# Behind the book deal: How a book goes from pitch to print, with Penguin Random House's Izzy Yates Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/how-i-work-960132/behind-the-book-deal-how-a-book-goes-from-pitch-to-print-with-penguin-random-house-s-izzy-yates Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/how-i-work-960132/behind-the-book-deal-how-a-book-goes-from-pitch-to-print-with-penguin-random-house-s-izzy-yates.md Podcast: [How I Work](https://stenobird.com/podcast/how-i-work-960132) Published: 2026-07-01T20:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://omny.fm/shows/how-i-work/interview-with-prh-2026-06-24-final Audio file: https://mgln.ai/e/187/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/fa326977-3de5-4283-9b8b-af3500c58607/190bd54e-82e6-43fb-8f6a-af46001792de/8519f865-80f8-44ae-859c-b4780014ee99/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=71f0c47d-eac4-4e42-b713-af46001792ec Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/how-i-work-960132/episodes/behind-the-book-deal-how-a-book-goes-from-pitch-to-print-with-penguin-random-house-s-izzy-yates Duration seconds: 3270 ## Resource **  Grab tickets for The Energy Game Melbourne launch (29 July, 6:30pm)  here  and pre-order The Energy Game book  here .**   Writing a book is hard. But getting a publisher to say yes to your book? That is an entirely different challenge, and one that most aspiring authors know almost nothing about.  What actually happens when a proposal lands on a publisher's desk? Who else needs to sign off before an offer is made? And in a world where anyone can ask AI to explain any topic, why has "great content" stopped being enough on its own?  This one is a little different from my usual episodes. It's a recording from a live webinar I did with Izzy Yates, head of Penguin Publishing Lab at Penguin Random House Australia, who has published my last three books, including my newest one, The Energy Game.   We unpack the full journey of a book, from proposal to bookshelf, including how Penguin's internal acquisitions process works, why pre-orders matter far more than most people realise, what actually gets retailers excited, and whether you can land a deal without a big platform.  If you have ever thought about writing a book, or you are in the middle of writing one right now, this is the conversation I wish I had heard before I started.  Izzy and I discuss: What made my first book proposal stand out, and the key ingredients Izzy looks for in every strong proposal  The formula publishers use to evaluate a book: the quality of the idea multiplied by the size of the author's platform, and why it's more nuanced than it sounds  Why authors who weave personal story into their content are having more success than those who rely on expertise alone … ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/how-i-work-960132/episodes/behind-the-book-deal-how-a-book-goes-from-pitch-to-print-with-penguin-random-house-s-izzy-yates/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/how-i-work-960132/behind-the-book-deal-how-a-book-goes-from-pitch-to-print-with-penguin-random-house-s-izzy-yates.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.