Successfully Pitching at Conferences
From The Shit No One Tells You About Writing by Bianca Marais, Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra
May 28, 2026 · 28 min · Season 31 · Episode 4
About this episode
Emma White discusses her journey to landing a book deal, emphasizing the importance of persistence and strategy in the writing process.
Landing a book deal isn’t about one manuscript—it’s about persistence, growth, and strategy. In this week’s author interview, Emma White shares how writing three novels, facing nearly 90 rejections, and refining her craft led to her debut thriller deal. Her biggest lesson? Always be writing the next book while querying the current one. She breaks down how to nail a tight pitch (think: one minute, memorized, and compelling), why pacing and equal tension across timelines matters, and how most of the real magic happens in revisions—not the first draft. Note: CeCe Lyra is a literary agent at Wendy Sherman Associates. If you’d like to query CeCe, please refer to the submission guidelines at www.wsherman.com. Carly Watters is a literary agent at P.S. Literary Agency, but her work on this podcast is not affiliated with the agency, and the views expressed by Carly on this podcast are solely that of her as a podcast co-host and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of P.S. Literary Agency. Find us on our socials: Threads: https://www.threads.net/@the_shit_about_writing https://www.threads.net/@biancamarais_author https://www.threads.net/@carlywatters…
People in this episode
Host: Bianca Marais
Guest: Emma White
Topics covered
- book pitching
- writing process
- literary agents
- rejections
- novel revisions
Keywords
- book deal
- pitching
- writing
- rejections
- novel
- literary agent
- revision
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Wendy Sherman Associates, P.S. Literary Agency
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