A Proposal on the Ventorship!

In Which We Discuss How to Hopefully Make an Editor Fall in Love with Your Book 💍

Who doesn’t love witnessing a proposal on the top deck of a cruise ship while the sun sets over the horizon? Well we basically have that here on our metaphorical ship, too. Except instead of someone bending down on one knee and professing their love, we’ve got me copying and pasting a proposal I sent in to my editor to sell RILEY WEAVER NEEDS A DATE TO THE GAYBUTANTE BALL. Exactly the same, right?!

I get asked by authors who have a book or two under their belt how to sell something on proposal, where you get a publisher to by your next novel before the entire manuscript is complete. This by no means is to say that every author should be selling something before writing the whole thing. Selling a book before you’ve written it has its pluses and minuses. Plus: you know you’re getting paid to write your book (yay money!) instead of writing the whole thing and getting rejected and wondering why you did this to yourself. Minus: your deadlines are set early and add extra pressure to get the book done, dammit that can stifle the creative process for some.

It’s up to each individual author whether this is right for them, and often times is right for one project but totally wrong for the next. I’ve sold four novels without having written them first (and been turned down completely on a couple proposals too), but think this next go-around in 2024 I’ll give myself time to write the whole thing first to really get into that space of play and creative freedom. But for those of you who want to get down on one knee and hit send on an idea to an editor, I thought as a little holiday gift I’d share this proposal that worked for me. I’ll keep it up here for as long as this author-filled boat stays afloat, so feel free to come back to it as often or as little as you like.

Before we get to it, here’s how a small rundown on how I structure my proposals:

1. A fairly detailed synopsis, usually around 10-15 pages, that shows an editor I have a complete vision from start to finish for how the book will look, who the characters are, and what their arcs will be. This doesn’t necessarily have to be scene by scene, but I try to capture the major plot points that will move us from one act to the next.

   A couple tips: Including the main character and their main goal in the first paragraph helps get the editor you're proposing to (it always sounds romantic, doesn’t it?) right into the mindset of who and what they should be rooting for. It also helps you frame the plot points in the rest of the synopsis as they relate to that goal.

   Let this synopsis have as much voice as your book will have. If you’re campy and flamboyant like yours truly, let the synopsis feel that way too. If you’re lyrical, go lyrical. Give your editor a feel for the vibe your book is going to have in the way you describe it.

2. The first 50 pages of the manuscript you’re proposing. Shine ‘em up and polish ‘em like the Heart of the Ocean. It doesn’t mean that those 50 pages might not end up being vastly different once the book is bought and you go along the editing process (in fact, much of my plot changed as I wrote the full first draft, and that’s totally natural and expected), but at least you can show how hard you’ve worked on this idea and that you believe the heck out of it so much that you know and your acquiring editor knows (and they can show to their acquisitions team) that you can finish the whole shebang.

That’s it! There are no guarantees a proposal will work, and it’s not uncommon to be told even though you want to sell this before it’s done, an editor won’t be able to consider it until it’s a complete manuscript. And at that point, you get to decide what makes the most sense for you: moving on to another editor, moving on to another proposal, or writing the whole kit and caboodle. There are no wrong answers except for doing something that doesn’t feel right to you (which is either very liberating or very annoying, you decide!).

Scroll on down below to see the proposal synopsis for RILEY WEAVER NEEDS A DATE TO THE GAYBUTANTE BALL. For those interested since I’ve copied and pasted and you can’t see page count, this clocks in at just over 10 pages and is around 3600 words. I won’t include the first 50 pages of the story because it’s a book now and you can go read that :) (Disclaimer: there are spoilers for the book, so if you want to be surprised, go read RWNADTTGB then come back to this post).

Last thing before we get to the synopsis: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING ME ON THE VENTORSHIP! This has been an unexpected gift of connection with authors, and I hope to keep it going as long as people keep coming to it and need to get worries off their chest. To that end, if you’d like to vent about anything author/writing related, write to me at heyjasonjune@gmail.com with the subject: VENTORSHIP. I’ll give you my take in a post, and we’ll crowdsource author opinions in the comments. You’ll remain anonymous, and any haters will be thrown overboard. Ultimately, I think you’re going to be buoyed up by author love and support as we realize we really are all in the same boat 🛳️

Happy Holidays!

-JJ

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RILEY WEAVER NEEDS A DATE (TO THE GAYBUTANTE BALL)

A Contemporary YA Pitch from Jason June

Femme, gay sixteen year-old Riley Weaver has finally made it to junior year. It’s the most coveted year at Mountain Pass High: the year when he can finally run for membership into the Gaybutante Society. Started in 2003 by a group of four gay teens who met at summer camp, the Gaybutante Society (GS) is an elite organization filled with LGBTQIA+ teens, most of whom go on to big success. The GS has spawned singers, social media stars, politicians, activist badasses, all of it. Mountain Pass’s chapter of the organization already has eight alumni who’ve gone on to make a name for themselves, and Riley wants in so that he can finally realize his dream of podcast stardom. Riley loves asking people questions, getting to know them, and giving his hot takes on what he sees and hears. Getting into the GS could be a big boon to helping launch his podcast career if they put their support and cumulative massive social media following behind him.

At the first meeting of Gaybutante Hopefuls, Riley learns how it works. Anyone who identifies as LGBTQIA+ in anyway can participate, and they must accomplish four tasks by the end of the fall semester in order to be accepted into the organization. It’s pass/fail and there are no limited spots for acceptance into this rainbow family, it’s really all about trying and connection in four categories:

1)    Service – It’s always better to give than receive (well, charity-wise)

2)    Hosting – Gays live for a party (Pride, Halloween, the Met Gala, you name it)

3)    Mentorship – Be the Obi Wan to a queer Anakin in need

4)    General Gay Chaos –Be loud, be proud, and make folks taste the rainbow however you see fit

Any GS hopeful who accomplishes these tasks will be in! Then it’s charity and parties and all sorts of gay connection for the rest of your life. And you’ll be introduced at the world-renowned (well, at least it has a solid niche social media following) Gaybutante Ball. It’s just like a Debutante Ball only gayer, and everyone needs an escort.

Just after Riley throws his hat in the ring for the GS, Riley overhears gay varsity baseball player, Skylar Jefferson, say he’s definitely not going to ask the guy he just dated out for a second date because said guy is too feminine. Being the podcast interviewer that he is, not to mention the femme all-star that he is, Riley instantly speaks up.

“Too feminine for what?”

“Too feminine for me,” Skylar replies. “And for basically all gay guys.” The more Skylar talks, the worse his declarations get: gay guys are gay because they like guys, so femme people aren’t really going to get a gay guy to fall for them, and they should really be classified as something else entirely.

If Skylar’s so certain that what he says is true, then Riley says he should put his money where his mouth is. Riley challenges Skylar to a bet: Riley will get a gay guy to ask to be his partner by the time of the Ball and be his escort, proving that masculine gay guys like femme people too. If Riley’s successful, Skylar has to pull himself from the baseball team which is a huge part of Skylar’s identity. If Riley fails, he’ll pull himself from the running for the Gaybutante Society. Skylar agrees on the terms that Riley can’t tell anyone he dates about the bet, and that Riley can’t ask the guys he goes out with to be his boyfriend. The DTR has got to come from the other guy to be legit. It’s a deal and the hunt for a boyfriend is on!

Riley sounds confident, but on the inside he’s a mess. He’s never really dated before. It hasn’t been on his list of priorities. First was coming into his own as a femme person at the start of high school, second has been honing his interviewing skills, third has been becoming a Gaybutante. But never a boyfriend. Yes, he’s definitely had crushes and flirted and even kissed Phil Brownstein over the summer while visiting his cousin in Portland, which was great, but Riley never kidded himself that he would start a relationship long distance with a summer fling. What is he going to do to find a guy?

Apps are creepy, so it’s time to meet folks in person. Then it hits him: he can turn this adventure into a podcast. He’ll document his search for the perfect guy, give his thoughts about their reaction to his femme fabulous self, and show other femme people out there that people like Skylar are dead wrong and they should have nothing to worry about when it comes to dating. And it can be an inside look at the Gaybutante Ball too, which would definitely cause General Gay Chaos for the niche social media fans who obsess over each new year’s GS class.

The good news is one of his two BFF’s, Nicholas, is a genius at tech and editing. He can help Riley produce the episodes. And Riley will change the names of anybody he dates so there’s no defamation crap or anything like that if any of these dates go sour and one of these guys is more on Team Skylar. And he can turn to his other BFF, Sabrina—who also hopes to get into the GS—to get some solid dating advice: she’s had three girlfriends so far in their high school career, and never seems to have trouble when it comes to finding a partner. He needs to channel her confidence.

Let the dating commence!

Riley tries all kinds of places to meet guys. There’s the Mountain Pass Pickle Ball League, which has a teen LGBTQ branch. But, the most athletic guys whose muscles glisten the most with manly sweat get the most attention. There’s the open mic night at Mountain Pass Café, but the most moody guys get all the eyes. Then there’s the Mountain Pass Gay Teen Bird Watchers and Riley knows absolutely nothing about birds so…it’s a no-go. After each of these encounters Riley records an episode and details how he feels not masculine enough physically, emotionally, or academically for the different types of gay guys he meets. Maybe Skylar’s right?

The uncertainty is getting to Riley, and he’s not shining as much as he’d like to in his Gaybutante tasks. But, when he goes to help out at a nearby animal shelter, he meets a cute guy who mans the puppies, Connery. Connery is sweet and charming from the jump, even going so far as to roll his eyes at his own name, saying how pretentious it is to add a –y to Conner, but he’s actually a Connery St. James the fifth, so he’s stuck with family tradition. Riley is smitten. Could this be their meet cute? He goes multiple weekends to meet his fifteen hour requirement of service, and tries to find out if Connery is in fact gay. But it turns out, after three weekends together, that Connery is just flirty. Straight and flirty.

Meanwhile, Sabrina is getting all kinds of attention. Ever since the official GS social media accounts have introduced this year’s batch of Hopefuls, she has been getting a ton of DMs from girls saying how cute she is. It’s causing a lot of issues in her current relationship, with Sabrina’s GF getting extremely jealous. Riley has to admit that he’s getting jealous too when Sabrina gets all these DMs and he hasn’t gotten a single one. He vents his feelings to Nicholas who’s a fabulous listening ear and tells Riley to not take it to heart. The perfect one is out there for him.

All this dating has made time go by fast, and Riley still hasn’t planned what sort of party he’s going to throw for his hosting requirement. But he has something a little out of the ordinary planned: A zip-line race. His dad runs a zip-lining company in the forest of their Mountain Pass property. There are five equidistant routes that each lead back to the lodge behind Riley’s house (that his architect mom designed), and the Gaybutante Society members and Hopefuls will be split into teams that can only move on from station to station on their routes after they answer a question about current Gaybutante members throughout the nation (put together by Nicholas so that Riley doesn’t know the answers to the questions).

Everyone has so much fun, nobody has really made a game of their hosting gig yet, and people love a competition. Especially Cliff with the cleft chin, a senior Gaybutante who seems very taken with Riley and his knowledge of the GS and its members. A hardcore flirt ensues. Cliff even asks Riley out to coffee, and YES! Riley finally has a date. But at said date, Cliff reveals he has a boyfriend in college, but that when Riley makes it into the GS he definitely wants to be Riley’s big sibling. It’s sort of like a mentorship, but it’s really just making sure a new GS member adjusts to becoming part of the group well, and sort of acts as their big cheerleader when they get into the group.

Sabrina, meanwhile, seems to be less than enthused at the party. She can’t take her eyes off her phone, and her GF is blowing her up in a jealous rage. When Riley asks how he can help, she snaps at him that maybe if she didn’t have to spend so much time giving him advice while he dated she could actually focus on her relationship, and her own GS tasks by the way. She hasn’t hosted anything yet and has stalled on some of the GS tasks so as not to get any more attention from strangers online. Her main mission when she joined the GS was to make science sexy again. She noticed how most of the GS members were somehow involved in the arts, and as someone who wants to get into veterinary medicine, she wanted to show the world that biology and science could be just as cool as singing or acting or podcasting. But now it’s going too well and ruining her relationship. And she’s taking out her frustrations on Riley. Riley snaps back at her that it must be so hard to have so many people falling all over her. Meanwhile, he can’t get a single person to like him and he’s bitter that she’s getting all this attention when she’s not even trying to get it. Not to mention, he says, Sabrina’s GF is super toxic if she gets this jealous and makes Sabrina this angry.

Sabrina will not stand for Riley coming after her girlfriend, so the two agree that he’ll give Sabrina all the space she needs to focus on her own GS journey, and he’ll focus on his. Riley still needs to find a mentee. He’s got just a few weeks left to find a young gay in need and see how he can help them. Riley puts a call out on his podcast asking if anybody needs help, and surprisingly, he gets a ton of letters. Riley and Nicholas (the latter of whom feels torn between his two BFFs and their GS journeys) go through them together. Each story is more touching than the last, teens who need help coming out, teens who don’t feel safe in their communities to come out, and Josiah, who describes themself as femme and wants to try wearing their first pair of heels to their school’s winter dance. Bingo. Riley knows who he wants to help, and can speak to the weird looks you get when people think you’re acting outside of your biological sex, and can help with shoe sizes too. For the rest, Riley responds to all and lets them know that they can reach out to him if ever they need someone to talk to. It’s what he’s good at. Listening. Interviewing and podcasting was always about making connection for him, and he’s happy to do this for this queer teens in need, no strings attached.

Riley has now completed all four of the tasks the GS has assigned. Cliff is pumped for him, the GS in general seems pumped for him, but Riley is freaking out. Not only does it feel weird that he isn’t talking to Sabrina much anymore (who he always thought would be by his side through this process), he still hasn’t gotten anyone to ask him out, and it’s just three weeks until the Gaybutante Ball. His podcast has a solid group of listeners, and they’re writing in regularly that they’d take him to the Ball, but Riley knows—and Skylar reminds him—that the bet isn’t won if somebody asks to be his escort who knows about the bet.

But now the podcast has gotten big enough—not like, national-level big enough necessarily, but big enough that those who follow the GS know about it—that he can’t seem to meet people who don’t know about the bet. Riley feels like he’s shot himself in the foot. And now he has pros and cons to the situation: Maybe he’s got a big enough following now that he wouldn’t really need the GS to get his podcasting career off the ground. But he’d still be missing out on the connection with the members and all their exclusive events. Not to mention the worst thing of all: what if the day of the Gaybutante Ball arrives and Skylar’s right? What if gay guys don’t like femme people and he’s just put a spotlight on the discrimination and hardship femme guys go through?

Not wanting to miss out on this femme fashion moment, Riley still goes ahead and picks out his outfit for the Ball in the hopes that somebody will come through in the final hour. Picking out his look really hurts Riley’s heart because putting together outfits was something he and Sabrina used to do all the time. He thinks about calling her, but figures she might get mad if he invades her space again.

At the mall, the unthinkable happens, the day before the Gaybutante Ball: Skylar kisses Riley! He asks Riley to the Ball! To be his escort that is, and admits he was wrong. A bet’s a bet and Skylar will drop out of the baseball team in spring semester, and did he mention he wants to take Riley to the Ball? Skylar’s like, “You made this whole podcast because of me and I think it made me love you.” Typical, self-centered Skylar. But Riley’s like, “Uh, but what about what I want? Get off me.” Skylar is instantly ashamed, but not a dick about it. Instead, he says, “I guess this means you still win. I asked to be your escort, you said no. I’m out. And I was wrong. I’m sorry.”

Riley is upfront and is like, “Look, I’m not going to say I forgive you that quickly. Because what you said was messed up. It’s okay to have preferences sexually for what you like and are into and energies you want romantically and physically, but you have to understand that just because there’s something you don’t like, you don’t get to shit all over people who do, or the people that you’re not into. And you don’t have to leave the team. It’s a part of who you are, like being femme is a part of who I am.”

Skylar gets it, especially after seeing discourse online. He was resistant at first, and defensive, but the more stories he saw that explained the pain he caused, the more he realized what he had said was wrong. But then, his stubborn streak held out and he didn’t want to admit it to the world that he was totally wrong. And he thanks Riley for protecting his identity. It gave him a second chance that he’s not fully convinced he deserves, but that he’s truly grateful for.

The two part ways, and Riley wants to feel triumphant, but he doesn’t. He realizes he was stubborn too, but in his own way. He calls Sabrina and apologizes for his part in their fight, for taking so much of her attention and clapping back at her. And Sabrina apologizes too, and lets him know that she’s dumped her GF. Her jealousy was toxic when Sabrina wasn’t doing a thing, Riley was right about that. But Riley admits and owns up to the fact that his delivery could have been better. With their relationship mended, Riley gives Sabrina the rundown on Skylar and his dilemma and how he’s questioning his whole GS journey. Maybe he shouldn’t have given Skylar’s assertion that gay guys don’t like femme guys any thought, or air time. Sure, it caused General Gay Chaos in the discussions online, but most of the General Gay Chaos that had happened in the past was Mountain Pass-focused like throwing a Pride Parade in the middle of the halls, or things all in good fun like a past GS Hopeful posting a picture of herself kissing a singer-songwriter GS alum online that made people go googly eyed for Sapphic love in the best way. Now, even though he’s won the bet, Riley feels hopeless because none of the guys he tried to date liked him back. Even if Skylar asked him out, what if no one likes him after all? Sabrina assures him that somebody likes him, and is closer than he thinks, but it’s not her space to tell. Meanwhile, she says why don’t her and Nicholas and Riley do a triple escort situation for the Ball? Nicholas agreed to walk with Sabrina after she dumped her GF. Riley appreciates the idea, but he’s not into it because it feels like a pity thing. Especially now after he broadcast getting a date through his podcast, people will know he—a femme guy—couldn’t get anybody and now just has to walk with his friends, one of whom is the producer of his show.

Panicked now, Riley thinks he’s going to look like a total loser at the Ball. He’s not going to have an escort, and he will *not* ask his mom or dad to do it. That’s when it hits him: his mentee, Josiah, has been wanting a time to show-off their femme fashions, maybe they’d want to have this epic moment and the whole GS fanbase could watch and support them too. Josiah is in, and is just a three-hour car ride away in Ellensburg, WA. It won’t be a moment of failure, but a moment of femme folks standing together.

Nicholas drives and Riley records the latest episode on the way to pick up Josiah. They pick him up at a Perkins, and the second Riley gets back in the front seat, Nicholas leans over and kisses Riley! He’s been in love with Riley all this time, but didn’t say anything because it seemed like Riley was just into very hyper masculine guys, guys that Nicholas doesn’t relate to much at all. But ever since Riley has turned his attention to helping others and not this dating scheme anymore, Nicholas’s feelings have been on overdrive for Riley and his heart couldn’t take keeping in his feelings anymore.

Riley feels like an idiot for multiple reasons: First and foremost, he never wanted to make Nicholas feel like Skylar made Riley feel, like because his gender expression wasn’t the same one that gets all the media attention, he wasn’t desirable. Riley was just trying to make a point and now feels like a total ass. Second, he can’t believe he ever overlooked Nicholas as a romantic partner. They’ve been best friends since seventh grade, and everything about Nicholas’s heart and soul is perfect. Why can’t romance work between them? And Nicholas admits that he shared his feelings with Sabrina and that Sabrina’s been trying to figure out a way to make their relationship work even when she was mad at Riley. He realizes he really has had the best BFFs for life.

Riley leans in and kisses Nicholas again, and says yes. They should try this out. Josiah is ecstatic, if not a little bit taken aback by the sudden romance declaration, and tells the two this was just the kind of scene they needed to see, to see femme people finding love and a partner. The Gaybutante Ball goes off without a hitch, and Josiah is so grateful to have had this chance to be themself. They might not feel safe still to be as femme and free at home, but this was a moment to keep them going until they graduate.

That’s when Riley realizes what his podcast could be. A safe space for LGTBQIA+ people of all genders and sexualities, who write/call in looking for advice and connection, and Riley can use the resources of his audience to help them find it. He can help people find dates when they think there’s no one out there for them, he can help people find support groups and friends, he can even help folks find a gay pickle ball league. All of it.

And the best part is, he’ll get to do it with Nicholas by his side, producing along the way. And maybe kissing now and then too.

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