146: [WCN Presents] Writing & Publishing Your Story

What Came Next

Broken Cycle Media

Education, Society & Culture, Self-improvement, True Crime, Documentary

4.4 • 627 Ratings

🗓️ 17 October 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

If you’ve ever thought about writing your story - whether that's for personal catharsis or for connection to your community - today’s episode is for you. Our goal with this episode is to empower survivors! In it we’re sharing some lesser-known literary world tips and tricks that help you organize, plan, write, and even publish your non-fiction works. For example, did you know you don’t even need to write your non-fiction book in order to pitch it to a publisher or an agent? You just have to write a non-fiction manuscript proposal, which is a fabulous tool for writers, whether your goal is to share your story with others or not. If you have a loved one who's interested in penning their personal story, this is the episode for them!

Resources:

Nonfiction Authors Association Book Proposal Template:
https://nonfictionauthorsassociation.com/book-proposal-template-3/

Writing a Non-Fiction Query Letter:
https://blog.reedsy.com/non-fiction-query-letter/

Publishers Marketplace:
https://www.publishersmarketplace.com/

445 Agents Seeking Nonfiction Submissions in 2025:
https://blog.reedsy.com/literary-agents/nonfiction/

Alpha & Beta Readers: What Are They & Why Bother?
https://www.ingramspark.com/blog/alpha-and-beta-readers-what-are-they-and-why-bother

JJ Comerford on What Came Next:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-came-next/id1674051643?i=1000728525469

Working for Justice: One Family’s Tale of Murder, Betrayal, and Healing
https://amzn.to/4qu4eR4

Amy B. Chesler on Instagram
http://www.instagram.com/amybchesler

For a list of survivor resources and non-profit organizations, please visit http://www.somethingwaswrong.com/resources

Transcript

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0:00.0	The weather. Tomorrow, expect a biting cold front. Hmm, how naughty. I wonder what I'll be
0:06.8	wearing or taking off. The night will be wild and untamed. Expect heavy, lashing rain
0:13.0	that'll soak you to the skin. By Monday, temperatures will rise slowly but surely reaching
0:18.7	their peak in the afternoon.
0:23.0	Not in the mood for miserable weather.
0:25.6	Fly cheaply to Turkey with Sun Express.
0:28.7	Sun Express, nonstop sunshine.
0:33.0	Hey there, true crime podcast fans.
0:35.4	It's Patrick and Jillian from True Crime Obsessed.
0:54.9	Each week on TCO, we recap a true crime documentary everyone's talking about, and we do it with hearts, sass, and just the right amount of humor. So if you like the kind of podcast where two good friends chat about a case in a thoughtful way that centers the victims, you really got to check us out. Yeah, we cover the well-known cases that you hear about in the news and the underreported cases that desperately need more attention.
0:59.2	For almost nine years, we've been one of the most popular true crime podcasts out there.
1:08.0	We have over 30,000 five-star reviews on Apple Podcasts, and our brand-new YouTube channel has over 50,000 subscribers watching our full-length video episodes, too.
1:10.8	So find and subscribe, True Crime Obsessed, wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you to CashUp for sponsoring this episode. What came next is intended for mature
1:19.8	audiences only. Episodes discuss topics that can be triggering, such as emotional, physical,
1:26.2	and sexual violence, animal abuse, suicide,
1:29.6	and murder. I am not a therapist, nor am I a doctor. If you're in need of support, please visit
1:36.3	something was wrong.com forward slash resources for a list of non-profit organizations that can help.
1:43.5	Opinions expressed by my guests on the show are
1:46.1	their own and do not necessarily represent the views of myself or broken cycle media.
1:52.2	Resources and source material are linked in the episode notes. Thank you so much for listening. Hi, friends. I am super excited about today's episode. We're taking a little detour from our general format, and we're doing a special episode of what came next. A few months ago, when we aired our most recent Q&A episode, I included
2:37.9	some information about publishing and writing your story. I have received an incredible
2:45.8	amount of messages since that episode asking about more information. When we were discussing future episodes
	...

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