I came across The "Am I Ready for an Agent" Quiz posted by another literary agent. I found it helpful (I already knew I wasn't ready) but was pleased that I could answer True to most of the questions. However, I stumbled when I got to these:__ I know what the selling points of my project are.__ I know what selling points are.I do not know what selling points are. I searched Google but it was uncharacteristically unhelpful. So, I thought I would ask the QOTKU to clarify.
Selling points are common with non-fiction. They are essentially bullet points of what distinguishes this book from other books in the field.
Here's an example from the pitch letter for Hero of the Crossing by Tom Lippman
Based on the author’s personal knowledge of Sadat and on vast archives of recently declassified documents, HERO OF THE CROSSING will be the first book that pulls all those pieces together; that puts the 1973 Middle East war and Sadat’s peace initiative in their current global context.
Another example from the pitch letter for Waking in the Dark, the forthcoming biography of Adrienne Rich by Hilary Holladay
Drawing on much new material about Rich, including her ancestry in the Deep South and, further back, in Hungary and Holland; her early years in Baltimore as a prodigy in both writing and music; her romantic relationships with both men and women; and her, at times combative, relations with fellow writers and activists, this book breaks new ground and illuminates Rich's life, career, and significance in new ways
An example from a non-fiction book currently on submission:
It draws on exclusive interviews, previously sealed court documents, and original research to illuminate the problem .... It avoids the inflammatory, shaming rhetoric common to (specific subject); it is instead the moving narrative of a young woman who simply could not acknowledge the reality she faced.
I have no idea how you'd distinguish a novel from other novels by anything other than the plot. You might mention something like #OwnVoices but I don't think that's what's meant by a selling point (although it probably is right now).
Absent submission guidelines that require this in a query letter, I'd quit worrying.
I'm much more interested in your ability to wrangle a story than I am in your ability to sell it to me. In fact, I consider the selling aspect of this adventure to be my metier.
12 comments:
This might be helpful to OP. In the catalog my publisher puts out, they have selling points for each author's work.
For mine, it's this:
Donna Everhart writes with an authentic Southern voice about authentic Southern experiences.
•Everhart’s third novel, like her previous books, is written in first person from the perspective of its young protagonist. In The Forgiving Kind, that protagonist is Sonny Creech, a twelve-year-old girl who shares her father’s gift of water dowsing.
• In addition to the story of how Sonny, her two brothers and her mother navigate the aftermath of sudden tragedy,The Forgiving Kind also tells the story of Sonny’s best friend, a boy who faces his own enormous struggle of growing up gay in the rural South during the 1950s.
•The Road to Bittersweet was a Winter 2018 Okra Pick, a Publishers Marketplace Buzz Books selection and a featured title in the 2017—2018 SIBA TRIO program.
•The Education of Dixie Dupree received high acclaim, including: Indie Next List November 2016 Selection, Amazon Best Books of November 2016,
Deep South Magazine’s Fall Reading List Selection,Library Journal's Book Club Selection, Business Insider’s Insider Picks. . .
etc. etc.
So, from their perspective, it seems they list how I write, what the latest book is about, and what's been achieved with previous books.
Maybe the key selling points of your book would be a brief description (one line) describing the story, how it's different from other books, and any writing credits you may have. If you don't have any writing credits (like I didn't) then maybe you focus on how you write differently, or maybe you know of comparable books, or your writing style has been compared to another writer's work.
Hope this helps!
OP, I had a similar request from an agent in my last round of queries. I had no idea what she wanted either. At least, not for a novel. I thought that was why I was getting an agent. I thought the agent would be able to determine if I had written something that could be sold and would figure out how to sell it to a publisher.
I would not worry about this and just write your best query with what is your story, what is the choice, the stakes, all that good stuff. That probably is what the agent is talking about. Why does it matter that your protagonist does what they do and why should the reader care? Unless you are writing non-fiction. Then this matters and take QOTKU's advice.
From what Donnaeve says, the agent or publisher or publicist will write you up a proper blurb when the time comes. Of course, I could be wrong. My stomach is too sore for coffee so not firing on all cylinders today.
Nothing to add, except that now I have a better understanding of what a selling point is. And now I know the definition of "metier." Thanks!
Popping in tangentially to say, I was very excited to finally get off the waitlist for the audiobook of THE ROAD TO BITTERSWEET and have to say thank you to Donna for making my commute a much more enjoyable experience. Really, the only downside to having the audiobook rather than the ebook or hard copy is that it takes me longer to finish (which, as in this case, isn't a downside at all when you love spending time with the characters!)
The only selling point I have control of, at the moment, is in how well I translate a good plot into a query. The balance of that is harder than it looks.
So far I have gotten both insipid and over the top down, the middle ground is like quicksand, though.
My son's metier appears to be head injuries--getting them, not treating them. So, I'm in the ER with about a half-dozen interesting stories sitting nearby. Since I've already covered my word for the day (thank you, Janet), that makes it time to capitalize on my metier and move my focus from my son's head to a blank screen...
Personally, I'm hoping that "Am I ready for an Agent" quiz is nonsense.
For one thing, I don't do social media, and don't intend to for the next decade (i.e. until I retire): Whatever rewards may come from being an author, it's not worth my privacy or putting my current (quite nice) paycheck at risk.
John: I hope everything is turning out okay for your son.
I'm sure that website just saw a mysterious upsurge today...
John, hope the kid is OK (again!). I seem to remember there being a lot of blood last time...
And now I feel like one of the commentators in Colin's creepy story and I'll go now.
Ha--I see what you did there, Donna. Offering a pertinent comment while at the same time plugging your soon-to-be-released novel, THE FORGIVING KIND (available for pre-order, release date January 29th). You're a sly one, Ms. Everhart. ;)
I'm sure many of these surveys and lists are simply meant to stop people querying too early. In reality, they aren't intended to be so much a check-list as they are supposed to make you stop and think about your work. Have you polished it as best you can? Does it really represent the best you have to offer? Why should an agent read your thriller/romance/kale fantasy over above all the other thrillers/romances/kale fantasies in her slush pile? Are you just re-writing something that's been written a million times before, or do you bring something different? Of course, that "different" might not be a particular plot element. It might simply be your voice, which should come out in the query. So that question might be answered by the query itself. I'm sure the agent/editor who first read Discworld didn't think "Oh no, not another bleedin' Lord of the Rings rip-off." They probably laughed and marveled at how well Terry Pratchett took established fantasy tropes and gave them a Douglas-Adamsian twist.
I just made up a new literary term. My work is done. ;)
Follow-up to our earlier report ... son is doing well, thank you. CT scan showed no bleeding or swelling. He was snowboarding and took a nasty fall. We either need to swaddle him in bubble-wrap or live next door to a hospital until he turns 26 when I'm told the prefrontal cortex in males finally settles in.
I'm reminded of Dizzy Dean after he was hit in the head with a baseball in the 1934 World Series. He was taken away by stretcher, and allegedly the next day a newspaper headline declared: "X-rays of Dean's head show nothing." Probably apocryphal but still a good story.
A son in sports can be a real education.
Dr: Are you still going to play rugby after this?
Son: nods vehemently while vomiting into a bucket.
Me: You’ve got blood all over your jersey!!
Son: Ain’t mine.
Me: (during the drive to hospital) Try to hold it stable. I think I can see your wrist bone.
Son: Did you get my board?
Daughters aren’t a worry at all. They just band together and travel the world on a toonie budget, phoning home every six months or so. The last call is to invite you to an Irish wedding.
Hope your guy gets better soon, John.
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