From Hook to Book, or How I Got a Nonfiction Book Deal

Rajneeshpuram: Inside the Cult of Bhagwan and Its Failed American Utopia, by Russell King (available 3/8/2022)

I’m devoting this space to explaining my process for getting an agent and a book deal for my nonfiction history of the Rajneeshpuram commune, Rajneeshpuram: Inside the Cult of Bhagwan and Its Failed American Utopia. When I started out on my publishing journey, I knew almost nothing about how a person goes from a guy on the street to a published nonfiction author. I spent dozens of hours reading books and online articles to learn how I might persuade the publishing world to allow me to write a nonfiction history of the Rajneeshpuram commune in Oregon. Since I benefitted so much from reading others’ experiences, I’m explaining my own process and offering some guidance below, in the hopes that it will help up-and-coming nonfiction authors.

Most of this advice is specific to nonfiction and traditional publishing, although some of it may apply to fiction writers and those consider self-publishing.

The Book Idea

When I started working on my narrative nonfiction podcast series Building Utopia: Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, I had no intention of writing a book. I wrote the series based on material I gleaned from existing sources — memoirs, old secondary sources, online records — and I didn’t do much original research beyond that. But after making a number of episodes, I realized that I still had so many questions about events at Rajneeshpuram that had not yet been answered, and that the only way to find those answers would be through original research, like talking to sources and uncovering records that had not yet seen the light of day.

But I couldn’t just throw myself headfirst into such an enormous undertaking without a good reason — otherwise, to me, it would feel self-indulgent. I needed to have a purpose and some means to share what I learned with a broad audience. The only option that seemed within my means would be writing a nonfiction history of the Rajneeshpuram commune.

Now, I’m a grown person with a job and a husband and a kid and a mortgage. I wasn’t eager to throw myself into a very long project without some indication that this thing could actually get published. As luck would have it, I learned that with traditional nonfiction publishing you typically don’t write a book until you have a book deal (as opposed to fiction, where generally you write the entire book and then try to get a deal). I also learned that most traditional publishers only consider projects from authors who have a literary agent. And I learned that to entice an agent to represent your nonfiction project, you first need to write a book proposal.

So this gave me some very clear steps to follow in my mission to get published: (1) write a book proposal; (2) get a literary agent; (3) get a publisher. Only if those three things fell into place would I pursue writing my history of Rajneeshpuram. Otherwise, I planned to close out my podcast series, place my book idea on the metaphorical shelf, and leave all my questions about Rajneeshpuram unanswered!

Writing a Book Proposal

Unless you’re an established author, your first step in getting a nonfiction book deal is to write a book proposal. A proposal is a lengthy document (mine was about 75 pages) that is designed to convince the reader that you are uniquely qualified to write a book on the topic in question, that there is a market for your book, and that you have the chops to write it. Proposals typically include an introduction, a market analysis, an author biography, a chapter-by-chapter outline, and a writing sample (usually the first couple chapters of the proposed book).

I spent a lot of time at the Chicago Public Library researching how to write an effective proposal for a narrative nonfiction book. There are great resources out there to help you with this. In my proposal, I focused on persuading the reader that I could write a book that would go above and beyond what was covered in the docuseries “Wild Wild Country” on Netflix and that would appeal to multiple audiences (including people who read true crime, history, and are interested in cults). In revising my draft proposal, I spent a TON of time on the sample chapter, and I elicited feedback from friends and family. As a first-time author, I really wanted to prove that I could write a gripping, interesting chapter. Incidentally, I found that this exercise helped shape the style that I would go on to use when writing the actual book. So I would recommend investing a lot of time in your proposal before sending it out — and not only because it’s the tool you use to get your foot in the door. (Incidentally, the outline in my proposal ended up being very similar to the outline in my final book, but nearly all of the sample chapter got tossed in the garbage when I started writing.)

Finding an Agent

Most mainstream publishers won’t consider nonfiction book proposals unless they’re passed along by literary agents. There are tons of resources available online or at libraries to identify agents who represent authors doing the kind of work you intend to do. My list included only agents interested in representing nonfiction history writers, and I prioritized agents who expressed any sort of interest in true crime and cults.

Once you have your list of agents, you need to craft your pitch — the email that is designed to get the agent interested enough that they ask to see your full proposal. There are tons of resources available online that help writers craft their pitches, many of which I relied upon in crafting my own. Below is my pitch. It ain’t perfect — it’s probably too long, in retrospect — but it was good enough. This is the version I sent to the person who would become my agent, Jim McCarthy at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret, and you’ll see it’s customized to him. More on that later. First, here’s the pitch:

Dear Mr. McCarthy,

I am seeking representation related to my book proposal for Rajneeshpuram: The Secret History of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s Failed American Utopia, a 100,000-word, narrative nonfiction account of the Indian guru Rajneesh’s disastrous efforts to build a spiritual utopia in eastern Oregon. I am writing to you because both you and Dystel Goderich & Bourret have such a terrific track record of working with nonfiction authors, and I'm particularly impressed with your enthusiasm about promoting underrepresented and LGBTQ authors, of which I am one.

Rajneeshpuram was intended to be a utopian experiment in communal living where the “Rolls Royce guru” Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh could transform his followers into the New Man—transcendent beings who balanced spirituality and joyfulness. But conflicts within and beyond the commune shaped it into an authoritarian state where paranoid leaders bugged bedrooms, poisoned suspected enemies, and plotted the assassination of government officials. Rajneeshpuram: The Secret History of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh's Failed American Utopia will paint a rich portrait of life inside the commune using interviews with former disciples and an unprecedented review of commune records, legal documents, law enforcement investigative files, audio and video recordings, and archival materials. It will address the many mysteries about the Rajneeshees that remain even after the Emmy-winning Netflix docuseries Wild Wild Country, including how so many people got swept up in Rajneesh's spiritual movement and how things went so horribly wrong at Rajneeshpuram. Major outlets reviewing Wild Wild Country have noted a demand for information that the docuseries missed, including a deeper exploration of why regular people devoted their lives to Rajneesh (The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone), what Rajneesh believed and taught his followers (The Guardian, The A.V. Club), and how the guru rose to become such a powerful and controversial figure (The A.V. Club). Rajneeshpuram will address these questions and will also introduce readers to fascinating aspects of the Rajneeshee experiment that have never been fully reported, using an absorbing narrative-nonfiction format that will appeal to readers interested in modern history, cults, and true crime. Rajneeshpuram will sit comfortably alongside best-selling, thoroughly reported historical accounts of charismatic leaders and the victims they left along the path to enlightenment, such as The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple by Jeff Guinn and Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright. Notably, there is no comprehensive historical book about the Rajneeshees available on the market today.

I am perfectly situated and very eager to tell this story. I'm the creator of the podcast Building Utopia: Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, which uses the tools of narrative nonfiction to explore the history of Rajneesh and his disciples. To date I have written and produced meticulously-researched scripts totaling more than 75,000 words. Building Utopia has ranked among the Top 100 History Podcasts on Apple Podcasts, and reviewers have called it “captivating” and “addictive.” I have the skills to investigate and report on this story given my decade of experience as a partner at one of the world’s largest law firms, where I investigate claims against multinational corporations by assessing millions of pages of records, interviewing and deposing witnesses, and presenting complex factual narratives. I have won awards for my academic writing on history and on the law. My investigative and storytelling skills, combined with my enthusiasm for and knowledge of this topic, make me the ideal person to share the untold story of Rajneesh’s failed utopia.

I'd love to explore the opportunity to work together to find an appropriate publisher.

Warm regards,

Russell King

So a couple points about my pitch: First, note that it is tailored to the agent who received it. The general advice out there is to do your research and tailor your pitches, and I completely agree with that — especially to ensure your pitch is going to an agent who would conceivably represent your work. But I would not spend a ton of time Twitter-stalking, Googling, etc. agents. Others may disagree, but I believe an agent will ask for pages/proposals if they’re interested in your work, not if you can spout out a bunch of research you did about them. (And in fact it may be a little creepy… i.e., “I saw on your Twitter post from four years ago that you watched a documentary, and guess what my book is similar…”) Your time is best spent on honing you pages/proposal and perfecting your pitch.

Second, you’ll see that I spent a lot of words making a case for why my book should exist and why I should be the one to write it. For a nonfiction proposal from an unknown writer, these are essential points. For fiction, I’d imagine the pitch would focus on drawing the agent into the story so they want to read your pages. For nonfiction, it’s about establishing your credentials and the business case for the book — while also indicating that your book would be good read. The same is true for the proposal itself.

Third, you’ll also notice that the title of my book changed from then to now. This is normal. Lots will change. Your agent will have ideas. If you find a publisher, your editor will have ideas. The marketing people will chime in. The pitch (and the proposal) is just the beginning of the conversation.

Getting Rejected (and Maybe Accepted)

Your next step in the publishing process is to get rejected. Most agents won’t be interested in seeing your work at all. Maybe they don’t like your topic. Maybe they represent an author who is too similar or they have too many clients in your genre. Maybe they don’t like your style. Maybe they’re having a bad day. Some agents might ask to see your proposal/pages and will sit on them for a long time without any response. Some might ask to see them and then still reject you. A stunning number of agents will not give you the courtesy of a response at all. You just have to keep at it. Embrace rejection as a normal part of the process. If you’re not getting rejected, that only means you’re not putting your work out there.

I maintained a spreadsheet of potential agents, in order of my preference, and I generally had about 4-5 pitches outstanding at any one time. You dribble them out so that you can modify your pitch over time, as you start to get some feedback from agents who reject you. As soon as a new rejection came in, I immediately — I mean IMMEDIATELY — sent my pitch to the next agent on my list. Having this automatic process in place helped me feel like I had some sort of control over the querying process, which is otherwise maddening, frustrating, and anxiety-inducing.

To paint a clear depiction of all the rejection, I just dug up my agents spreadsheet to provide some data. I included 52 potential agents on my list, based on all my research. I sent my pitch to 38 agents. I received rejections from 24. Most were form rejections based on my query email, without ever seeing my full proposal. Seven agents requested my full proposal. One agent liked my proposal but asked to see more of my writing, so I sent all my podcast episode scripts. Some agents rejected me after reading the proposal, and they generally offered some explanation of why they were passing. Some were very kind and complimentary in their rejections.

Of the seven who requested my proposal, I had the luxury of deciding between two excellent agents who offered to represent me. Both agents were high on my list, had requested to see my full proposal early on, and had just taken some time to look at it and make an offer. To decide between them, I asked lots of questions. The most illuminating topic for me was their vision for my book. How would they pitch it to publishers? What types of publishers did they have in mind? Where would they imagine my book sitting in the bookstore? What comparable titles would they use to try to sell my book? Answers to these questions — along with just a general sense of personality fit — helped me make my choice.

Finding a Publisher

Once you have an agent, they really take the wheel, although they may ask you to make some revisions to your proposal before they start sending it out. It’s their job to identify which publishers are the best fit for your book and which acquiring editors they should target. Your agent should consult with you about what they’re doing and who they’re pitching to, but your primary function at this stage is to sit back and wait for an offer to (hopefully) come in. Warning: this can be a LONG process, and it often requires multiple rounds before your book lands at a publisher that’s interested. Even if an editor is interested in your book (after they finally get around to reading your proposal among everything else in their queue), they typically need to take the decision to a committee for approval before making an offer.

The Contract

The last step in the process before you begin writing your nonfiction book is to negotiate and sign the publishing contract. For me, this was actually the most stressful step in this whole publishing journey. (Maybe it’s because I’m a lawyer in real life…) You can and should read the publishing contract carefully — and you shouldn’t assume that your agent will do it for you. You should feel free to engage an attorney to review it, but also know that there’s lots of free resources online that help writers understand publishing contracts and what terms should always be included. You can and should make revisions based on what you think is right and fair. I requested a number of changes in my contract. My publisher didn’t agree to all of them, but it agreed to most — and that made me feel much more satisfied going into the relationship.

Once the ink has dried on a nonfiction deal, the fun part begins — researching and writing! That’s a story for another time. Hopefully sharing my experience here is helpful to other new nonfiction writers who are ready to get their work out there. Good luck!