How exactly does pitching work? You say they asked you to write She-Hulk. Does that mean they have to reach out to you for a pitch for a series, or can you just kind of come up with something, submit it to editors, and hope they like it?

If you are a ‘name,’ generally they want you for a title and let you know that. The ‘pitch’ is just to make sure you have a plan and direction they are okay with going in, but it’s still pretty much already decided.

There are other, less fun situations. Cattle call pitches are also common, where they will ask for pitches from many writers when they don’t have a specific choice in mind. Whichever is best is the one they choose, hopefully. 

Sometimes a pro will want to do a book and submit a pitch on the hope that it might fit the publishing plans, but usually, the title starts with the publisher.