My path to selling projects looks nothing like the traditional route most writers imagine and I think it’s worth sharing because there’s this persistent narrative about how writing careers are supposed to work. You know how it goes! Cold pitch to an agent, get representation, then sell a project. The path seems impossibly narrow, but there are actually so many ways in.
I sold my Audible projects and got my executive contacts without representation. No contests, no manuscript submissions—none of that.
Let me be honest: a lot of this is luck. I got my first sale because I happened to see a tweet from an Amazon executive saying they were looking for pitches. I replied. That’s what got me in the room. I just happened to be scrolling Twitter at the right moment, and that’s why I finally have a writing career after years of trying.
Most success stories are like this, by the way. Someone knows someone, walks someone’s dog, meets someone at a party. You really can’t control that part.
But you can be ready.
The only reason I sold my first Audible project was that I was prepared when opportunity knocked.
What “Ready” Meant for Me
It was an audio project, and I’d already written and directed my own audio work. This demonstrated that I understood the format and could craft a story in it.
And I had a strong idea.
That’s been the biggest factor in selling my projects despite having no representation or development support: I create unique, sellable concepts. My background as a marketing and brand strategist helps. I build ideas that have inherent brands attached.
That doesn’t mean I always get it right. I pitched five ideas that first time but one was enough. Major actors attached. Music from my favorite K-pop group, GOT7. A dream project. My project was on bus stops!
What Made This Idea Sellable
The K-pop world — BTS was everywhere at the time. Everyone was obsessed with K-pop and South Korea. The timing was perfect.
My connection — I was a K-pop creator with an existing audience, which demonstrated deep knowledge of the world. People always want to know: how do you connect to this idea?
The music — Audible was actively seeking projects incorporating music.
Specificity — A specific world and specific characters, but a story that still felt universal.
The Reality of Pitching
Since then, I’ve sold another project and have momentum on a feature (more on that later). My background helps, but my ideas carry me forward.
My goal is to sell at least one project a year. To do that, I pitch constantly to executives. As writers, we obsess over that one great idea, but I’ve learned in the most depressing ways how disposable ideas actually are. I had this one idea that was so close to selling. I developed it for weeks. The executive kept emailing me back to say she was working on it, and finally, rejection. It was heartbreaking. I stopped pitching for a few months after that because it was just too much.
But I still wanted that goal of one sale per year, so I created something to help. I’ve recently developed a passion for building little games for myself, and I made one to help me put together pitches quickly without burning out. It’s called The Sellable Stories Game, a dice-based idea creation game that takes the overwhelm out of concept development.
The game helps me combine what’s popular with what’s personal to create pitches that work. For example, it helped me turn my love of the show Psych and my trip to London into a show idea I’m now developing to send to a BBC producer. Not every pitch is a winner, but it gets the creative juices flowing, and I don’t lose my mind trying to generate good ideas.
This tool is great for pitching, but it’s also excellent for any writer who wants to create something that will actually sell to an audience. The game isn’t about forcing you to write ideas you won’t like or that make you feel like you’re selling out. It’s about building concepts that will genuinely feel fun to write—ideas you’ll have a personal connection to.
And it’s working. I recently used the game to send my first batch of pitches, and I’m now creating two one-page extended pitches and a show bible as follow-ups. Emails get read with good ideas, and I’m getting a lot of responses.
I love the ideas I’ve gotten momentum on, but I also know there’s always more where those came from which is honestly the biggest relief, because I never know how this stuff will go and I’m not left feeling depleted when something doesn’t sell.
I put it in my store with pay-what-you-can pricing because I know times are tough and I want to get this in as many hands as possible. Lots of other good stuff there too!