Much more goes into a successful book project beyond knowing how to write well. From crafting a book proposal to finding an agent and publisher, there are many steps in the process that can feel a little overwhelming when you are just getting started. Even so, journalists may find their experience working with editors and on a deadline serves them well when they make the leap, and the journey can be incredibly rewarding.
To help guide journalists in tackling a book project, the Society for Advancing Business Writing and Editing (SABEW) held a webinar on July 28. The panel brought together journalists who successfully made the leap to authorhood, including Megan Greenwell, Patrick McGee, Kate Conger and Ryan Mac, all of whom are finalists in SABEW’s 2025 Best in Business Book Awards. Caleb Silver, editor-in-chief and senior vice president of Investopedia and chief business editor at People Inc., moderated the discussion.
Making the leap
“This is one of the hardest things you can do as a business journalist,” said Silver. “There’s the writing of the book… then there’s everything that happens after.”
Though it can be intimidating, Greenwell added that “journalists writing books actually have a huge advantage,” as their knowledge of both their specific beat and the media world will really come in handy in getting their book out there after it’s written. She noted that even with a publisher’s experienced marketing team, authors still need to do a lot of work to market the book.
Greenwell made the jump from journalist to first-time author in 2022 and felt that her experience as a well-established narrative journalist helped her credibility when pitching a narrative book. She also waited until she had the right book in mind to write: “I was very aware of the burden of the first book, you know? You want it to be really good and you want it to sell well, because the second one can be very hard to even get a contract for if the first one doesn’t sell well. I really did take my time, and I ended up being very grateful for that.”
Despite waiting for the right idea, Greenwell noted that she had an agent for years before she made the pitch, but journalists can also develop their ideas well before finding an agent. What’s most important is finding one you work well with when the time comes to make your pitch. Mac emphasized that “your agent should be your biggest advocate, whether that’s for money or for promotion.”
McGee added that an agent will know what makes a good pitch and can take care of a lot of stuff behind the scenes for the author, like pitching to publishers and setting up interviews. Although he wasn’t familiar with the publishing process before his first book, he had a great meeting after connecting with an agent through another author and was asked to submit a pitch. He felt his agent “was very clever in the process” because, rather than ask for a full 70-page pitch right away, the agent asked him for bits and pieces of the pitch over the course of four months, which felt much more manageable. “It just gave me such confidence…I thought that was ridiculously helpful.”
Timing is key
Authors should plan on a 6- to 12-month waiting period between submitting the final manuscript and publication, which can cause some worries when working on a time-sensitive subject.
“One thing you can’t plan for, so therefore you can’t really give much advice on, is getting the timing right,” said McGee. He shared that in the eight to nine months from when he submitted his manuscript for Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company to when it was finally published, Trump won the election and took office again. That ironically made the book’s content even more timely since Apple was directly impacted by the incoming series of tariffs.
Conger and Mac, who co-wrote Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter, noted that choosing how to end the book was quite difficult for them. “There was a lot of stuff that we wished we could have included, but we couldn’t,” Mac said, reflecting that the book can be viewed as capturing “a moment in time.” In the time after the duo submitted their manuscript, Musk had endorsed Trump and the election took place.
Greenwell agreed with that sentiment. Though she wrote her book, Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream, by following how private equity has impacted individuals in the housing, healthcare, local media, and retail industries, the conversation has since largely shifted to private equity in youth sports. “As a reader, [that] is something I really love about books. They are published in a certain moment and they don’t have to be all-encompassing,” said Greenwell, adding that such books are still valuable to read even years later.
Still, there is a way for authors to add additional insights even after a book is published. McGee mentioned that he was able to write an epilogue for the paperback edition of his book, and Conger and Mac are considering doing the same for theirs. The panelists shared that doing so can be a great way for authors to address new developments that have taken place since the publication of the book and reflect on the material.
Building trust
McGee found the major difference between writing a book and “day-to-day journalism” for him to be the length of time you have to retain a reader’s attention. His solution was to build trust with the reader throughout the narrative.
Greenwell agreed on the importance of trust overall, especially whenever you are working with sources you will be writing about. When writing about high-profile individuals, Conger added that it’s important to be careful and thoughtful to protect your sources while also doing your best to avoid any legal issues that could arise if someone is unhappy about the book’s contents.
Journalists may also find it beneficial to partner with another journalist for a book project, such as Conger and Mac did. The two developed a strong working relationship at the New York Times, and when the Twitter takeover happened, their roles in the book project developed easily since Conger was a Twitter beat reporter and Mac had covered Elon Musk in depth. “At this point, I feel like we are left-brain, right-brain,” Mac said of their partnership. For others looking to do something similar, he emphasized the importance of good communication and proper outlining. Agreeing on what you want the book to accomplish and playing off of each other’s strengths can help make the process much smoother.
Additional tips along the way
Greenwell emphasized the importance of budgeting if you’re planning to work on a book full-time, recommending that others secure an advance before starting a book project. Mac and Conger stayed on as full-time reporters while writing their book, but took advantage of “book leave,” during which they weren’t paid their usual salary but still kept their employer-sponsored health insurance, which can alleviate some of the financial burden while providing more time to write.
The panelists agreed that you don’t need fancy programs to get started writing your book – Conger and Mac wrote mostly in Google Docs together before transitioning to Adobe Acrobat for line edits. Aside from writing, McGee has found ChatGPT and Claude helpful for deep research. All of the panelists are avid readers, with McGee adding that he found it helpful to read other nonfiction works to understand their structure and what captures his interest as a reader, then try to emulate that in his own writing.
Greenwell commented that crafting a successful book isn’t just about good ideas, but also trends in the publishing world. She noted that the nonfiction market hasn’t been quite as strong recently, and “the standards for what kinds of books publishers consider commercial are higher than ever in a way that I think is resulting in the rejection of some really great books.” Still, she is confident that opportunities will remain. “The book market is incredibly cyclical,” she added, so nonfiction will rise in popularity again in the future. For the present moment, her advice to others is to “make sure a book idea is as big as possible, in terms of potential readership” and marketability.
You can view a full recording of the webinar on SABEW’s YouTube page and check out the organization’s website for future panel discussions.
