Marketing
Photo by Retha Ferguson
I think constantly about value. What will bring value to my client’s book—the write-up in People, the outreach to book clubs, the branded swag for influencers, a radio satellite tour to bring a specific message to a large audience. What is the marketing communications mix for my client? How will I generate conversation, drive influence and sales, gain the implied endorsement from a reputable source, build an online buzz.
I recently spoke with bestselling historical fiction author (a Get Red PR client) Camille Di Maio on Instagram for her book industry interview series about the ins and outs of PR and what’s changed through the years. While each day something will happen that will make me squeal with delight, and I say that because I’m a big believer in small victories. The rejections are also daily and sometimes another ‘no’ leaves me weakened and tending to wounds that I know will heal but for the briefest period are unbearable.
The next day, I sit at my desk and do it all over again, because no matter what, I love what I do. The conversation I have with myself about value starts again.
I decided to ask a few authors and a veteran literary publicist—with many books to their credit—their their thoughts about value. Specifically, how have their marketing communications efforts evolved through the years, and what are some of the big differences between their various book releases.
ROBYN HARDING, Internationally Bestselling Author of THE SWAP, out now
I published my first novel in 2004, before social media was widely used (or even created in most cases), so I was at the mercy of my publisher’s in-house publicist to promote my book. She arranged local television, newspaper, and radio interviews for me, and put me in touch with several online book bloggers. (I still remember being asked: What do you consider to be your best feature? I didn’t bat an eye then, but I would now.) My next few novels were promoted the same way. After taking a break to explore screenwriting, I returned to publishing with my first domestic suspense novel, THE PARTY, in 2017. The world of promotions had moved almost completely online, and I had much more opportunity to participate in my own publicity. Now, my in-house publicist gets my book into the hands of print and online publications for inclusion on lists and round-ups, which I share on social media to amplify their reach. (I’ve had my books in big traditional publications like People and Entertainment Weekly, but it didn’t seem to impact sales.) I usually write a few articles that tie into the theme of my book, and my publicist will place them. In 2017, I didn’t have Instagram or Twitter, so I was trying to promote a book and develop a following at the same time. Since then, I have found an amazing book community online, and have developed friendships with many bookstagrammers. When my latest novel, THE SWAP, was published on June 23, I felt such incredible support. I spent the entirety of pub day thanking people on social media. It was pretty great.
Photo: Voltamax-60363
I was on the phone with author Barbara Taylor Bradford on Tuesday morning. We were just having a check-in to see how things were going in quarantine. I complained about my mornings of remote learning with my five and eight-year-old children. We both agreed that as women who have worked from home for years—she 40 and me 15—not much had changed for us in that respect. But having lived through WWII, she wanted me to know that it would be OK, that things would get better, that I had to have hope. She then commented that she was excited for the end of the day because after she completed a writing chapter of her next book, she would be shopping online for some Maybelline makeup. This was her reward for a chapter complete. This was the bright little ray on her day.
It made me smile.
In my last WRITER UNBOXED article, I discussed the positive movements in the book world since the pandemic. I’ve seen many a book launch since then, and as a publicist, I’ve been part of a few. Despite all the good, I’ll admit, there are days I feel less than hopeful.
With limited distribution, cancelled tours, fewer marketing dollars, media shifts and downsizes, and possibly decreased publisher support, many authors with books launching this spring are facing a challenge.
So I queried nine authors who have recently launched or are about to launch a new book. I wanted to know, as an artist, what or who gives them hope each day? And what gives them hope for your book despite this uncertain time.
I have to say, the power of US, is so very strong.
Richard Fifield, The Small Crimes of Tiffany Templeton, March 10
My second book was launched on March 7th. Three days later, the world shut down, and I had no live audience, no venues. I need an audience. On the computer, the camera creates a distance that cannot be closed. Last year, my mother died of leukemia, and I was holding her hand at the end, just the two of us, my laptop open, because I promised her that I would finish this book. She was my best friend, and in the last six weeks, I needed her. Our relationship was stormy, until I got sober in April of 2005. I did the work to make it better, and that work began with learning how to love selflessly, to find perspective. Fifteen years ago, I began walking the dogs at Animal Control, the worst dogs, the ones considered unadoptable, damaged beyond repair. I could identify with that. They were so grateful to see me, the real me, and it broke my heart that they had no idea they were set to be euthanized. I was spared, by the grace of something bigger than me, stopped from euthanizing myself slowly. I have adopted five of those dogs, learned to grieve without numbing myself, learned to love without the fear of loss. My rescue dogs rescued me, showed me how to love, and how to be loved. In the last six weeks, they remind me I’m fortunate to have published a book, no […]
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I promised to follow up my last blog post on searching for relevant grants with a post on how to write a killer proposal. Well, here we are, at my next blog post, but also in another world. One with far more questions than answers–not just about writing, but about basic life and the shape of the future. I have had too much time during shelter in place to think how useless, or even callous it would be for me to carry on as planned. Will there even be grants for writers in the future? Shouldn’t I write a post about how to navigate the now, rather than the not so certain future?
I am not a navel-gazing sort, and my only advice on how to get through the current day-to-day is simply do your best, forgive yourself often and fully, and give yourself permission to pursue what you love and want to do as often as you can. And that last piece of advice is what convinced me to carry on as planned. Because ‘permission’ to do what you love is often linked to having the financial means to do so. Perhaps it’s naïve, but I believe that when we reach the other side of this transformation there will still be opportunities worth pursuing that will require proposals and applications. Perhaps not necessarily just for writing fiction. Perhaps for getting a job. Perhaps for landing a contract. Perhaps for applying for school or education.
Whatever future we are reeling towards, knowing how to describe what you want to do convincingly, concisely, and purposely is useful. Even if you only do it as an exercise to clarify your own understanding of your goals. So here is a strategy for writing an awesome proposal, for whatever you want to pursue.
How to Write a Killer Proposal
At different points in my career some very smart, successful people (including scientists, humanities scholars, writers, and even fitness gurus) have given me advice about how to craft a good project proposal. Despite their drastically different career paths, their advice was surprisingly consistent and could essentially be boiled down to one cardinal rule and four basic pieces of information.
The Cardinal Rule: clarity of language is of more value than trying to write to impress, whether with style, wit, language, name-dropping or jargon. (Although if you can be clear and witty at the same time, then by all means do so.) A good proposal is not about how much you say, but about how well formulated what you say is.
The Four Basic Elements of a Good Proposal. Simply tell them:
It’s so good to be back here on Writer Unboxed after a year’s sabbatical hunkering down and focusing solely on my work helping authors build buzz and visibility at BookSavvy PR. I’ve missed being an active part of this wonderful community (though I’ve still been stalking), and have been bursting with thoughts to share from the frontlines of promotion.
Many of those thoughts suddenly feel less relevant, though, as we all stand paralyzed with shock before the Coronavirus crisis. People across the planet are being forced to adjust in ways we never imagined, and the writing community—despite a penchant for solitude that might suggest we’re relatively “safe”—is no exception. On top of losses ranging from jobs and livelihoods to favorite writing spots in coffee shops and libraries, the cancellation of launch events has come as an especially painful blow. Gratitude to Teri for the initiative to support those whose launches are suddenly un-scheduled.
Yes, it’s an immense disappointment. And yes, it is crushing to imagine not having that well-deserved, long-anticipated celebration and the bond of community it brings. This is a huge, painful loss. But if you are also biting your nails about the impact on your book’s success, my advice from the promo trenches here is: breathe. None of this is as gloomy as it might feel. Need convincing? Here is my reasoning, based on many years on the frontlines:
You Can Reschedule – and There’s a Silver Lining
This is quickly becoming the year of cancellations—and resilience. In the spirit of resilience, the show must go on. Take steps now to reschedule your launch. Your local bookstore may be shut at the moment but you can be in touch with the owner. If they are struggling as sadly, many independent bookstores are right now, and don’t know what the future holds, make a backup plan: a library, or somebody’s home. Invite the bookstore staff and owner too. It might help boost their morale.
And in the meantime, take comfort in knowing that postoning your launch event means you can look forward to it for that much longer, can build buzz in the lead-up to it that much longer, and that you have the support of many amazing communities as Allison Hammer mentioned last week here on WU.
It’s Okay if Your Launch Event and Publication Date Don’t Align
Maybe the idea of rescheduling your launch event worries you because you’ve heard that a launch must happen around the time of publication. Don’t let it. Perhaps because traditional publishers prefer to see as much buzz and as many sales as possible around a publication date, there is a huge amount of pressure on authors to do everything in their power to create that initial bang. But trust me: the bang can happen at other times, too. Books have a long shelf life. (Pun intended) I’ve known and worked with dozens of authors who for various reasons don’t hold a launch event or even begin promotion of any sort until months after a publication date at earliest, and their books have gone on to […]
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Photo by Stokpic
I intended to write about new marketing communications strategies I’ve seen in the book world these days, but given the current pandemic and it’s impact on our industry, I’m going to pivot slightly and go back to a topic I’ve written about before: community.
I write now having just come from picking up books from my children’s public school, a school of 1,300 in the borough of Queens, NY. The parents lingered a little longer to see a friend, to stand in the sunlight, to just be around a place that gives our children encouragement, knowledge, friendship.
In the PR world, (hopefully) most of us are doing what we’ve been trained to do—(I’ll use the word again) pivot, monitor, heed with caution, give back, educate and jump when the moment is right. Author tours have been cancelled as have appearances, signings, speaking engagements, and festivals. Bookstores have closed their doors to browsing. Media has shifted focus. Social media messaging plans are being retooled and new messaging crafted with considerable care.
With all this in mind, I’ve been monitoring people’s actions—not so much their use of hand sanitizer, toilet paper hoarding and social distancing, but 1) how are they changing gears, giving back, and jumping in to mobilize, educate and protect.
Here’s a round up of all the light and love I’ve seen:
Author interviews
Journal writing prompts
Cool writerly kid stuff
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People often ask me what I’m reading and sometimes I forget. What’s the name of that book again? But then some book titles stick to my brain like a gecko clinging to a wall. They take root inside me and often the book itself proves to be just as unforgettable.
In brainstorming the title for my own debut novel, I turned to experts who advised that authors should keep titles short for a variety of reasons: Something short will be easier for people to remember. Fewer words will fit more neatly on the book jacket and not require a small, unreadable font. But like most advice, it depends.
My favorite title these days consists of eight words. You read that right. Eight. Yet it sounds cool as hell when I say it aloud: Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick. Zora Neale Hurston’s story collection centers on love and migration. The rhythm and flow of that title hits my ear just right. Genevieve West, who wrote the book’s introduction, says there are many ways to understand the title, one being that it refers to the ability of black people to endure and overcome challenges, or as the old folks say “make a way out of no-way.”
Then there are the one-word wonders that pack a world of meaning in an astonishing economy of letters. I devoured Heavy, the memoir by Kiese Laymon. In one small word, he interrogates so many aspects of a heavy life: blackness, body weight, secrets and lies, America’s sins, and the many ways we hurt others and ourselves. In her runaway bestseller Becoming, Michelle Obama uses the title of her memoir to explore how our personal growth has no finite destination; instead, we’re always learning and evolving. The title sparked a mini-movement, too. Using the hashtag #IamBecoming, readers took to Twitter to share their personal journeys of becoming.
The scope and breadth of a book title can intimidate us as the authors of the work. How expansive can it be? Am I being audacious in my choice of a title? When I studied novel writing with Tayari Jones at Tin House, she discussed the difficulty she had in choosing the title of her latest novel. In an offhand remark to her editor, she suggested An American Marriage but quickly dismissed the idea because it sounded like a book about navel-gazing white people in Connecticut, not a novel about a black couple grappling with the fallout of wrongful incarceration. It was her mentor, Pearl Cleage, who reminded her that black people are indeed American and that the prison system responsible for upending her protagonist’s life is a uniquely American institution.
Some of the best book titles turn popular sayings on their head and imbue them with new, unexpected meaning.
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image by Georgali/Kappa/Regoukou
It’s no secret that regardless of how you publish, a huge part of publicizing and marketing a book now falls on the author’s shoulders. The downside is, of course, that there are already so many demands on our time, it feels like we just don’t have a minute to spare. But there’s an upside too. Being able to connect directly with readers through social channels and other means gives you an exciting, sometimes inspiring, degree of control. When someone else is making and executing on decisions about how your book gets promoted, you’re distanced. In the best scenarios, you and your publisher are both investing in getting your book into the hands of readers. That is truly the best! But regardless of your publisher’s level of engagement and/or investment, you still have the power — and the opportunity — to connect with potential readers yourself.
But it’s exhausting, right? Telling people about your book in short form and long form or with links or without, promoting and describing that book, writing essays about yourself and your book and trying to get them published, organizing giveaways, holding Facebook launch parties, Tweeting and Instagramming about yourself and your book over and over? It can feel like screaming into the void.
So if you don’t want to do that, don’t do that. Problem solved!
For the paperback launch of my novel WOMAN 99, I’m doing some local events, but most of the time I’d usually spend on promotion is going to another project. It’s only tangentially related to my own book, and it may or may not have any impact on sales, but it makes me happy, and that’s a pretty good goal too.
For Women’s History Month the last two years running, I interviewed women writers on my blog with the hashtag #womenshistoryreads. I’m not even sure how many interviews I ended up with, but it was well north of 75, and it took a whooooole lot of my time those Marches. Three questions and an answer for each post. Invitations and followups and editing, oh sigh. (There was, thank goodness, a spreadsheet.) This year I decided to do something simpler and just ask authors I knew for one book recommendation each — one book by and/or about a woman — for a series tagged #read99women.
Spoiler alert: it still takes a huge amount of my time. (Headshots! Bios! Intros! Links! Another spreadsheet!) But since I’m just about officially done with my next novel THE ARCTIC FURY and have no other writing projects on the immediate horizon, it’s time that I actually have, for a change.
And it’s been great. Not only am I reaching out to authors I know across genres (not just historical fiction and nonfiction), I’m making connections with new authors I didn’t know before. I’m seeing reminders of books I loved and recommendations for books I’ve never heard of, old and new. It reminds me what a supportive and wonderful community fellow writers can be.
Participation. Not promotion.
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Image – iStockphoto: Valery Ambartsumian
‘The Desire To Change Everything’
In an edition of the interview series First Draft: A Dialogue of Writing excerpted at Literary Hub, the Chilean-American author Isabel Allende says to Mitzi Rapkin, “Literature can maybe change minds, but few people read.
Provocations graphic by Liam Walsh
“Few people allow themselves to be influenced or changed by books,” she says. “It takes a book sometimes decades, sometimes centuries, to have an effect, while journalism is very immediate and very powerful. You have minutes of something on TV, and you can create much more impact than a book can do in many, many years.”
Allende–who has more than 23 books to her name, 74 million copies in 40 languages–is speaking, it turns out, not only as the author we know but as a journalist.
When “the great boom of Latin American literature was a bunch of men” early in her career, she says, she felt she was likelier to be a writer in journalism than in literature.
“I found a job in a feminine, very avant-garde magazine,” she says, “that started to deal with feminism early on when it wasn’t an issue in Chile yet. I had found my perfect niche, and that’s how I began writing. I wasn’t thinking that I was giving a voice to women. It was just random energy and the wish—the desire—to change everything, to change the society, the culture, the religion, everything.”
And it might surprise readers to learn now that she sees books as a slow medium, if you will, by comparison to journalism.
One reason this has resonance today, of course, is that there are so many political books going to market, covering the fray from both sides of a lot of aisles, not just from the classic conservative and liberal stances. Penguin Press’ January 21 release of Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig’s A Very Stable Genius arrived at No. 1 in new releases at Amazon, not just in politics but overall.
And yet that, of course, is a book by journalists. Rucker and Leonnig are at The Washington Post. And just making such books current by the time they’re out is no walk through the park. Authors talk of adding new last chapters and addenda at the last moment to account for the latest complication (or tweet) in a current-affairs context that just won’t stand still.
One of the most prominent examples of the moment in direct and timely political content is a memoir that’s almost writing the political scene rather than vice-versa. Leaks and passage descriptions from the manuscript of the former White House national security adviser John Bolton’s The Room Where It Happened (Simon & Schuster, coming March 17) are driving much of the discussion around the impeachment proceedings, particularly the question of new witnesses rejected by Senate Republicans for the trial.
Nevertheless, I’m not sure I agree with Allende in her assessment of the relative impact–or the relative speed of impact–of journalism over books, even literature.
And that’s my provocation for you today.
‘The Beginning of Terror’
Among Michael Cunningham’s novels, Read More
I started off 2020 completely and utterly exhausted. And because I’m a Type-A tiny business-owning mom of two children under the age of 7, the exhaustion, while expected, is also partly my own doing. I didn’t really need to be out until 2:00 a.m. last Friday singing karaoke … or did I?
In these exhausting early weeks of 2020, I’ve learned and been reminded of these four things:
The Basics of Good Communication
I was asked to speak to fourth grade Girl Scouts last week as they work hard on selling those delicious cookies. Here’s what I said about speaking to customers:
I left those lovely young ladies with a notebook to document their customer’s likes and dislikes, and locations and social media platforms that worked and didn’t for sales.
I also told them not to take rejection personally. We might not always know why someone says no, but that’s their right and there’s a good chance it has nothing to do with us.
The Benefits of Finding a Release
I don’t have a passion, a hobby, anything that I can’t live without. There are lots of activities I like and enjoy, but I can’t say there is much that I love. At some point in my life this really bothered me. But, after some soul-searching and therapy sessions, I let that shit go. What I realized is that my passion is usually towards people. Rather than spending so much time trying to figure out if I want cheese-making to be my thing, I’m going to do what I can to spend more time with those I’m passionate about, and I’m going to do what makes me feel mentally cleansed. Welcome karaoke.
Cluttered brain be gone.
Tense muscles released.
Arched shoulders relaxed.
Stiff legs loose.
Voice…The publicist can’t talk anymore…She’s hoarse…She’s sung too much Pat Benatar.
I’ve unburdened myself for a small window of time.
Does it really help me think better/feel better/be better? Oh gosh, yes.
Do I love Karaoke? Ok, I do. Especially, when I’ve got awesome women by my side.
What’s your release?
Why Every Author Needs to Find Community
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“Okay, I’m a little, teeny bit jealous of a few writers,” I admitted to another debut author via the anonymity of Facebook Messenger.
“I am SOOOO jealous,” she typed back.
Behind the confessional curtain of social media, we could whisper that ugly truth. We even conceded we’d been jealous of each other from time to time. Once I began opening up to more of my writer friends, many revealed mild annoyances, burning secret resentments, and even crippling envy. Still, everyone stressed they were extremely happy, thrilled, and overjoyed (substitute other convincing superlatives) for the success of other authors.
One of the most insidious sources of this madness has to be the list, which is lauded as the holy grail of success by enough writers for it to be stressful. Well, all the lists. This time of year, almost every publication from O, The Oprah Magazine to The New York Times and PopSugar releases its list of the most anticipated books for the new year. The timing couldn’t be worse because those lists come on the heels of year-end wraps of the best books from the previous year. Every time a new list emerges, a collective, congratulatory whoop rises in my author communities and I believe it’s genuine. Still, amid all the fanfare, I know authors scan those lists, starry-eyed, looking for their own names.
Lists are not an immediate consideration for me right now. I’m in the early stages of the publication process completing a second round of structural edits for my novel, which doesn’t release until early 2021. But anticipatory angst is real, if a bit irrational, and I sometimes envy authors who make lists I’m not even eligible for, wondering if my own trajectory will be on par with theirs.
One winter afternoon I spent hours poring over a website called Edelweiss (totally unrelated to The Sound of Music), where you can request advance reader copies of books and browse publishers’ catalogs. It’s still early so my book doesn’t appear in the database yet. Still, Edelweiss offers a preview of what’s happening for other authors. I try to manage my expectations.
Be cool. Just be cool.
Still, I couldn’t help but notice the publicity and marketing plans for the most buzzed about authors, which include branded influencer packages, national author tours, New York media lunches, and pre-pub cocktail parties. Some authors whose publishers are committing few if any resources to boost their books often look at those plans with envy. For me, there’s this bubble of hope, cautious optimism coursing through my veins, as I imagine all that hoopla for my novel someday.
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L to R: Amy Poeppel, Rochelle Weinstein, Lauren Margolin, Elyssa Friedland, Lisa Barr
I spend a lot of time on social media, particularly Facebook. I am an unashamed voyeur (you’ll rarely see me post), and I very much enjoy the ads, the memes, the intel, and just about anything with animals. Every now and again someone will spew something particularly nasty and I will spend time reviewing their other posts to determine if I need to run the opposite way or if I can agree to disagree with this human.
As a social media and PR practitioner, I study behavior and trends. I pay attention to the message, to the word count of that message, to the image associated with that message.
And puppies aside, more than anything, as both a voyeur and someone who provides counsel, I very much enjoy seeing relationships forged. The moms with their words of encouragement. The entrepreneurs with their insights. The shoppers with their savvy. The authors who rally behind other authors’ book babies.
Recently, I flew to Miami to attend Bloomingdale’s inaugural book club at Aventura Mall featuring authors Rochelle Weinstein, Lisa Barr, Amy Poeppel, Elyssa Friedland, and book influencer at the Good Book Fairy, Lauren Margolin.
These women who live in different parts of the country were brought together by social media. Over time their relationships evolved. For a few, this inaugural Bloomie’s event was a first time, face-to-face meet.
What I witnessed in my time with them was genuine camaraderie. There was warmth and laughter. There was mutual respect for their work. What I see when I view them through my iPhone or computer screen is the same.
My fingers are crossed that this group of women appear together again at a city near you.
Why am I saying all of this?
Because the business of social media is important, and good business relationships are sacred. And if you’re not spending your time on Facebook or Instagram genuinely sharing, supporting, and encouraging, you’re just not using the platforms to your benefit.
When Chicago-based Barr (who has written for WU) launched her book in New York City this past June, a few handfuls of writers, bookstagrammers, and bloggers she had only met online walked through the door to show their support. It was a moment that she’ll remember forever.
So what’s a good online relationship?
Next week, do any and all of the following:
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In 2010, when I first dipped my toe into the publishing world, the biggest mystery to me was—besides figuring out the difference between a query and a synopsis—this thing called a “platform.”
At the time, I was writing about killer mermaids. I didn’t know how I was going to go about becoming enough of an expert on the subject that a potential editor would take me seriously. Imagine my utter relief when I learned that it was only the non-fiction writers who required a platform. All we fiction writers had to prove was that we had an imagination, a way with words, and that we understood the shape of a story.
That blissful world is no more.
These days, even debut fiction writers are being asked by would-be editors about their platforms. What they’re really asking is:
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For aspiring fiction writers, the typical model of professional practice is to write the whole thing then shop it around, whether to agents, publishers, or directly to readers through self-publishing and self-promotion. Payment (if any) happens long after the work is done. This means not only that income is almost always a gamble, but that critical work time is financially unsupported and often hard to come by. I work as a research administrator for scientists, who also have to do a lot of work before any payoff. The ones I know support their work largely through grants and fellowships. While grants for writers aren’t as numerous (or as lucrative) as grants for scientists, they are out there. This post is a mini-introduction to strategies for finding, selecting, and applying for money to write by. Grants for writing won’t make you rich or give you a cushy life, but they might give you the quiet time you need to finish the critical work.
Types of Funding. There are two basic types of funding available for writers—grants and residential fellowships.
To successfully apply for a grant of any variety requires three steps: A. finding grant opportunities, B. selecting among all those enticing options the opportunities that are worth your time and effort, and C. writing a killer proposal. [This post covers items A. and B.; a later blog will discuss item C.]
A. Finding Grants/Fellowships to Apply For. The internet has made searching for grants easier than ever. You can use google—try typing in ‘best writer’s retreat in x” or “grants for writers with families” and see what shows up. But there are some websites that have done some of your searching for you already. The following is a list of some useful web resources. [Readers–If you’re aware of other resources that should go on this list, please add it to the comments and I will add to this list]
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There are plenty of great things about writing and publishing novels. But today, I’m not here to discuss any of them.
No, today it’s time to talk about three of the necessary evils a novelist deals with along the way. While these aren’t the only three tough tasks we have to tackle, they’re the ones I’ve heard writers decry most often as they work on their journey toward publication.
You need to write a query letter (ugh). You need to write a synopsis (ouch). And you need to be able to sum up your entire novel in one simple sentence (how?!).
So since each of these is a necessary evil, I thought I’d address a) just how necessary and b) just how evil each one is for the average writer. Let’s begin!
The Query Letter. How necessary? 9 out of 10 if you’re seeking traditional publishing; if you’re going the indie route, make that a 0 of 10. How evil? Mmm, let’s say 7 or 8 out of 10 for most of us.
Look, query letters are tough. But the job of the query letter isn’t to describe your entire novel. It’s just to whet the appetite of the agent to ask for more. If you can frame out what makes your novel especially intriguing, include any special credentials that show why you’re the right person to write it, and leave the agent wanting more, you’ve pretty much got it covered. Easier said than done? Absolutely. A necessary part of the process for hooking an agent? Pretty much totally, unless you happen to hook someone in a pitch session at a conference, and even then, you’ll probably want some kind of query/cover letter to re-introduce yourself when you send your materials along.
The Synopsis. How necessary? Maybe 7 out of 10. How evil? Yeah, that’s a 10. It’s the most.
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