What's It All About? An Idea for Focusing Your Manuscript by Fran Hodgkins

 As part of some freelance editing I've been doing lately, I've been writing marketing materials. I realized that this would be a useful tool for focusing your manuscript.

First, there are short and long book summaries. You can think of these as jacket-flap copy or a back of the book copy, or as an elevator pitch. I start writing with the short summary, with a hook—a snappy sentence that will catch interest. Questions and startling statements are good attention-getters!

For example, I've written this short summary for my picture book, How People Learned to Fly:

Do you dream about flying? People have wanted to fly like birds for centuries. But how? What did people need to learn before they could fly? In this picture book, readers explore the experiments and discoveries that human beings made before they soared.

The short summary, which should run less than 50 words, is the basis of the long one (about 150 words). (I suppose if you're more of a subtractor than an adder, you can reverse the order!).

Then, think about who would enjoy your book, and write statements about them that complete this sentence: "This book is for anyone who . . . ."  For example, if you're working on a maritime adventure, your statements could include: "This book is for anyone who loves seafaring history." 

 BISAC subject codes come next. These are classification codes produced by the Book Industry Study Group. Find them here, The codes are grouped into topic areas that range from Antiques and Collectibles to Young Adult Nonfiction. Each topic is then broken down into subcategories. I've found browsing the categories has helped me get a firm idea of what my story is about, whether I'm working on fiction or nonfiction. 

When you open a topic, you'll see a listing like this:

 

As yout can see from the listing for "Baby Animals," the list gets fairly granular! However, I'm not staying that you should include the BISAC codes in your cover letter or proposal? No. However, this will give you idea of where in the great galaxy of books your book may fit. That will help libraries and booksellers to understand your book and decide where to shelve it. What if there's no BISAC code? As granular as this list may be, it is also inclusive because every topic area starts with a "General" category.

The BISAC topics also help me to figure out where to look for comp titles. Comp titles have been the biggest stumbling block I face when working on a proposal, but having the BISAC at hand saves me hours of time searching for titles. I use them on Amazon or WorldCat, typing keywords from the topic into the search bar and narrowing the search down with the tools available on the site:

An Amazon search based on a BISAC code.

 

 WorldCat allows you to find titles held in libraries around the world. 

When you've gotten your search underway, you'll be able to narrow your search to recent titles to include on your proposal. (And discover which publishers have titles on the same topic, so you know they may not be best to approach!)

I'm going to try this method for my next manuscript, and I'll let you know how it goes! If you try it, please let me know how it works for you.