Reviews of Mark Malatesta, Former Literary Agent
The following Mark Malatesta reviews have been provided by publishing industry professionals and authors such as Dr. Robert Smith, who wrote Has Medicine Lost Its Mind? (Prometheus). These reviews of Mark Malatesta include his decades of work in the publishing indusrtry as an author coach and consultant, literary agent, and Marketing & Licensing Manager for the book and gift publisher Blue Mountain Arts. Click here to access Mark’s guide on How to Become a Bestselling Author, and click here to access Dr. Smith’s review of Mark Malatesta; an interview in which Bob shares his advice for authors about how to write, publish, and promote a book; and more Mark Malatesta reviews:
Mark Malatesta Review by Dr. Robert Smith
“I received three offers from top literary agents. The agent I signed with said my book proposal was the best she’s ever seen. Initially, I’d started feeling down after receiving requests for more material following by silence. Then I started getting serious interest and experiencing the anxiety that comes with talking to multiple agents. If anybody ever asks me, ‘What’s the best way to get an agent and get published?’ and so on, I’m going to tell them to get ahold of you. It’s the best money I’ve spent. The process of trying to get an agent is so formidable, authors need help, and I’ve enjoyed working with you.”
Dr. Robert Smith
Author of Has Medicine Lost Its Mind? (Prometheus), Essentials of Psychiatry in Primary Care (McGraw-Hill), and Patient-Centered Interviewing (McGraw-Hill)
The review of Mark Malatesta above is an edited excerpt. Click here to see the complete Mark Malatesta review, and click here to see more Mark Malatesta reviews.
Dr. Robert Smith Interview
During this 43-minute interview (both text and audio) with Mark Malatesta, author Dr. Robert Smith discusses his nonfiction book, Has Medicine Lost Its Mind? (Prometheus). Bob also shares his advice for other wrtiers, and he talks about his experience working with Mark Malatesta, a former literary agent turned author coach and consultant, who helped Bob get a literary agent.
Pt 1 – Mark Malatesta Interview & Review
Mark Malatesta: Hi everyone, this is Mark Malatesta with TheBestsellingAuthor.com and Literary Agent Undercover, helping authors of all genres to write, publish, and promote their work. I’m the writer who went undercover and became a literary agent to find out how to get my own books published. A book agent is someone who gets authors book deals with traditional publishers such as Penguin Books, St. Martin’s Press, and Prometheus.
Today I’m an author coach who’s helped hundreds of writers get offers from agents and/or traditional publishers. My authors have gotten 6-figure book deals with major publishers; been on the New York Times bestseller list, and other bestseller lists; had their writing acquired for TV, stage, and feature film (Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks, Lionsgate, HBO Max, etc.); won countless awards; and had their work licensed in more than 40 countries; resulting in millions of books sold.
Now, let me introduce today’s special guest.
Pt 2 – Mark Malatesta Review & Interview
Mark Malatesta: Dr. Robert Smith is the author of Has Medicine Lost Its Mind?: Why Our Mental Health System Is Failing Us and What Should Be Done to Cure It, published in hardcover by Prometheus. The book examines the poor state of mental health care in the U.S., and it offers hope. In particular, it explores: 1) the scope of our mental health problem and failure, 2) how we got to this point, and 3) concrete steps individuals, organizations, companies, and legislators can take to fix it. In other words, the book offers practical ways you can help yourself and others you care about.
Dr. Smith is a nationally and internationally recognized internal medicine physician, and a University Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry at Michigan State University. He’s a pioneer in mental health care and patient-centered interactions, with extensive experience as a speaker and with the media. Dr. Smith has a popular column with PsychologyToday.com, he’s appeared on NBC’s The Today Show, and he’s appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, Time, Elle, Ladies Home Journal, and more.
Dr. Smith has received the highest award of the Academy on Communication in Healthcare, The George Engel Research Award for Distinguished Research, in the Field of Doctor-Patient Communication. He also has 350+ citations per year to his writings; and he has 150 publications, many heavily cited research publications, where he’s first author or senior (corresponding) author.
To learn more about Dr. Smith, visit robertcsmithmd.com.
So welcome, Bob!
Pt 3 – Mark Malatesta Interview & Review
Dr. Robert Smith: Thanks, Mark. It’s nice to reconnect with you.
Mark Malatesta: Likewise, especially since it’s to celebrate the successful publication and release of your book.
Dr. Robert Smith: I’m delighted. You were very helpful.
Mark Malatesta: Thank you. My pleasure. It’s always one part celebration, another part relief, right? When you get there…
Dr. Robert Smith: Yes, yes.
Mark Malatesta: So, let’s get to it. just told everybody a little bit about the book, but will you please take a little more time to share more about it? In addition to listeners and readers of the transcript benefiting from your advice for writers, many will also benefit from the book.
Dr. Robert Smith: Sure. I’ve worked for a long time in academics, doing lots of research and writing, and it’s all been directed at medicine, trying to get them to change gears. I’m not the only one. A number of us have done this. Mark, it’s been just to no avail. Medicine does not change with respect to mental health care. So I decided to change and write a book for the public, because indeed, it’s the public that’s going to need to get involved and push medicine through politicians to make some big changes.
Mark Malatesta: Right.
Dr. Robert Smith: Your listeners may be frightened about what I’m going to tell them, because they’ve not been informed about why there’s a crisis in mental health care. Briefly put, it’s this: Primary care doctors are providing over 75% of all mental health care. But here’s the problem: Medicine hasn’t trained them to do this. This, of course, means these millions of people, something like 90 million people… Mental health disorders are more common than heart disease and cancer combined, it’s the commonest condition in the US.
These millions of people are neither being diagnosed nor treated effectively. The problem with this is that relationship problems occur. Divorces, unnecessary divorces, unnecessary job failures, poor school performance, addictions, homelessness, incarcerations, and the list goes on and on, of the complications that come from lack of mental health care. Now, don’t blame your doctor. It’s not their fault. They’re not trained. In fact, I was talking to one just the other day, and he told me what needs to be done. He said, “Bob, there are no psychiatrists in my town.”
Mark Malatesta: Wow.
Pt 4 – Mark Malatesta Review & Interview
Dr. Robert Smith: Another one said, “It takes me two to three months, up to six to eight months, to get a consultation.” What I’m getting at here is psychiatrists see no more than 12% of all mental health problems in the country, and the solution is simple: Train the doctors who provide the care. Yet medicine resists this. This is why I’m going to the public, to let them know what’s happening. It will only be an enraged public that will affect any change.
Many of you will remember Ralph Nader and Unsafe at Any Speed, or Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. In both cases, the automobile industry and the chemical industry were not doing the obvious. Automobiles were unsafe. Cars went backwards when they should have gone forward. They didn’t use seatbelts, even though they knew they were effective. It was the same in the chemical industry. They were polluting the land. We had DDT in our water. Well, these books came out and enraged the public, and they, in turn, got their politicians going. Nader’s book led to the National Transportation Safety Act. Carson’s book led to the Environmental Protection Agency. This is the intent of this book: Waken the public to action.
Mark Malatesta: I love those precedents that you shared for other things, and I admire you doing this. It’s not easy. America isn’t good at this. It’s hard enough for everyone to get health care, let alone mental health care. Most people don’t know this, but before I got into publishing, I worked in social services. I trained staff who worked with people with developmental disabilities, many of them dually diagnosed, like somebody who’s developmentally delayed, and those challenges combined with schizophrenia or bipolar or something else. One of the big flaws, I saw it there, is, and every community is different, but the police generally are not trained regarding those issues.
Dr. Robert Smith: Oh, yes.
Mark Malatesta: You have somebody who’s in crisis. They might be acting out physically. It’s an emergency. You have to call the police, or someone else calls the police, and they’re not trained for that. You know, it’s not going to go well. It often doesn’t go well with the police, with somebody who’s fully functioning.
Dr. Robert Smith: That’s been a problem. Many of the most severe patients with mental health disorders, schizophrenia and severe bipolar, have ended up on the streets and in our jails. It’s up to 60, 70% who have a major mental health diagnosis. The problem is these doctors in the communities don’t understand how to make these diagnoses. If they make the diagnoses, even with these severe people, they can get them referred and into treatments, the data shows, six, seven years earlier, and this helps to ameliorate this.
Pt 5 – Mark Malatesta Interview & Review
Mark Malatesta: Right. Is there anything else you think is important to share about the book before we move on to your advice for writers?
Dr. Robert Smith: The main thing I would say about the book is to read it and take it to heart. On my website, I have a sample letter you can send to your congressmen, your senators, and also the links to their email addresses. All you have to do is take the letter and plug in the email addresses.
Mark Malatesta: Wow, that’s excellent. Alright, so let’s back up a little bit. Will you relive for everybody for a moment, take a couple minutes… What were you doing the day you got the news that you had an agent? What were you doing the day you got the news you had the book deal? How did that unfold? Have you done anything to celebrate? That’s what everybody who’s not there yet loves to visualize, their version of that.
Dr. Robert Smith: Oh, it must be 10 months or so ago now. I remember sitting in the car. My wife was driving, and I had my phone out. My agent notified me, and said, “I think we’ve got an editor interested.” The sense of relief was the greatest thing I knew. We didn’t go out and celebrate a lot, but we talked about it, and we’re pleased. My wife has been very helpful in all this, and she was, I think, as relieved as I was. It became more real when signing contracts and the like. Then the finality of it came, and even greater relief. It was like a transition from day to night. Now we’re working on getting the book published, instead of trying to find an editor for it or a publisher for it.
Mark Malatesta: Right. Just get it finalized. Then, once you have that first book in your hand, there’s another wave of excitement. Then when you’re doing your first interview, the same, right? You can ride that wave for a while.
Dr. Robert Smith: Yes. I’ve been surprised how much work there is once it’s ready to go.
Mark Malatesta: [Laughter]
Dr. Robert Smith: I’ve been busy ever since!
Mark Malatesta: Right? I think the universe protects us a little bit with some things, whether it’s starting a business or getting married or getting a book published. We can’t see the whole picture all at once in the beginning, which is great, because we’d just want to curl up in a fetal position. It keeps getting revealed as you go, like, “Oh, there’s more. There’s more. Oh, it’s harder than I thought, but okay, I can do this.”
Dr. Robert Smith: Yes. It’s like going through the first year of medical school. [Laughter]
Pt 6 – Mark Malatesta Review & Interview
Mark Malatesta: There you go. Alright, so let’s talk about the case study content, so people can learn from and model some of the things you’ve done. Everybody’s journey is different, especially in this respect, but when did you first get the idea you might be a writer or author?
Dr. Robert Smith: I alluded to it earlier. I was on sabbatical and about to write another grant, and I was really internally resisting it. Somehow I couldn’t get going on it. I had a talk with myself, and said, “What’s the worst thing that could happen here if you write this grant?” It occurred to me, the worst thing that could happen is that I get the grant.
Mark Malatesta: [Laughter]
Dr. Robert Smith: I’d be tied down to doing it for five more years, like the preceding grant. I was processing that. “Why is that? Bob, this isn’t going to do any good. You can get another grant and find evidence for the effectiveness of teaching mental health the primary care doctors, and it’s not going to do any good. Medicine is not listening to this.“ I’m sitting there thinking, “Well, what do you do?” And it dawned on me, “Well, maybe writing a book about this, the public needs to know this medicine is not being responsive to what’s going on.” That was, in essence, how the book came about.
Mark Malatesta: I love that. What about things in your background? You have a lot of education, and I want to make sure authors don’t get intimidated by that. Probably the majority of authors don’t have that formal education. Not in an area like yours. I mean, you have your medical background, but as far as writing education, you’re in academia. Some people are English majors, get MFA degrees. Some go to writers conferences, workshops, seminars, work with editors. What are some things you did along the way that you think were the best use of your time, that maybe some other people should do?
Dr. Robert Smith: I’m like most of your listeners. I had no training in writing at all. I learned to write scientifically, but it’s fairly straightforward. There’s a certain way you write articles. There’s certain material that goes in the introduction, and there are methods and results and discussion and a summary. That’s fairly straightforward. I’ve always been viewed as a pretty good writer, according to reviewers that would review my stuff, and editors. But it was only when I got into this process of writing for the public that I realized it was helpful to get editors working with you. I had some good editors that did work with me.
My agent was tremendous in helping with the writing. In fact, she said, when we got started, “You may not be used to this, being a professor of medicine, but this needs a lot of work.” She explained what needed to be done, and I did it. I would send it back, and she said, “It still needs more work.” It was a learning curve, and I appreciated it. It was like getting an MFA or something, working with her.
Pt 7 – Mark Malatesta Interview & Review
Mark Malatesta: Every step of the way you were getting it, right? You worked with someone or someones before you met me, and did things. Then we did things. The agent had you do things. Then the publisher, I’m sure, is having you make some changes. It’s like that when you’re writing a book, right? Unless you’re writing, maybe, one of the Dummies books, in a series, where there’s a clear structure you’re supposed to follow. You don’t have that for this, like you do those scientific papers or articles, right?
Dr. Robert Smith: No structure. And my agent, she had me also work with an editor, and that was tremendously helpful. The two of them back and forth. And I’d worked with a writer before who had been helpful.
Mark Malatesta: It’s especially challenging with a book like this. You and I have talked about this. It’s meant to be a mainstream book for the general public. Yet, at the same time, you want it to be respected by the scientific community. Threading that needle can be a challenge.
Dr. Robert Smith: Exactly. It’s primarily for the public, but, just as important, it’s for the scientific community. All medical students and nursing students should read it, in my opinion.
Mark Malatesta: When it comes to writing a book, other than indirectly what you’ve said, which is probably a good idea to work with somebody or somebodies while you’re writing the book, what other advice do you have for authors in the middle of writing a book? Or for writers thinking about it, that will help them with that process…to be more efficient or produce a better product?
Dr. Robert Smith: One of the questions that always comes up is, “Do you write an outline or not?” I kind of iterated it back and forth. I ended up with an extensive outline, but I would start writing and go back to an outline where it fit. The book had several layers of importance in it, and I had to make sure those were coordinated. The other thing I would advise people is that this does not go quickly. For professional people like me, you sometimes want to work on it one month and be done with it.
Mark Malatesta: Yes.
Dr. Robert Smith: It doesn’t happen that way. It’s been a long process, unless you have training in writing for the public. It will be much longer than you think when you start working with editors and writers. I’m working on one right now, and I have that sense. I’m using the information I’ve learned writing this one in writing that one. It’s radically different than how I approached this one, at the outset.
Mark Malatesta: And, again, I’m guessing, that you can see more in advance, and you’re planning more in advance, so you have less revising to do later.
Dr. Robert Smith: Exactly, exactly.
Pt 8 – Mark Malatesta Review & Interview
Mark Malatesta: Now, what about publishing a book? You know there are the traditional publishers, and then there are the self-publishing options, vanity presses. Have you ever self-published or done anything with a vanity press? And what made you go traditional? Have your thoughts changed on that along the way?
Dr. Robert Smith: I didn’t even consider doing it with a vanity press. My sense was that I needed to get a standard, good publisher. It sounded to me that to go in that other direction, toward a vanity press, there would have been so much more work on my part to do. I’m quite efficiency oriented. Even writing this book has taken far more time than I expected. It looked to me, if I got into writing a book and self-publishing it, there would be just tremendous more amounts of work to do. That was my rationale for never even considering it.
Mark Malatesta: And your book isn’t a mystery or romance novel or something, it’s a serious subject. I would think that you, coming from the academic and scientific world, would also want that extra credibility of a known publisher.
Dr. Robert Smith: Exactly. You’re helping me articulate that. That was a big piece of it.
Mark Malatesta: Alright. Now, what about marketing? I know you’re in the middle of that. It’s an exciting time. You’re actually working with a publicist. Not everybody does that. You don’t really need to do that. Well, that’s a good question. I’ll get you talking about that too. Why did you decide to do that? I’m not challenging it. I’m just saying I want people to think about that. It’s good for them to know. Then, what other advice do you have for authors, whether they’re writing their book. or if their book is already out there? Anything that you think might be helpful for building their platform or promotion.
Dr. Robert Smith: Sure. Regarding a publicist, again, I’m coming from medicine. I’ve not done this before. This opened up an entire new vista of things I knew nothing about. It struck me that I would be a babe in the woods trying to do this. My agent, I talked to her about it, and she then knew a good publicist. She recommended her to me. It’s been very useful. She helped me revise the website and prepare for radio and TV interviews. Also, what to do with social media.
I went to a meeting for physician writers once at Harvard. It must have been 2019, 2020. This was one of the earlier things I did. Hearing all the stuff that has to happen with social media and with websites and so on. In this day and age, you can’t just sit down and write a book and send it to a publisher and have it published. There’s as much work that takes place after the book is completed as there is in writing it. To me that looked formidable, so I engaged people every step of the way that I thought could help me…you foremost among them.
Pt 9 – Mark Malatesta Interview & Review
Mark Malatesta: A couple qualifiers. Not every author, not every book, certainly needs to hire a publicist. They certainly don’t need to be on TV or radio, or they may not be able to get on TV and radio. For your book, it’s different. It makes sense. Some of this, we did together, some of the platform building. It can be confusing to the listener if we don’t parse this out. I mean, there are some things that, as a nonfiction author, especially as a topic expert on some big, serious topic like this, you’re going to need a bigger platform. You can’t expect to get an agent, a publisher, if you don’t have a social media account or a website, or if you’re a self-described nobody in the space. It’s going to demand more than that, but it really does differ.
If somebody’s writing fiction, they really don’t need any platform. They don’t need a website. They don’t even need to be on social media, but it would certainly be helpful if, at least, they’re there. So, with the nonfiction author, it’s more important they do more with their profile prior to pitching agents. You don’t have to have it all figured out. Like you said, you’re kind of continuing to do things now. A publicist comes later after a book is published. You said you’re doing more things with the website now, social media now. It’s a constant unfolding. It’s not like you have to have it all done before pitching agents.
Dr. Robert Smith: No. The thing as a new writer…that was finding an agent. Even once I had written the book and looked and gotten the website and so on going. There is a book of agents, there’s one that comes out every year. It has to be as big as the old telephone books used to be, and it’s also single-spaced, just like they were, which is to say there were literally 1000s upon 1000s of people. That’s what I found formidable. I was fortunate to then find you to weave my way through this and find an agent.
Mark Malatesta: And prioritize the good agents.
Dr. Robert Smith: Oh, exactly, exactly. I would have had no idea how to do that. It would have just been shooting darts.
Mark Malatesta: Right, and can you talk a little bit more about what you did with promotion and platform building prior to going to agents?
Dr. Robert Smith: Yes. Working on various social media, getting involved in it. Those are mysteries unto themselves. I can remember when I first looked into Twitter. I had no idea how it worked. It takes lots of time to get these things figured out and adjust to the, I wouldn’t say, demands, of it, but the necessities of it. That was the biggest thing, and the website, organizing it in a way that’s user-friendly. These are all mysteries to someone like me coming into this. So I would advise people get help. Even if you’re an IT person, I don’t think that’s going to be enough.
Mark Malatesta: Yes, they can do it themselves. You don’t have to hire a website developer or anything. You can certainly create it yourself. These days, it’s easy, even free or inexpensive, with sites like Squarespace or Wix and stuff. But yes, like, what to put on there. A website doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be about the book entirely, or it can be broader, about the author. It should have a blog, a contact page, a bio page. I like, as you know, to have a media and a speaking page. Those two, especially for a nonfiction author, so, even if the person, unlike you, has not done any media or speaking, it at least looks like they’re ready. It talks about their availability for those things and the various topics they might cover.
Dr. Robert Smith: You bet.
Pt 10 – Mark Malatesta Review & Interview
Mark Malatesta: And you did reach out, also, during our time together, to a lot of influencers in the space, who were relevant, to get them to agree to accept a review copy of the book, etc. Those are things you’re following up on now, right? Getting them to actually read the book now that we’re there.
Dr. Robert Smith: Yes. That was one of the most gratifying things. You encouraged me to reach out to people, big people and so on. I was absolutely flabbergasted how receptive they were. I would write a nice, long email describing myself and what I was doing and the motivation for it, and they actually read it. They wrote back and said, “Love to see the book when it’s out.” Many of them said, “Can I write a blurb for the book?” And many said, “Can you write a blog [article] for us?” And so on. One of the most striking things of the whole process was how receptive other writers were to what I was doing, in my beginning position.
Mark Malatesta: Do you remember if there was anything along the way, at the initial stage with your agent and/or with the publisher, anything specific they said about your profile, your platform, or any of those things you had done?
Dr. Robert Smith: They were very impressed with it. The agent also said was the best proposal she’d ever seen.
Mark Malatesta: Okay, good.
Dr. Robert Smith: They were very impressed to have all of that support. I mean, there were 25 or 30 people who had written me back, supporting the idea and what was going on in the book. They were very pleased to see that, the agent and, subsequently, the publisher.
Mark Malatesta: Good. That’s what I want to make sure everybody understands. The reason you’re doing that legwork is that, especially with nonfiction, if you’re supposed to be an expert on a topic, and you’ve written a book about it, the agent, the publisher, part of them is like, “Why should we trust your ideas are good, that the book will give you reviews as a result? And what evidence do you have that you’ll be able to get a lot of exposure for the book to help sell books?” The publisher, of course, is going to do their part, but they want to check off all those boxes. That’s why doing that platform work early on is important. I don’t know if your agent said it this way, but many agents will say it this way, “That’s half the reason I can do this with you and maybe get a book deal.” And a lot of times the rejections will say, “That’s why I can’t work with you, because you don’t have enough of that.”
Dr. Robert Smith: Yes, she was very impressed with all that support I had.
Mark Malatesta: Even you, with an impressive platform, you may have gotten some rejections from people saying, “Oh, your platform’s not big enough. I only work with celebrities, or people who have 2 million followers.”
Dr. Robert Smith: Yes, there were some agents I talked to who said, “Well, you need to write an editorial in the New York Times or get an article in Atlantic Monthly and so on.” I tried that and people don’t respond.
Mark Malatesta: It’s hard. The good news is you don’t need that to make it, just with some of those elite agents. Do you remember, in broad terms… I know you described how the agent had you do more things. I think it was just that progression of trying to make the book more mainstream-friendly, right?
Pt 11 – Mark Malatesta Interview & Review
Dr. Robert Smith: You and I worked on the proposal too, structuring it a little better for an agent. Highlighting things so it was a little more focused for what an agent would be looking for.
Mark Malatesta: Had you done, ever, academic proposals?
Dr. Robert Smith: Well, so-called grant proposals, but that’s a different thing altogether.
Mark Malatesta: Right, right. Sometimes an author I work with will have done a book proposal, but for an academic press or something, and that can be a bit different than the trade publishers.
Dr. Robert Smith: Before you and I worked together, I had put a proposal together, and it was a good proposal, but you wanted to fine tune it.
Mark Malatesta: Did you have a query previously? Before we met?
Dr. Robert Smith: A query letter for agents?
Mark Malatesta: Right?
Dr. Robert Smith: We developed one.
Mark Malatesta: So you didn’t have one before that.
Dr. Robert Smith: No, no, not before that.
Mark Malatesta: Okay.
Dr. Robert Smith: That was all new to me, too.
Mark Malatesta: I think you got offers from multiple agents, right?
Dr. Robert Smith: Right. There had been several rejections from publishers. I went back and took a couple highly technical chapters out and moved them to an appendix. and rewrote a little bit in the first chapter. Then I added some material where I had removed the stuff to the appendix. The next publisher she submitted it to wanted the book, and so I think that was a big part of it.
Pt 12 – Mark Malatesta Review & Interview
Mark Malatesta: I looked this up before our call today. Like you said, it’s been 10 months. I found in my notes one of the biggest things we did with the book. Originally, I think you had framed it as a critique of the nation’s mental health problem, and failure with the explanation of how we got here. That’s still there. That’s part of it. But that part became a little less important, and we gave a little more real estate to what everybody can actually do about it. We also made it a little more actionable and a little more hopeful.
Dr. Robert Smith: Yes, exactly.
Mark Malatesta: It’s tricky with a new niche like that, or certain areas. A lot of times there will be a problem, and somebody will write books just talking about the problem and how we got there. Then, as it evolves, somebody else wants to publish a book on the topic. Well, the problem’s already been defined, so the new books coming out start to be more actionable. It’s sad that this issue [that you cover in your book] is not more developed, so we’re trying to do all of it in one book.
Dr. Robert Smith: In fact, what I did to replace those chapters, that I removed to the appendix, was to make the book more actionable. I got more specific about what needs to be done politically, and to provide a political approach to solving the problem.
Mark Malatesta: It can feel like battle if you’re going to the medical doctor. I’ll sometimes go with my wife, she’ll sometimes go with me. It can be complicated. You want to make sure you have all the information and make the best decision.
Dr. Robert Smith: [Laughter]
Mark Malatesta: It shouldn’t be this complicated, all of it, but it is. Especially for mental health. If you care about somebody who has issues, you want to be an advocate for them, whether you’re at an appointment with them or not.
Dr. Robert Smith: Oh, yes. Mark, mental disorders are the most common health condition doctors face. It’s something like one in four people in the US have a major mental disorder right now, every year. One in four of us has one, and, over a lifetime, one of every two people has one. Yet medicine isn’t training the doctors providing care for them. It’s shocking. Has medicine lost its mind? That’s part of where that title comes from.
Mark Malatesta: Right, and one and four, you said major. If it’s not major, it’s like two out of three, right?
Dr. Robert Smith: Oh, it’s at least that!
Mark Malatesta: Or you’ll say three in four.
Dr. Robert Smith: Yes. Stress.
Mark Malatesta: Right. Anxiety.
Pt 13 – Mark Malatesta Interview & Review
Dr. Robert Smith: All these, major mental disorders. It’s one out of four every year. It’s a mess. Medicine needs to address this. It will only happen, I think, by society becoming enraged and getting involved, just as those other examples of automobiles and the chemical industry. Only then, when they get the politicians to act, will a change take place. When I go into the whole thing of why medicine is this way, and why medicine is unlikely to change… People have been telling medicine since the 1960s and 70s that this is a problem. But the communication is all within medicine. It’s people like me telling other people in medicine, and there are 1000s of people like me. I’m not the only one to think of this, but we’ve all been talking to ourselves, and medicine never changes. This is an effort to go outside of medicine, to bring pressure from the top.
Mark Malatesta: Do you have any final thoughts? Anything you can think of, whether it’s advice for writers, tips, how to think about things, what to do, what not to do? Or any additional thing you think might be interesting or important regarding what we did together, that could be helpful for people?
Dr. Robert Smith: Sure. The main thing I would say is, don’t be impatient. This will not go nearly as fast as you think. The second thing I would say, in that respect, is something that will at least shorten the time it’s going to take. When you perceive the need, get help. There are a lot of people, good people, out there, like yourself and writers and so on, that can help. Don’t go it alone, because it will take a long time.
Mark Malatesta: Even with help [it can take a long time], right? [Laughter] It’s hard. It’s worth it.
Dr. Robert Smith: Yes. I actually have enjoyed the process. I don’t mean to make it sound bad. [Laughter] It just takes a lot longer than you expect. How publishing works and how agents work, social media, and a whole host of challenging things. It’s a new approach. I actually enjoyed the process.
Mark Malatesta: It helps because you’re passionate about the topic, so that’s going to drive you more.
Dr. Robert Smith: It’s a heartfelt endeavor. That has really motivated me through this, to stick with it. I think it’s paying off now.
Pt 14 – Mark Malatesta Review & Interview
Mark Malatesta: Right. Do you remember? This is a little pop quiz. You may not know these numbers, but do you remember roughly how long it took from the time you first started sending out the queries, like we’d worked on everything, and then you start sending queries. Do you remember how long it took to land the agent? And then do you remember roughly how long it took her to get the book deal? And then roughly how long after that it took for the book to be coming out?
Dr. Robert Smith: I’m guessing it probably, Mark, took, the time we sent query letters looking for agents, I’m guessing six months. Does that sound right?
Mark Malatesta: Sounds reasonable, yes, smack in the middle. I mean, the way I structure it, unless you have a really small group of agents, like Christian agents or something, there aren’t that many. In your case, it’s like this with most books, it takes about a year, even if you’re really working it, to be able to query all the agents you could query. Some people, they’re really lucky. They might start querying and get an agent in less than a month. That’s rare, but can happen. And then, usually, it takes multiple batches of rounds of queries. That was the case for you. That’s normal.
Dr. Robert Smith: Yes. Six or eight months. Then, once I got the agent, there was then that period of doing rewriting.
Mark Malatesta: Oh, right, right.
Dr. Robert Smith: She didn’t start looking for publishers until we had that down. That must have taken a year, maybe not quite that long. Once she started looking for publishers, that was probably a good year, maybe not quite that long, until we took those chapters out. Then it happened right away.
Mark Malatesta: You made more changes during that process of pitching publishers. Then, when, roughly, did you get that deal? Then we can do the math and go, okay, then it took that much longer for them to release the book. Usually it’s 9 to 18 months after the book deal that the book comes out.
Dr. Robert Smith: I think I signed the contract last January. We knew about it back in December of last year. It’s going to be about 15 months.
Mark Malatesta: That’s unusual, the part where you were doing revisions with the agent for a year. That’s really unusual. Partly because many agents aren’t skilled enough to be able to do that kind of extensive edit with you. And/or hardly any are willing to do that. [Laughter] You know? That makes me admire your agent that much more.
Dr. Robert Smith: Regina Ryan is her name.
Pt 15 – Mark Malatesta Interview & Review
Mark Malatesta: I probably shouldn’t have asked you all that, because now it’s going to depress some people who are thinking, “Wait a minute, that’s like, three years.”
Dr. Robert Smith: [Laughter]
Mark Malatesta: It doesn’t always take that long. It is what it is, you know? That’s partly why some people are seduced by self-publishing. If you didn’t do any of that work that made the book better, and all the platform work, then you might have self-published two-and-a-half years ago. But then the book wouldn’t [likely] do as well or reach as many people.
Dr. Robert Smith: The basic ideas were all there. They just helped me frame them better and make the book more reader-friendly. It was quite understandable, as I had it. It just wasn’t good enough for them. I’m glad she stood up and made me improve it.
Mark Malatesta: Right. Yes, and that’s normal. You worked with people on the book before you met me, and then they made it better. Then you and I worked on it and we made it better. Then the agent made it better. Then the publishers complained about some stuff, and then the agent and you found a way to make even more changes.
Dr. Robert Smith: Yes.
Mark Malatesta: That’s the evolution of a book, right?
Dr. Robert Smith: Exactly. It’s a great process. I’ve enjoyed it.
Mark Malatesta: And, like you said, the second one goes easier and a lot faster. You were asking me before the call, like, “Hey, maybe we need to do more something together on my next book.” I was like, “No, as long as it’s not a totally different kind of book than the other one, you’re there. You’ve got the agent, she’s probably going to want to work with you on it.” And everything gets faster and easier. Not just the writing of the next book, but the getting it out there.
Dr. Robert Smith: There’s also a sense of having more confidence in it, and knowing where I’m going. It’s like when I first wrote medical papers. Once I got the hang of it, then it went pretty easy.
Mark Malatesta: Right? Well, thank you again for doing this. Your book, more than most, really matters. I love all books, even those that are pure entertainment. But this one, with the state of the world…and you’re the perfect person to promote this, so I’m looking forward to doing my part to help you get the word out.
Dr. Robert Smith: I appreciate it, Mark. Thanks for all your help, and for having me on your interview.
Mark Malatesta: My pleasure, and thank you for the tips you shared with everybody.
Dr. Robert Smith: Great Take care.
Pt 16 – Mark Malatesta Review & Interview
Mark Malatesta: Okay everyone, this is Mark Malatesta, founder of The Bestselling Author, with Dr. Robert Smith, author of Has Medicine Lost Its Mind?, published in hardcover by Prometheus. You can learn more about Dr. Smith at robertcsmithmd.com.
And, if you’re interested in a private 1-on-1 coaching call with me, to talk about the best way to write, publish, or promote your book, visit AuthorConsultation.com.
Lastly, if you’re listening to this interview—or reading the transcript—and you’re not yet a member of my online community, register now [it’s free] at TheBestsellingAuthor.com for instant access to more information (and inspiration) like this, to help you become the bestselling author you can be.
Remember…
Getting published isn’t luck, it’s a decision.
See you next time.
Mark Malatesta – Former Literary Agent
This interview and review of Mark Malatesta were provided by Dr. Robert Smith, author of the nonfiction book Has Medicine Lost Its Mind?, published in hardcover by Prometheus. Bob worked with Mark, an author coach and consultant, and got three literary agents interested before signing with Regina Ryan.
Mark Malatesta is a former literary agent and former AAR member who’s now helped 400+ authors of all Book Genres (fiction, nonfiction, and children’s books) get literary agents and/or traditional publishers. Mark is Founder & CEO of Literary Agent Undercover, a division of The Bestselling Author, through which he provides 1-on-1 Literary Agent Advice (coaching and consulting).
Mark’s writers have gotten offers of representation from the Best Literary Agents at the Top Literary Agencies; book deals with major publishers such as Harper Collins, Random House, and Thomas Nelson; and sold millions of books. They’ve been on the New York Times bestseller list; had their work optioned for TV, stage, and feature film; won countless awards; and had their work licensed in 40+ countries.
Mark is also the creator of the well-known Directory of Literary Agents, with a comprehensive List of Literary Agents seeking writers. In addition, Mark is the host of Ask a Literary Agent, and author of the popular How to Get a Literary Agent Guide. His articles have appeared in outlets such as the Writer’s Digest Guide to Literary Agents and the Publishers Weekly Book Publishing Almanac.
Mark Malatesta Reviews
Here you can see more Mark Malatesta reviews from authors like Dr. Robert Smith, who’ve worked with Mark to get literary agents and publishers such as Regina Ryan and Prometheus. You can also see reviews of Mark Malatesta from publishing industry professionals. These reviews of Mark Malatesta include his time as an author coach and consultant, literary agent, and Marketing & Licensing Manager for the well-known book/gift publisher Blue Mountain Arts.
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