QUERYING BOOK PROJECTS

For Agents & Editors

When my kids were little, I published five books on parenting. The three-book series came after an editor who had been following my blog approached me to write guides for parenting babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. I wound up with two deals for four books in one year--the year I had cancer. Somehow, I hit my slightly extended deadlines and the books hit the shelves as planned. I appeared on major TV and radio programs, blogged for GoodHousekeeping.com, and placed essays in Parents, Parenting, American Baby, and even The Wall Street Journal to build my brand. 
 
After my divorce, I needed regular freelance work, so I reinvented myself as a medical writer. (Hey, I can describe a PET scan from inside the machine.) I left book publishing for a few years, and my agent and I parted amicably while I wrote about arrhythmias and brain tumors. 
 
When I came back to book publishing, I ghostwrote, coached, and edited for other authors. I still do. But I had something to say, too, and now I'm seeking literary representation for two book projects.
 
Both of my new projects focus on the effects of "little t" traumas, the small but insidious things that can actually be more difficult to treat that the "big t" traumas. As a cancer, Covid, and heart failure survivor, I've endured my fair share of both kinds, learning along the way how to be with the bad feelings to get to the good.
 
My books in the parenting genre include:
  • The Stop Second-Guessing Yourself Guides (Babies, Toddlers & Preschoolers) (HCI)
  • You're a Good Mom (and Your Kids Aren't So Bad Either) (Sourcebooks)
  • 14 Hours Til Bedtime (Wyatt-McKenzie)

Projects available for representation:

Memoir Plus

THAT WHICH DOESN'T KILL YOU: WHAT WE DO TO PATIENTS AND WHY WE NEED TO STOP IT

In the loneliest times in your life, you're usually surrounded by people: doctors, nurses, family members, close friends, acquaintances using your crisis to look important, neighbors with lasagnas in dishes they'll never see again, DoorDash, and whoever that is who wakes you up in the hospital at 4 am to take your blood pressure. Unless they've had their own "oh shit" diagnoses, they don't understand the depths of the indignities of the medical system and the insensitivities of people who "mean well" while they're finger-wagging, "That which doesn't kill you..." What? Mutates and comes back to try again?

Cancer, Covid "Classic," and heart failure survivor Jen Singer learned the hard way that in making people feel better physically, the medical system, loved ones, and "Be Positive" tchotchkes sold on Etsy actually make us feel worse, at least emotionally. That's why you're called a patient. You're going to need to be.

In THAT WHICH DOESN'T KILL YOU, medical writer and serial patient Jen Singer rips off the bandage to reveal the ugly side of healthcare and patient support. Weaving her own harrowing story of two death-is-ringing-the-doorbell experiences, she shares studies and science around patient care and support with the hopes that we'll learn to make illness less lonely for us all.

Memoir

MY BEHAVIOR OF LATE HAS NOT BEEN THE BEST: FINDING FORGIVENESS FOR THE LITTLE TRAUMAS

The best bad thing ever to happen to me was watching my father die. I don’t mean that in a Johnny Cash kind of way. This isn’t a story about crime and punishment. It’s about love and forgiveness, though for the longest time, I didn’t know I was capable of either.

“Witty and wise, Jen Singer opens the reader’s heart with laughter and unpacks profound insights with a compelling, well-delivered story. I love this book. It’s a gift to every reader who’s struggling to outgrow their quirky family, make sense of their body, and evolve to fully human happiness.”

– Joni Rodgers, bestselling author of “Bald in Land of Big Hair”

A full 50,000-word manuscript and proposal are available.

 

Contact Me
jen singer's memoirs