Series: 7 Things ChatGPT Can’t Tell You About Publishing (Part 6): How to Make Your Pitch Relevant

Welcome back to my series, 7 Things ChatGPT Can’t Tell You About Publishing.

As we near the end of this series, let’s talk about something deceptively simple yet profoundly important: the signals you send through the small details of your pitch.

Too often, writers assume agents are evaluating only the story itself. In truth, we’re also evaluating presentation. And while ChatGPT can clean up grammar or suggest formal phrasing, it cannot warn you when details in your query are quietly undermining your credibility.

If you want to make your pitch relevant, here’s where to start.

Every query letter carries signals. Some inspire confidence; others suggest a writer is out of step with today’s marketplace. Consider these:

• An AOL or Hotmail email address.
• A memoir that begins in 1962, with no explanation of why it matters today.
• A proposal citing comps that were bestsellers twenty years ago.
• A query formatted like a typewritten business letter, complete with letterhead.

On their own, these may seem harmless. But together, they suggest a writer who hasn’t future-proofed their pitch. Publishing isn’t ageist—I’ve signed authors well into their old age—but it is always forward-looking. What matters is not your age but whether your book feels urgent and designed for a 2025 audience.

If your memoir is set decades in the past, your pitch must answer: why this story now?

If your nonfiction book leans on outdated statistics or references, you must refresh the context. If your novel feels like it belongs to another era, show how it still resonates with today’s readers.

Before and After Examples

Memoir

• Before: “My memoir begins in 1962, chronicling the political upheaval of that time.”
• After: “Though my memoir begins in 1962, it offers a timely perspective on social unrest, racial tensions, and women’s voices that mirrors what we’re living through today.”

Comps

• Before: “My comps are Angela’s Ashes and The Glass Castle.”
• After: “My memoir will appeal to readers of Educated by Tara Westover and Somebody’s Daughter by Ashley C. Ford, blending the grit of generational poverty with the resilience of self-reinvention.”

See the difference? The second versions establish contemporary resonance, making the work feel urgent and marketable right now.

Outdated details don’t sink queries because agents are unforgiving. They sink queries because they signal irrelevance.

If you want to make your pitch relevant, update your comps, refresh your context, and spotlight urgency. Prove not just that you can tell a powerful story, but that you know how to position it for today’s market.

That’s how you move from overlooked to requested.

Ready to make your pitch relevant?  Join our Book Publishing Accelerators Program to refine your pitch and proposal with expert guidance.

Apply now—registration closes soon!