Sell Your Story with Author Katie Simon

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In October 2025 I wrapped up my book tour for Tell Me What You Like: An Honest Discussion of Sex and Intimacy After Sexual Assault. Whether I was answering questions for a standing room only event or having a one on one chat after a signing, I brought my book to communities in Austin, Los Angeles, Washington DC, New York City, Boston, Minneapolis, and Miami! 

Whether in bookstores, breweries, or sex shops (see: my book’s topic!), I learned so much from the audiences, from the experience of being in the spotlight, and from turning my book, which lived in my head for over a decade, into a tangible, sellable product that people are actually writing about, reading, and most importantly buying. 

It wasn’t the first time I sold my story. Whether in the New York Times, Washington Post, Vogue, New York Magazine, Oprah Daily, Playboy, The Rumpus, Tin House, Roxane Gay’s magazine, Women’s Health, Health, Insider, and more, I’ve seen my words in print in dozens of publications. 

Successfully pitching often means more than just landing the pitch. You want to do more than just get your work published—you want it to gain an audience. 

• My first piece for The Washington Post was the 9th most popular article they published that year. 

• My piece for Buzzfeed gained a spot on the home page.

• Oprah Daily featured my excerpt at the top of their home page and newsletter. 

• My piece for Insider was ranked the second most popular article on the Internet the day it came out and was translated into four languages. 

Cold pitching is how I got a regular role as a contributor for the Washington Post, and how I got my first print piece—in the New York Times. And it was cold pitched articles that got agents so interested to read my query letter and sign with me. 

Each pitch I sent, I got better at selling my story and selling myself as a trustworthy, reliable, insightful writer—and so can you. 

When it came time to query agents, I developed a query letter that led to nearly a dozen full manuscript requests, and after months of perfecting my query letter, I landed an agent in four days. I’ve been editing others’ query letters for almost eight years now. The query is as much about proving your book project is salesworthy as it is about proving you, personally, can make those sales happen. 

And finally, I’ve developed several book proposals, the first of which led to multiple offers from traditional publishers. A book proposal isn’t a summary of your planned work; it is first and foremost a sales document that must convince a number of different gatekeepers that publishing your work is a smart, profitable idea for them. It takes a lot more than being a talented author to sell a book this way. But luckily, any author can learn and iterate on their initial book proposal draft to make it land.  

Why is this stuff so hard? Well, for one thing, Big Writing Education teaches us to write only what speaks to us, and to disregard the audience (including the buyer) until much later in the game. That means we end up frustrated, unable to sell work that we’ve labored over for months, or even years. But it’s not just the verbiage of the pitch that matters; I always let clients know if I think a tweak to their actual angle will make a difference—pitches aren’t written in blood, nor are query letters or proposals for books.

What can I do for you? After publishing a book, a lot of authors start offering a service to review manuscripts in progress. I love doing that! But it's not what I'm best at. Where I can do the most work to support your career is helping you pitch, persuade, and maneuver your way into actually selling what you write, short or long form, just how I’ve been doing for a decade. ***Until Thanksgiving 2025, I'm offering these services, which I've been doing for years, at these discounted rates.*** 

Simply checkout on this page and you’ll receive instructions on how to get started (usually sending over your draft and some context info, and sign a mini contract).

Articles/Essay Pitches that Actually Land 

For pitches—especially for pieces to commercial pubs like magazines and newspapers—I'll give you 3 actionable bullet points of specific-to-you feedback to make your pitch land better. Takes up to one week, or within 36 hours for double the $. 

• Pitch help at $40 $33 x [number of pitches]

• Within 36 hours $75 $66 x [number of pitches] 

• Must have target pub selected—or I’ll come up with 2 suggestions for $33 $28

Input the amount and note which services when you pay via my Venmo. Then email me at katiewsimon@gmail.com to get started!

Query Letters to Agents - Help!

For query letters to agents—especially nonfiction, whether narrative, commercial, literary, essays, memoir, researched, you name it—I'll give you general feedback to reshape your message including 1 follow up question over email. Takes one to two weeks, or within 72 hours for double. 

• Query letter feedback - $195 $169 

• Make feedback tailored to multiple specific agents - extra $33 $28 x [number of agents]

• Hyper-tailored list of a half dozen suggested agents to reach out to (only for nonfiction) -  $120 $97 x [number of lists]

• Hyper-tailored list of ten places to submit your pitched work (publications, awards, etc) - $135 $111 x [number of lists]

Input the amount and note which services when you pay via my Venmo.

Book Proposal SOS

For detailed and highly specific feedback on full-length book proposals for nonfiction with up to 2 sample chapters, including a 45 minute coaching call. This includes feedback on every section of the book proposal not just for the writing, but for sales/marketing/publicity strategy, a honed author bio, and reviewing ways to make the proposal stand out. Takes up to one month, or within 1 week for double. 

• $1,725 $1,497 x [number of book proposals]

Input the amount and note which services when you pay via my Venmo.

Re-reviews

A second round of review is cheaper than the first round, so long as we’re working with the same material. If you did a total rewrite, sign up for a first round option. For a second look at a 

• pitch, it's $30 $25 x [number of pitches]

• query letter, it's $110 $89 x [number of query letters]

• book proposals start at $850 $575 x [number of book proposals]

Coaching Calls and Career Strategy Sessions

A 55 minute coaching call on pitches, how to find editors’ contact info, queries, proposals, agent background research, book publicity, picking a topic (and an angle), planning tie-in pieces, and more, includes two follow up questions over email. Or, we can take a broad look at your career and identify milestones, challenges, and a strategy to achieve your new plan. I’ll follow up with a list of actionable notes on our chat. I do not give feedback on written documents during these calls unless you purchased a feedback package, too! 

• $275 $229 for 55 minutes

Email Feedback 

For feedback on any professional email. Note this does not include any follow up questions by email. 

• Email feedback $40 $33 x [number of emails]

• Within 36 hours $75 $66 x [number of emails] 

You are welcome to gift these options, just forward your confirmation to the recipient like a gift card :) 

Speeding up the timeline for double payment is conditional upon my acceptance of the project, and I will respond within 24 hours. 

Want to barter services? Just ask!

FAQ

Is this only for professional writers? Or only for amateurs?

This is for anybody who wants their writing to stick out in the sea of submitted pitches, query letters, and book proposals. It’s for marketing/publicity/sales-minded folks who care about how their projects can better reach targets, achieve sales, and help build their career—and for folks who aren’t as experience in those things, but want to do better. It’s for folks who want to publish their work and build a writing career, whether you’re at the beginning stages or this is your third go around. 

What do I send you?
In addition to the copy of your pitch/query/proposal, I’ll ask you to answer a few questions for context (who has already rejected this, who is your goal audience, how do you hope this will help your career, what’s your dream pub for this to land in). I may ask a clarifying question or two. I will also send you a mini contract to sign digitally. It’s that simple!

What kind of feedback will you receive?

I’ll point out some “writing issues,” and I’ll definitely point out places you could pitch your piece or yourself more effectively, with notes on how. I might ask you to include different information, make cuts, or refocus the lens on what’s important—or even the structure of your sentences. I always try to give examples. You will not receive a reworked, polished second draft—I’m here to give you feedback, not rewrite your work!