Piatkus wins three-way auction for Scottee’s Amateur’s Guide to Staying Alive

Piatkus has acquired An Amateur’s Guide to Staying Alive, the debut non-fiction book by creator of the podcast Self Help, Scottee. Commissioning editor Bernadette Marron bought world rights from Abi Fellows at DHH Literary for publication on 15th April 2027.

The book is billed as “for anyone who has ever felt overwhelmed by their own mind”. “At a time when we’re encouraged to pursue constant wellness, positivity and self-improvement, Scottee offers a quieter, more honest alternative: letting go of happiness as a goal, and settling instead for feeling OK,” the description reads.

“Scottee resists the idea that we must be constantly improving or getting better. Instead, he finds comfort and softness in accepting that we may always be mad, sad and a little bit weird. Part handbook, part personal exploration, this book looks at how we think about mental health and the stories we tell ourselves about our brains. It asks what ‘normal’ really means, who it serves and what might become possible if we stopped trying so hard to perform it.”

Scottee said: “Three years ago, when I first set foot into the wilderness to try and make sense of my brain, I could have never guessed the path would lead me towards a book about mental health survival. I am so excited to put An Amateur’s Guide to Staying Alive into the world. So much of the mental health landscape is dominated by people with letters after their name talking about things they’ve studied.

“This book is quite the opposite – me, a patient since I was 14, a professional amateur trying to make sense of the big words, theories and diagnoses placed upon us, all whilst attempting to make what it is to be mad and sad feel a little less isolating.”

Marron said: “I immediately connected with Scottee’s voice and the fluidity of his writing. At a time when so many books about mental health focus on ‘fixing’ ourselves, Scottee offers something refreshingly different, questioning what getting better really means and encouraging readers to understand and make peace with their own minds. This book offers real comfort, expressed in a raw yet compassionate way, and I’m looking forward to sharing it with readers.”