LITERARY AGENTS: THE ACCOMPANIMENT SERIES
A Revolutionary Approach to One of Our Most Pressing Social Challenges
The Market Opportunity
We are witnessing a global crisis in dementia care that masquerades as inevitable decline. When medical professionals visit Dutch Green Care Farms and observe residents with late-stage dementia gardening, cooking, and living with dignity, they question whether these people truly have dementia—because institutional models have conditioned us to expect horror stories instead of human flourishing.
As baby boomers age and dementia cases are projected to triple by 2050, there's unprecedented market demand for approaches that go beyond medical management to address relational and existential dimensions of cognitive decline. Current caregiving literature focuses either on medical information or personal memoirs, leaving a significant gap for works that offer both authentic lived experience and practical frameworks for cultural change.
The Accompaniment Series fills this gap with narrative nonfiction that documents not just an individual journey but the blueprint for systemic change—backed by international research showing environmental approaches produce dramatically different outcomes at comparable costs.
The Revolutionary Discovery
Seven years walking beside my mother Betty through dementia revealed that cognitive decline doesn't mean the end of growth, connection, or meaning—it represents transition between different ways of knowing.
Unlike theoretical works on dementia, this trilogy is driven by intimate, real-time dialogue and vivid scenes from our journey—each conversation with Betty transcribed from audio recordings and preserved in her authentic voice.
Through daily experimentation with what actually worked versus what we thought should work, we discovered that cognitive decline doesn't have to mean the end of growth, connection, or meaning. What emerged was "Accompaniment"—the relational dimension that complements essential caregiving while preserving personhood when memory falters.
Our discoveries aligned remarkably with two other knowledge systems: ancient wisdom about consciousness and spatial memory, and scientific research on cognitive resilience. This convergence creates unshakeable foundation for understanding that cognitive changes represent transitions between ways of knowing rather than simple loss.
The Three-Book Series
LIONS AT DAWN: The Foundations of Accompaniment (48,500 words)
Establishes the revolutionary insight that physical caregiving is merely the starting point, while Accompaniment encompasses the vast, unseen work of preserving someone's essential self. Through moment-by-moment accounts of everyday interactions becoming moments of connection, readers witness how beauty and presence create pathways when conventional communication falters. Betty's authentic voice—sometimes poetic, often surprising, always genuine—guides readers through her changing perception while revealing capacities that persist when linear thinking fades.
THE SWORD & THE BLESSING: The Art of Accompaniment (51,200 words)
Intensifies the journey as family conflicts, institutional barriers, and increasing limitations reveal the systemic forces creating unnecessary suffering. I trace evolution from soldier to warrior to knight—learning that cultural transformation requires both strategic engagement with power systems that profit from decline and presence that honors essential personhood despite changing abilities. This volume provides frameworks for navigating both visible currents and hidden dynamics that shape dementia care outcomes
BEYOND TIME'S SHORES: A Guide to Sacred Transitions (30,000 words)
Ventures into territories rarely addressed in dementia literature, exploring how identity continues through channels beyond conventional memory. As Betty declares "I'm Angel Betty" and develops what she calls "Second Sight," we discover how accompaniment reshapes not just the accompanied but the companion, with influence continuing beyond physical presence through distributed memory patterns found in oral cultures worldwide.
While following natural progression, each book stands alone with complete arcs, allowing readers to begin wherever speaks to their current situation or experience the full evolution from foundation to integration.
Competitive Positioning
The Accompaniment Series fills a critical gap by bridging multiple successful literary categories:
Universal Patterns from Personal Experience
While dementia memoirs typically chronicle individual family struggles, these books distill transferable insights applicable across diverse situations—maintaining the emotional authenticity that creates connection while offering practical wisdom others can implement.
Integration of Medical and Relational Care
Medical guides address symptoms and management; memoirs explore emotional landscapes. The Accompaniment Series weaves both threads together with actionable frameworks for maintaining personhood as abilities evolve.
Proven International Models
Environmental care approaches demonstrate effectiveness across Netherlands, Denmark, and other countries. This series offers the cultural framework needed to accelerate North American adoption, supported by research in spatial memory, cognitive resilience, and environmental psychology.
Multi-Generational Relevance
Dementia care challenges span generations. These books equip current caregivers while preparing others for future needs. Companion novel RAY AND THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE extends this wisdom to younger audiences through engaging adventure narrative.
Platform and Credentials
Rare Convergence for Cultural Bridge-Building
Mark Jenkins brings an unprecedented combination essential for this cultural transformation: storytelling mastery that catalyzes organizational change, frontline advocacy revealing how trauma shapes resistance to hope, and decades of relationship with Indigenous knowledge holders who preserve spatial memory wisdom.
As creator of TeamEverest—serving hundreds of organizations worldwide—Mark developed expertise using story as catalyst for systemic change. Seven years as dementia care advocate revealed why positive stories often provoke defensive reactions from audiences carrying institutional and generational trauma and guilt.
Whereas relationships with traditional Indigenous teachers provided the missing framework when Betty's location-based memories stayed strong while linear recall changed.
This convergence enables translating intimate caregiving discoveries into frameworks that bridge ancient wisdom about consciousness, modern research on cognitive resilience, and practical implementation families worldwide can adapt to their unique circumstances.
Technology That Serves Love
The work began not with Betty's story, but with heartbreaking encounters in long-term care facilities - beautiful elders sitting unaccompanied, some abandoned by families, others simply alone with no one to visit or help them remember who they are. Witnessing grandparents of friends, extended family members, and countless isolated elders revealed a devastating truth: our society consistently creates cognitive care facilities where people lose not just memory, but connection to their essential selves.
This crisis inspired AccompanyAI and CARA (Cognitive Accompaniment & Relational Assistant) - technology designed to ensure no elder faces cognitive changes without some form of accompaniment.
While conventional cognitive tools become obsolete as abilities change, CARA grows more valuable throughout the journey, providing consistent support that adapts to different ways of knowing while preserving dignity and connection.
Betty's journey then validated these principles through lived experience, proving how accompaniment - whether human or technological - can preserve personhood when memory falters. The Accompaniment Series trilogy documents this discovery while CARA demonstrates practical implementation, creating sustainable solutions for the millions who have limited access to human accompaniment.
Cultural Impact Potential
Challenging a Trillion-Dollar Crisis
This series confronts fundamental assumptions about aging and cognition that fuel a $1 trillion global crisis projected for 2030. The barrier to proven environmental approaches isn't economic—it's cultural. We lack compelling narratives that make alternatives feel achievable rather than utopian.
The crisis is profoundly gendered—women provide 75% of unpaid family caregiving while relational work remains unrecognized and under-compensated. Current systems benefit from this invisibility: institutions focus on profitable medical tasks while families absorb the true cost of preserving identity and connection. The Accompaniment Series makes visible what patriarchal care models systematically ignore and undermine.
Like Rachel Carson's SILENT SPRING exposed how chemical agriculture damaged essential ecological relationships, The Accompaniment Series uses research-backed evidence to challenge reductionist dementia care that fragments human experience. Both works reveal how relationship-centered approaches consistently outperform management-focused systems.
Market Timing and Demographics
Unprecedented Need
With dementia diagnoses occurring every three seconds globally and over 82 million people projected to experience cognitive changes by 2030, market demand has never been greater for resources addressing both caregiving practicalities and the essential work of maintaining personhood through transition.
International Validation
Environmental approaches prove effective worldwide, with Dutch studies showing equivalent daily costs (CAD $205 vs CAD $200 for institutional care), while delivering measurably better outcomes in life satisfaction, meaningful engagement, and reduced pharmaceutical intervention.
Publishing Landscape Gap
Current dementia literature divides between medical guides and personal memoirs. No existing work combines authentic lived experience with practical frameworks for systemic transformation, backed by international research validation
Platform Expansion Potential
Content translates naturally across formats: intimate author-narrated audiobooks, compelling documentary adaptation, comprehensive professional training systems, and seamless AccompanyAI technology integration.
The Ray Adventure Integration
Adventure as Initiation
Recognizing widespread intergenerational caregiving trauma, the series includes SHAMBHALA & THE CAREGIVING HEART OF THE WORLD, an adventure novel functioning as cultural caregiving preparation tool. When sixteen-year-old Ray discovers her beloved grandmother showing signs of dementia, she refuses to accept that the sparkle in Grandsy's eyes must fade away.
Embarking on a perilous quest to Nepal seeking an mythical "elixir of immortality," Ray's external adventure becomes internal transformation—discovering that authentic healing means learning to see and honor the person emerging through cognitive changes rather than trying to turn back time. The greatest medicine, she learns, might be found in the caregiving heart itself.
This strategic companion provides multiple entry points:
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Narrative Initiation - Delivers Accompaniment principles through compelling story rather than theoretical framework
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Generational Bridge - Engages young people before caregiving crisis while offering adults emotional preparation through fiction's protective container
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Family Transformation - Creates common vocabulary and shared understanding for multi-generational families navigating cognitive transitions
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Market Expansion - Appeals to both YA adventure readers and adults seeking meaningful preparation for inevitable caregiving roles
Ray's journey appeals to anyone young at heart enough to believe that love can work miracles and brave enough to embark on quests that matter, regardless of whether they're sixteen or one hundred and six. The novel captures hearts across generations—adventure-loving teens find their calling while adults young at heart rediscover that the greatest quests begin when someone we love needs saving.
Author Background
Ancient Patterns in Modern Expression
Mark Jenkins brings a convergence of storytelling mastery, frontline caregiving experience, experiential learning, scientific research background/publication and cross-cultural wisdom to this pressing social crisis. Writing from his cabin beside Ontario's wild Magnetawan River, his path from Australian outback origins through corporate innovation to cognitive care advocacy follows an ancestral pattern spanning generations.
Mark's ancestral line has alternated between doctors and priests across many generations, perhaps tracing back to the Celtic Druids who embodied the "triple gift"—healing arts, spiritual guidance, and cultural and bardic storytelling. Mark's work represents his bardic heritage's contemporary manifestation: ancient wisdom about consciousness and community meeting modern understanding of cognitive change and technological possibility for cultural restoration.
Submission Materials
Investment-Ready Content Portfolio
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Immediate Publication: Complete manuscripts for LIONS AT DAWN (48,500 words) and Shambhala & the Caregiving Heart of the World (61,000 words)
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Pipeline Development: THE SWORD & THE BLESSING and BEYOND TIME'S SHORES with comprehensive outlines and a complete draft versions of both books
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Market Validation: Extensive research documentation, international evidence, and proven speaking platform
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Technology Integration: Cara/AccompanyAI inter-compatibility ready as a working proof-of-concept investment ready for scaling
Multi-Revenue Stream Positioning
Core Categories:
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Narrative Nonfiction
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Health & Wellness / Caregiving
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Social Issues
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Psychology
Expansion Opportunities:
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Technology platform licensing,
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Healthcare professional training programs,
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Documentary adaptation rights,
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Hollywood feature film potential for the YA adventure component
The Opportunity
Defining Cultural Moment
The Accompaniment Series offers more than exceptional publishing potential—it provides the narrative catalyst needed as baby boomers approach cognitive transitions. Environmental care models already prove transformative internationally. These books deliver the cultural bridge that could accelerate North American implementation, potentially revolutionizing how millions of families experience aging while solving one of society's most challenging demographic shifts.
For agents committed to projects that generate both substantial commercial returns and enduring social impact, The Accompaniment Series presents rare alignment: massive market timing meets established storytelling platform meets research-validated transformation methodology.
This intersection creates publishing opportunity while building better cultural responses to aging and extreme human suffering.
What's Next?
"What can we do?
This was Betty's most frequent response when anyone shared difficult personal or global situations - right up to her final weeks. Even facing her own cognitive changes, she remained focused on response rather than resignation.
Every morning when I begin this work, I tell Betty that we are doing something about this. On the shelf beside her photograph sit the stones she collected on our outings - each one carefully inscribed with dates and place names in her own handwriting. These stones reveal how important place was to Betty, how she anchored memories in both location and time, creating tangible connections to moments of wonder and discovery.
The Accompaniment Series represents our answer to her eternal question - addressing one of our most pressing social challenges through the very principles she embodied, principles that understood how consciousness organizes around spatial relationships and meaningful places rather than linear time alone.
For agents committed to projects that generate both substantial commercial returns and enduring cultural impact, this series offers rare alignment: massive demographic timing meets research-validated methodology meets proven storytelling platform. More than publishing potential, it provides the narrative catalyst needed as 78 million baby boomers approach cognitive transitions while seeking approaches that look nothing like the suffering they are currently witnessing.
Environmental care models are already proving themselves internationally. These books deliver the cultural bridge that could accelerate North American implementation, potentially revolutionizing how millions experience aging.
Discover the Philosophy - Our Home Page introduces core Accompaniment principles through Betty's authentic voice
Explore the Books - Complete series overview plus Ray's adventure story that prepares younger generations
See the Complete Vision - How environmental care approaches can transform aging across cultures Meet the Author - Mark's personal journey from corporate innovation to cognitive care advocacy
Experience the Technology - AccompanyAI and CARA demonstrate practical implementation of Accompaniment principles
Join the Movement - Support expanding this vision to families worldwide who need these approaches
Ready to do something together?
Mark Jenkins
Creator, The Accompaniment Series
Founder, AccompanyAI/Cara