Why we built this

Between them, Tim and Emily have shepherded hundreds of authors through the full arc of getting a book published, from the first conversation about an idea through the proposal process to submission, acquisition, and release. They've worked across traditional, hybrid, and self-publishing routes, with everyone from first-time authors to executives and public figures.

What they kept running into, regardless of the author or the book, was a fundamental gap in expectations. Accomplished, intelligent people who had built careers, companies, and reputations routinely arrived believing that a strong idea and the right connections were enough to secure a deal. Many had no idea that a publisher's decision rests on a small set of concrete, measurable variables: platform, uniqueness and timeliness, writing quality, and audience — and whether the author is the only person who could have written this particular book.

The misunderstanding comes down to access, not intelligence. Publishing professionals carry this framework in their heads and use it on every submission, but they rarely articulate it to authors in any structured way. Most authors go into the process without knowing what they're actually being evaluated on.

Tim had been using a private scoring rubric with his own clients for years, a way to give them an honest, structured read on where they stood before they started querying. Emily recognised that it addressed something authors needed long before they ever engaged a ghostwriter or a consultant. Together they refined it, tested it against real acquisition patterns, and built it into a tool that any author can use at the start of their journey. That tool is PitchMark.