Hi there

I've just got my 2nd book deal with Simon and Schuster! It's for The Girls' Car Handbook - a follow on to my first book The Girls' Guide to Losing Your L Plates - how to pass your driving test.

When I was first trying to get an agent/publisher I got a lot of rejections - mainly on the grounds that although they liked my writing, they thought the market I was aiming at was 'too niche'.

When I was putting together the selling outline (my take on the market, my suitablility to write the book, publicity potential etc)I followed the guidelines laid out by Susan Page in her excellent book How to Get Published and make a lot of money published by Piaktus (rather aspirational title, but a v down-to-earth book!. Anyhow, the end result was very highly praised, even by the people who rejected it ('impressive' 'well-researched' that kinda thing...one agent even said it was 'the best selling outline she'd seen in years'. So anyway, I thought I'd upload it here in case it might be useful for anyone.

Primarily of course, it's aimed at non-fiction book writers, but I think some aspects (marketing etc) would be useful for fiction writers.

Do email me via my website if you've got any further queries - I'm always happy to help if I can.

Thanks Maria, I've just read your selling outline (and have commented) and it leaves no stone unturned! Brilliant and fantastic news about your publishing deal, obviously well deserved. I won't bother to buy Susan Page's book now!

Thank you for the compliments! But honestly, I'd strongly suggest you look at Susan Page's book anyway...it's really good!

all best, Maria

Hi Maria
Could you add the url/link for the selling outline? thanks!

http://www.writewords.org.uk/members/show_profile.asp?member_Id=7744&view=work

It's on a link from my profile - but hopefully this should work too!

all best

Maria
www.mariamccarthy.co.uk

Hi Maria,
Many thanks in sharing that with us. How inevitable you made your book sound! Well done.
PS Now I just need to come up with the idea.....

Fascinating read Maria, thanks for that.
Would this type of pitch (in a reduced form no doubt) be useful for a fiction book, do you and others think?
Have just finished an historical novel, and though I've done a very small amount of this type of "sales pitch" in my covering letter to an Agent, I wonder if I should include a whole seperate one-pager on this, for any future letters to agents/publishers?

I think most agents and editors wouldn't be impressed by an author trying to tell them about the market for your novel, or that there's no competition, or whatever. They probably know far more than we can (apart from anything else, they can afford Nielsen BookScan) and seeming to teach your grandmother to suck eggs is not a good start to what you hope will be a relationship!

Whereas if you're writing non-fiction you know a whole heap of stuff as Maria did, that they can't, about who might buy your book. Also your own expertise is relevant, in that it gives you what the US calls 'platform': you can promote your expertise, as well as the book.

So with fiction, I think I'd restrict my pitch to explaining my novel as zingily as possible, and add in anything about you that would catch a publicist's attention: those are the two things an agent would be interested in.

Emma

Yes, I agree with Emma on this.

On the whole it's easier to 'prove' how many people might be interested in a particular non-fiction topic - ie, produce figures for how many people have asthma, are learning to drive, want to build their own website or whatever.

Fiction successes are a lot trickier to quantify, so it's best to focus the the worth of your book rather than the potential audience.

However if you've got a background in the period of history you're writing about (have studied it academically or are an authority in some other way) then that's definitely worth mentioning.

Do upload your covering letter if you'd like to and I'll have a look at it - (pm me to remind me though, as I'm not on the site every day!)

all best, Maria

Yes, it's a good point that a qualification in your period makes excellent publicity.

Emma

Congrats on the deal Maria.

Nik.

Thanks Nick...gotta write it now though! (The 2nd book, I mean... am becoming a real petrolhead!)

all best

Maria