultimately a book deal with Amphorae/Walrus Publishing. 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 Karen Sargent.
Mark Malatesta Review by Karen Sargent
“I was thrilled when I checked my email and saw the news that a publisher was making an offer on my book! The Acquisitions Editor met with her partners and they discussed the manuscript because they’d never published anything like it before. But they still wanted it!
My literary start was kind of odd. I found out that the wife of someone I work with had a best friend who was a literary agent, and I had an immediate connection with that agent. I hadn’t written a word of my book yet and she encouraged me through the initial process. Then when the manuscript was finished, I wrote my version of a query letter, which, when I look back on it now, was absolutely ridiculous. Everything I’ve read about query letters since then said, “Don’t do this!” and I did every single one of those things.
My original query was awful, but I didn’t think it would matter because I knew the agent and got to bypass the normal submission process the first go around. That agent took several months to review my book and recommend some revisions. But ultimately, in the end, there were three things they wanted me to change. I did two of them very well I just couldn’t hit the mark with one of them. So that didn’t go any further. Then I really had to dive into the query letter, proposal, and synopsis process for real.
I only sent four query letters out after that, before I started working with Mark. Not many, because I knew that I didn’t know how to write them. I sent them and they weren’t good, but I really didn’t know what to do. So not only was I writing poor query letters, I had no strategy and everything was wrong. Then I eventually pitched the project to an editor at a writing conference, and I used the query that Mark helped me with as a good chunk of my in-person pitch. That editor then asked to talk with me after the workshop and later asked me to send the manuscript.
The query Mark helped me put together made agents and publishers want to keep reading.My first query was too wordy. Agents would have had to read through too many things to get down to the gist of what they wanted to know. Agents don’t have time to wade through all that stuff. Mark’s final query gave them what they were looking for immediately.
I was also shocked and amazed that Mark helped me to get a positive response from a very, very well known New York Times bestselling author who agreed to let me send her a copy of my book for a possible testimonial. I’ve had several exchanges of emails with that author since then. She said my novel sounded like a great story. I was just surprised she took the time to reply at all!
When I first found Mark’s website, I was definitely floundering. I read everything and it felt too good to be true, some guy on the Internet with all the answers. I really wanted to believe it, but I also wanted to make a good decision, a logical decision and not an emotional decision. So I actually contacted some of the authors Mark had worked with to ask them about their experience, if it was worth the money.
I received wonderful feedback and it was the same kind of feedback I’d give someone if they asked me that same question today. I think, when I was trying to decide whether to spend the money to work with Mark, the number one important thing for me was integrity. To me that’s everything. I’m a teacher and my husband is in law enforcement and we’re not wealthy people, and it was a little bit of an investment for me to work with Mark.
I’m in charge of our family budget and I have kids. One of them is is in college and the other one will be one soon. Being a mom you feel selfish if you take a little chunk of the family budget and invest it in something for yourself. That was a real hard decision for me. I even took a little bit of funds out of my daughter’s college fund, trusting I’d make the money back. I had to really make sure that my family wasn’t going to sacrifice in a wasteful way so I could chase what might just be a dream.
The clincher for me that made me decide to work with Mark was the introductory coaching call that I had with him. Listening to Mark’s voice and the things he said, everything was in line with things I already knew or had read or just questions that were floating in my mind and I had no idea what the answers were. Mark had those answers and they made sense. So that first phone call, for me, erased my doubts and questions.
Publishing was such an unknown world to me when I started this journey, but I felt that Mark would be an anchor for me and guide everything in the right direction. It was important for me to have someone who knew the industry, that I could ask questions, and I knew that I could have confidence in him. Mark never led me anywhere or told me anything that didn’t turn out to be exactly what it should have been, or what he said it would be.
Now my whole family is invested in my books. I hardly wash dishes anymore! My husband does it. Everybody in the family has stepped in. They know when I’m writing and working on things and they sacrifice to help.”
Karen Sargent
Author of the Christian novel Waiting for Butterflies (Amphorae / Walrus Publishing), winner of the IAN book awards for both Outstanding Christian Fiction and Book of the Year
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Do you want to get multiple literary agents interested in your work? 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, Author Coach was provided by author Karen Sargent.
MARK MALATESTA is a former literary agent turned author coach. Mark now helps authors of all genres (fiction, nonfiction, and children's books) get top literary agents, publishers, and book deals through his company 
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