Learn (Nearly) Everything You Need to Know About Traditional Publishing with Author Jamie Sears
If you’re trying to get a traditional nonfiction book deal, the deciding factor isn’t just your idea — it’s your platform, your proposal, and your willingness to collaborate so you can actually finish a book that belongs on shelves at Barnes & Noble, not just in your Google Drive.
In this episode of Kind of a Big Book Deal, host and publishing expert Meghan Stevenson walks through the journey of educator-turned-entrepreneur Jamie Sears, author of How to Love Teaching Again, to show how a traditional deal really happens.
Step 1: Build A Platform That Actually Converts
Before Jamie ever wrote her proposal, she had already built a “gigantic author platform” — hundreds of thousands of teachers following her and buying her products.
How she did it:
She focused on one primary platform: Facebook. Instead of trying to be everywhere, she poured her energy into one place.
She created weekly, audience-focused content, primarily blog posts, then shared them consistently in her Facebook ecosystem.
For a long time, she felt like she was “talking to [her] mom and [her] husband” — but she kept going, knowing growth is gradual.
She listened deeply in Facebook groups:
To the problems teachers were struggling with.
To the exact language they used.
Then she built solutions to the first problem they knew they had, offered those as free lead magnets, and grew her email list year after year.
This gave her:
Proof of concept: her resources were already helping thousands of teachers.
Audience reach: an email list and social following she could mobilize.
Data and stories that later made her proposal and book credible and compelling to publishers.
Traditional publishers look at all the authors who “want to write” and prioritize the ones who already have engaged, reachable readers. Jamie’s platform made her stand out in that crowded field.
Step 2: Use The Proposal As Your Proving Ground
Most first-time authors think “proposal” means a short outline or cover letter. Jamie did too — until she started working with Meghan.
What she learned:
A nonfiction proposal is a substantial document that shows:
The book’s big idea and why it matters now.
Who the audience is and how you’ll reach them.
How the content will be structured (chapter summaries, sample material).
Why you are the right person to write it.
Writing the proposal turned out to be fun and clarifying:
She got to dig into her stories and past teaching content.
She could “dip [her] feet in” with chapter ideas without writing everything in full.
It warmed her up and helped her realize she could write the full book.
Meghan uses proposals as proving grounds:
Some authors finish a proposal and decide they don’t actually want to write a whole book — either because it’s too hard, or because they don’t have much more to say beyond those 30–40 pages.
Others discover they love the process and have the bandwidth to sustain regular writing, which is a strong signal they can handle a full manuscript.
For Jamie, the proposal:
Demonstrated to agents and publishers that her idea had market fit.
Provided a roadmap for the book.
Proved to herself that she was, in fact, going to write this book.
Step 3: Expect Rejection And Let Someone Else Handle Most Of It
Even with a strong platform and proposal, Jamie’s path to a deal wasn’t rejection-free.
Her experience:
Before meeting Meghan, she wrote a simple letter to a small educational publisher and got an immediate “We’re not interested in books like this” with no guidance.
Once she had a real proposal, she and Meghan went out to multiple agents — and heard a lot of “no” along the way.
One agent even suggested the idea should be a podcast instead of a book, based on the assumption that educators would prefer audio — something Meghan countered with actual data about K–12 podcast performance.
How she coped:
She admits rejection “doesn’t feel good” and you need thick skin.
She often wanted to argue back (“no, you’re wrong because of this, this, and this”), but was relieved that Meghan handled those communications.
Having a collaborator shield her from direct “no’s” made the process emotionally easier to endure.
Her reframes:
A rejection is one person’s opinion based on a limited understanding of your audience.
It doesn’t mean your project is bad, your idea is weak, or your book won’t be successful.
Many very successful books were turned down multiple times; fit and timing matter.
Eventually, she landed a literary agent who understood the project — and that agent secured a traditional deal with Penguin Random House’s Portfolio imprint.
Step 4: Write The Book With Structure, Deadlines, And Support
Getting the deal is thrilling — but it also makes the work real and urgent.
Jamie’s writing journey:
She’d wanted to write a book since elementary school and initially thought she’d write fiction; life took her toward nonfiction instead.
When she got the offer — “We’re going to pay you to write a book” — her first reaction wasn’t endless joy; it was fear.
“Now I actually have to write a book.”
“You couldn’t even write a 10-page research report in 12th grade government. How are you going to write a whole book?”
One of her first questions to Meghan was: “How many words does it have to be?” Hearing the number felt overwhelming because she’d never written that much before.
Meghan’s approach to timelines:
She typically recommends a shorter deadline rather than a longer one:
4–6 months = “short” but healthy.
Under 4 months = “crash” (too intense for most authors).
6–12 months = reasonable; beyond 12 months = usually a disaster of procrastination and business disruption.
For Jamie, they set a tight schedule:
One chapter every two weeks.
Tuesdays and Thursdays as dedicated deep-work writing days with no other meetings except those with Meghan.
Each writing day required roughly a quarter of a chapter, so she stayed on pace.
Support systems:
Jamie’s team went through her calendar, removed nonessential commitments, and reassigned tasks to make space for writing — initially as a temporary measure, but she never fully took those tasks back afterward.
She worked with Meghan, a life coach, and occasionally used voice dictation to get words down.
Meghan helped her identify the parts of her content where she “lit up,” then shaped those into outlines and chapters.
Outcome:
Writing the book turned out to be much easier than she expected, especially with structure and support. She now describes it as “probably the easiest part of the entire process,” even though it was initially the scariest.
Step 5: Survive The Long, Messy Path From Draft To Finished Book
Jamie spent about five months writing the manuscript — but the journey from Google Doc to bookstore took roughly a year and a half.
What surprised her:
The number of steps involved: multiple rounds of editing, copyediting, proofing, design, and production, each with its own deadlines and feedback.
The number of people who read her book start-to-finish: some didn’t care about teaching at all, but cared deeply about clarity, quality, and structure.
The pace felt slow compared to her entrepreneurial world, where she’s used to setting launch dates and making decisions herself.
Big adjustments:
She had to accept that, while she was “the boss of [her] book” conceptually, she didn’t control every timeline or decision.
She had to learn to “go with the flow” more than in her business, trusting the process and understanding that delays and back-and-forth over commas were part of creating a high-quality product.
She discovered just how much the attention to detail reduced errors and created a more polished book — one that readers rarely find problems in.
This is a key reality for aspiring authors: writing is a big piece, but the production pipeline is long, collaborative, and often slower than you’d prefer. You need patience and trust to get through it.
Step 6: Use Your Voice And Collaborate — You Don’t Lose Control In Traditional Publishing
A common myth is that going traditional means you “won’t have any say” in your book. Jamie’s experience shows the opposite.
Her perspective:
Editors and agents offered many suggestions, but it always felt like a team effort:
Jamie knew teachers best.
Her editor knew publishing best.
Meghan knew structure and industry expectations.
She had real input and control:
She fought to keep stories that her audience loved and refused changes that didn’t fit her readers, while compromising on other things.
She didn’t like the initial cover options, so she pushed for more and ultimately “pretty much designed” the cover herself.
Her editor pointed out a missing topic — something Jamie had covered heavily on her blog but forgotten in the proposal — which became the longest and favorite chapter in the book.
Meghan’s framing:
Traditional publishing works best as a business partnership, not a dictatorship.
Editors expect authors to agree to most suggestions (around 80%) and push back on some; that’s normal and healthy.
Agents often play “bad cop,” pushing publishers on covers and key decisions when needed, while collaborators like Meghan translate between author emotion and editor bandwidth.
For Jamie, learning where to use her voice and where to trust theirs was crucial. She ended up with a book she recognizes fully as hers, strengthened by other experts’ perspectives.
Step 7: Recognize The Power Of Relationships And Collaboration
Jamie is candid: she didn’t understand how relationship-driven publishing was until she went through it.
What she saw:
Publishers and agents are inundated with authors who want to write; to decide who to work with, they prioritize people and projects coming through trusted relationships.
Meghan’s long history in the industry — knowing editorial directors, agents, and agency founders since the mid‑2000s — meant:
Her emails landed with respect.
Her backing of Jamie’s proposal signaled quality.
Agents and editors knew there was already a professional collaborator attached who could shepherd the book.
Meghan explains:
Agents work on commission and speculation; their hardest work is helping authors create a saleable proposal.
When someone like Meghan shows up with:
An author who already has platform and a strong idea.
A proposal largely written and refined.
Clear market positioning.
… that’s a huge value add. It turns the agent’s job into focusing on selling, not building from scratch.
When agents pitch to publishers, they’ll often highlight the collaborator: “Meghan is attached,” or mention previous bestsellers her team has worked on, which publishers recognize and trust.
Jamie’s takeaway — and answer to other entrepreneurs asking her for advice:
“A hundred percent I would collaborate with somebody who already has some success and knows what the publishing industry requires and some of the players in it.”
She believes:
Going it alone would have taken significantly longer and produced a weaker book.
Collaboration with “creative, smart business minds” created something far better than she could have done solo.
Working with Meghan gave her accountability (deadlines she refused to miss), introductions, answers to countless questions, and emotional support through hard moments.
She still wrote her stories and tips; collaboration simply made the whole process faster, smoother, and more effective.
Questions Answered In This Episode
How did Jamie Sears build the platform that led to her traditional book deal?
What does a nonfiction book proposal really involve, and why is it a proving ground?
How did Jamie handle early rejections from publishers and agents?
What role did Meghan’s relationships and collaboration play in landing the deal?
How did Jamie structure her writing schedule to deliver a full manuscript on time?
What surprised her about the length and complexity of the publishing process?
How much creative control do authors retain in traditional publishing?
How do editors and agents contribute to making a book better?
What emotional and mindset challenges did Jamie face, and how did she overcome them?
How does traditional publishing rely on relationships and reputation?
What single piece of advice would Jamie give to entrepreneurs and experts who want a traditional nonfiction book deal?
This week’s guest is Jamie Sears. She is the Founder and CEO of the Not So Wimpy Teacher company, as well as the author of How to Love Teaching Again. A former third grade teacher, she now runs a multi-million dollar company creating curriculum, hosting a lesson planning platform called Lesson Genie, and delivering professional development for elementary educators in grades 2-5. She has educated over 15,000 teachers in her digital courses and her articles have been viewed more than ten million times by teachers around the world.
Find Jamie online
https://www.facebook.com/NotSoWimpyTeacher
