Here’s an excerpt.

Be as specific as possible about the plot.

I get so many queries that read (literally, though this is made up for the purposes of this post) like this:

Character Name is living peacefully in Hometown. But then a life-changing event occurs that changes everything. Secrets are revealed that turn her life upside down. Character Name faces grave danger as she embarks on a quest to save her people. This novel is filled with humor and passion and suspense and romance, and there’s a shocking twist that leaves the reader breathless.

Being vague leaves an agent with so many questions: What are the secrets? What is the life-changing event? What is the danger she’s facing? What happens that is funny and suspenseful and romantic?

When all of these key details are kept hidden the query ends up sounding like… well, pretty much every novel ever written. And chances are an agent is going to move on to the next query.

1.  What goes with the query? A novel’s query is usually accompanied by a partial manuscript (~50 pages) and/or a 2-5 page synopsis.  If you’re writing a comic book, you’ll probably send in a cover letter– a page accompanied by some combination of the synopsis, the full script of the first issue and art samples. (Follow the submissions guidelines, obviously).  Cover letters are very similar to queries, so I’ll refer to both as queries for simplicity’s sake.

2. Your main goal is to show that your story is strong and interesting. Do NOT give them opinions like “my book is interesting!” or “everybody I know loves it!” Give them the evidence so that they will conclude the book is interesting. “I’m writing an interesting novel about a detective solving a murder case” is weak. “I’m writing about a poisoned detective that has two days to solve his own murder” is much more gripping. Likewise, if you’re writing a comedy, you need to prove yourself by making them laugh. According to literary agent Janet Reid, “if you tell me your book is a comedy, and the query letter isn’t funny or amusing, you have a big problem.”

3. Most queries include the following: an introductory paragraph/hook, a body paragraph summarizing the work in a clear and interesting way, 1-3 sentences about your writing qualifications, and contact information. Don’t worry too much about your writing qualifications. It’d be nice if you had them, but it’s not a deal-breaker for fiction writers.

4. Your novel manuscript has to be completed before you can submit it to publishers. Hardly any publishers or agents will consider an incomplete manuscript by a first-time novelist.  Finishing a novel on time is so hard that publishers won’t assume you can do it unless you have before.  In contrast, some comic book publishers consider proposals in progress. For example, Dark Horse only requires a series synopsis and the first eight pages of the first issue. Even so, I’d recommend finishing your first issue’s script before submitting to avoid deadline problems.

5. The novel submissions process is REALLY long. According to AgentQuery, agents usually take 1-2 weeks to respond to a query letter, 1-2 months to respond to a partial manuscript, and 2-4 months to respond to the full manuscript. Comic book submissions are usually somewhat faster, perhaps 2-3 months.

6. When you’ve finished your novel manuscript, you may wish to send it to literary agents rather than directly to publishers. Agents negotiate with publishers in exchange for around 15% of your earnings. According to Tobias Buckell’s survey, the typical first-time novelist earned $5500 if he had an agent and $4000 otherwise.  If you’re good enough to get an agent, she will probably pay for herself.   (Exception: comic book writers rarely use agents, but some do).

7. For more advice on writing queries, please read Query Shark, The Rejectionist and Evil Editor regularly. Whether you’re a novelist or comic book writer, you’ll learn a lot about how to present your work in a concise and stylish way.  We also have many articles in our “Writing a Query” category.  Finally, if you’re a novelist looking for agents to query, I highly recommend AgentQuery.

8. Tell your publisher how long the work is. Novelists, please provide a word count– NOT A PAGE COUNT. Page counts fluctuate based on typesetting, so they don’t say much about how long a novel is. Comic book writers, please provide just the page count.  Most of the words in a comic script are panel descriptions that won’t actually get printed, so the word count doesn’t say much about how long a comic is.  Also, please say how many issues you’re planning.

9. You’re introducing yourself to a time-strapped professional, so be polite and concise. For more advice on communicating with publishing professionals, please see this article.

10. Proofread or perish. More than one typo in a page-long query letter? You’re dead on arrival.  You want your writing to say “I’m a well-polished professional,” not “My editor will have a stroke.”

11. Almost every publisher provides submission guidelines laying out what they’d like to see. Follow the guidelines! Remember, 99.9% of submissions get rejected at major publishers, so don’t be stupid.

Did this article help? Submit us to Stumble!

Dear [EDITOR NAME],

It’s been a normal day for IRS Agent Gary Smith, besides the car-bomb.  And the US Marshals threatening to send him on a one-way trip to Alaska.  And the revelation that everybody he knows has a pretty good motive to murder him (even besides the fact that he’s an IRS agent).  His only chance of surviving with his sanity intact rests on joining a top-secret spy agency and partnering with a mutant alligator whose powers of deduction make Scooby Doo look like Batman.

Superhero Nation is a wacky mix of an office comedy and national security thriller.  I’ve enclosed the script for the first issue, five colored and lettered sample pages, and the synopsis for the five issue arc.

My main writing qualifications are that I’m a communications contractor for [AGENCY NAME] and the webmaster for a superhero writing advice website with hundreds of thousands of readers.

Thank you for your time and consideration.  I can be reached at [PHONE] or [EMAIL].

Yours,

[NAME]

“After years as a slush reader in various aspects of the industry, I am quick to recognize and dispatch; I can often tell within the first sentence if a query will be any good, and I am now so ruthlessly efficient that I can blow through an inbox of 50 e-mails in half an hour, sometimes rejecting submissions within moments of their arrival…

…

Rendered in a labyrinthine and frequently unintelligible grammar, the truly awful query is often notable for its length, its torrid verbosity, and the mechanical specificity of its sex scenes, which tend to read like appliance-repair manuals in their exhaustive and emotionless depictions of moving parts. The bad query’s sentence sometimes resembles a battlefield wherein subjects hack it out desperately with adjectives, perennially besieged by legions of unwieldy adverbs. Apostrophes go on suicide missions and commas appear at random. Formatting tends to be interpretive; it is not uncommon to find e-mails that are 50 pages long, are bright pink, contain pictures of the author on vacation, or are written in Papyrus.”

I think that every prospective author should know about the process through which his work will be evaluated, whether he’s writing about superheroes or space slugs.  However, please don’t let exotic failure stories and the generally unforgiving nature of the business scare you away.  Here are a few brief rules of thumb to keep your query letter on track.

1. You are writing a business letter to a skeptical, time-strapped professional.  For more thoughts about communicating with them, see this.

2. Your goal is to convince him or her that your book is awesome enough to sell thousands of copies.

3. They’ve heard every possible variation of “I’ve just written an awesome book” and rejected at least 99% of them. Telling them your book is awesome is not good enough.  You need THEM to decide the book sounds awesome.  Show, don’t tell.  Lay out your plot in a way that they want to keep reading.  “John Lee is a detective investigating a murder” sounds cliche and boring. “John Lee is a poisoned detective that has two days to solve his own murder” sounds a lot more interesting.  Give enough information to intrigue them.

4. Different publishers have different tastes.  Make sure you submit to publishers that are well-suited to your manuscript.

I’m getting impatient with writers who can’t seem to tell me what their book is about. I get lists of characters, descriptions of setting and events, but nothing about choices/conflict/decisions. 

I started at 10 pm with 68 queries. 

• Query letter missing too much plot: 21
• Not enticing: 12
• Nothing fresh or original: 8
• Not right for me but someone else will snag happily: 6
• Writer clearly uninformed about genre or category s/he intends to write in: 3.  (B. Mac adds: a common mistake here is using the phrase “fiction novel.”  Novels are ALWAYS fiction, so “fiction novel” makes the author sound uninformed). 
• No platform (non-fiction queries only): 2.  (A platform is a tool used to market a book or author.  For example, this website.  They’re only required for nonfiction authors). 
• Just plain old bad writing: 4
• I don’t think I can sell books in this category: 4
• Overwritten (probably should be included in bad writing): 1
• Unable to suspend disbelief (also bad writing): 1
• Writer is a crackpot: 2.  (Dammit!  I wish I had known that this was a disqualifier before I started writing). 
• Topics I really loathe: 2
• Queries set aside to read more closely: 2

A parting thought for you:  decisions and conflicts are the intersection of character and plot.  Don’t neglect them!

1.  The only goal of your submission is to convince a publishing professional that your novel or comic book is likely to sell thousands of copies. Nothing else matters.

2.  Follow the instructions on their website. Most agents and publishers will have submissions pages that lay out what they want to see.  In most cases, it’s best to provide just what’s on the list and nothing else.  (Exception: if you’re submitting a comic book script, consider submitting some inked or colored pages even if they aren’t required– these pages will help the editor decide very quickly whether your proposal is serious).

3.  Check your spelling, punctuation and grammar. Trying to impress a publishing professional without clean writing is like trying to run a filthy restaurant.  It really doesn’t matter how good the cooking is– customers will run out screaming anyway.  Proofread or perish.  Not many publishing professionals would bet tens of thousands of dollars on an unpolished writer.

4.  Before you submit your first novel, the manuscript MUST be finished. An experienced author can pitch a concept; an unpublished novelist cannot.  Don’t bother trying to write to publishers or agents until your manuscript and synopsis are ready.  Comic book writers, you probably need the script and series synopsis for the first issue finished before you can submit.  Each publisher has different requirements, though, so check first.  For example, Image requires illustrated sample pages but no scripts.  In contrast, Dark Horse requires only the first eight pages scripted for a series and a synopsis (no art).

5.  This is a business proposal, so be as specific about your target audience as possible. What is the age of your ideal reader?  Gender?  Are there any other significant demographic traits?  (Note: comic book writers, be aware that most comic book buyers are males between 15-30 years old– publishers may be leery about working with significantly different demographics).  Many authors are leery about giving themselves a target audience because they feel like it’ll limit the appeal.  “If I say my novel’s audience is guys between 8 and 13, what if it turns out that high school girls also want to read it?”  Don’t worry about it.  Stating your target audience is mainly important so that the publisher/agent can evaluate whether you have a realistic idea of who your main audience is.  This is what Image Comics says about target audiences:  “Tell us who the target audience is (‘Everyone’ is NOT realistic — there’s no single book on the market today that everybody buys).”  The same goes for novels as well–perhaps two novels out of a million have an almost universal appeal, like Harry Potter.  If an author just seems to assume that his book is one of them, he will probably seem clueless.

6.  When you’re describing your story, focus on what matters…

• Interesting traits about main characters (like personality and important background details)
• Goals of main character(s)
• Obstacles/antagonists
• Character development arc(s)– how do the main characters change over the course of the book or series?

7.  …and DON’T focus on inconsequential details.

• Minor demographic traits (typically height, weight, eye color and hair color, etc).
• Side-characters.  As much as possible, focus on the mains.  If the sides are more interesting than the mains, you have a problem.
• Unnecessary world-building details.  If your fantasy world has six castes, please don’t tell us what all six are.  Focus on what we need to understand the thrust of the story (probably just the caste of the main character and the villain).
• Superpowers.  They’re not nearly as interesting or important as the goal(s) the hero will put them towards.  I wouldn’t recommend spending more than 1-2 sentences on a superhero’s powers.

8.  Please don’t bother telling them how much your friends/family love your writing. I’m sorry, but it doesn’t matter.  Publishing professionals are a lot more experienced in this field than your friends.  Otherwise you’d probably be submitting to your friends.

Here are a few tips about how to write an extremely short synopsis.

1. It’s usually more effective to refer to characters by their profession and/or key traits rather than by name. Calling him a “neurotic detective” tells us more about the character than calling him Adrian Monk. Unless the name adds something critical, I’d recommend leaving it out. (For example, if you’re writing about a real person, you obviously need to name him).

2. Don’t dilute your synopsis. If there are too many character traits or too many characters or too many conflicts, it will probably feel cluttered and distracted. As a rule of thumb, I’d recommend no more than 2 traits for a character, 3 characters and 2 conflicts. If you feel a strong need to bring in more characters (because you’re doing a book about a team of superheroes, for example), you can talk about the team collectively in the first sentence and spend the second sentence developing a few key members.

3. Boiling your book down to 1-2 sentences can be emotionally difficult. Sometimes it feels like you’re somehow admitting that the cut material isn’t good enough or whatever. Don’t look at this like you’re losing something (the details that aren’t important enough to make the two sentences). You’re gaining something: clarity and focus.  Ultimately, making the cuts will help your pitch.

4. If you’re having trouble cutting down material, try coming up with a synopsis for a stranger’s work. It’s usually easier to figure out the big picture when you’re not emotionally attached to every detail. After you’ve done that, bring the same mindset to work on your story. If a stranger had to describe your book in a sentence, what would he say?

5.  The most important elements of the synopsis are the protagonist, conflict/antagonist, and premise. Many first-time authors get tangled up by side-plots and side-characters that aren’t essential to understanding what’s going on.

6.  If we understand the conflict, we will probably understand the story. For example, if I told you I was writing a version of Aladdin where the main antagonist was Jasmine’s father instead of Jafar, you instantly know that the book is about Aladdin overcoming social obstacles to true love rather than a black-and-white villain. You’d also be able to surmise that the climax of my book is either the sultan allowing the two to be married or a tragic ending.

If you liked this article, I would recommend Sharpening Your Story with a Two-Sentence Synopsis and How to Write a Novel Synopsis.

That question usually sets off a rambling and unappealing description of the novel or comic book.  As part of your query, you need to describe your book in 1-2 sentences (I’d recommend 10-30 words).  New authors often have a great deal of trouble doing so– they’re so intimately familiar with all the details of their work that it’s hard to see what the big picture is.

As a writing exercise, I’d like you to boil down a lengthy work into 1-2 sentences.  That’s not easy.  It forces you to make tough decisions about what is absolutely essential to the core of your novel or comic book.  It also provides you an response when someone asks you what your book is about. Having a simple, elegant introduction available is crucial.

Here’s an easy way to write a two-sentence synopsis.

Step one:  Brainstorm the aspects of the plot that are most important to understanding the plot. In particular, write down a few ideas for each of the following categories you find important.

• Conflicts
• Key traits of main characters
• Background of the main character(s)–occupation, wealth, age, or anything else particularly relevant.
• Major character goals
• Anything notable about the premise or setting.
• Major changes of the protagonist(s)– how they grow over the course of the book.
• Crucial relationships

Step two:  Pick the most important item in each category.

Step three: Write a sentence that connects at least three of the items that you think are most important.  Here are some dry examples (don’t worry–we’ll make them more lively in the next step).

• An ordinary British boy (background) that discovers he is a wizard (premise) must avenge his parents’ death (goal/conflict) by studying at an extraordinary university (setting and possibly character change).
• Four mutant turtles (key traits/premise/background) must become ninjas (growth) to save New York City (goal/setting).
• Two unlikely cops, an accountant and a mutant alligator (background/traits/premise), must work together (relationship) to save the world (goal) from an unusual supervillain (conflict/premise).  –> This is the synopsis for Superhero Nation, by the way.
• A fearless archaeologist (traits/background) must reunite with his estranged father (relationship) to stop the Nazis from seizing a magical artifact  (conflict/setting/goal).

In some of these, I used more than one item from each category.  However, I’d recommend against carpet-bombing. For example, if you describe four character traits, you’ve probably diluted the character.  If you feel that you need that many traits, I would recommend thinking more about what is most important.

Step four:  Pump up the style. In particular, try to insert details from your book that show off your style and make you stand out.  For example, are there any vague words that can be shown with a detail?  For example, in my synopsis, I described the antagonist as an “unusual supervillain.”  Weak!  A more specific phrase, like “deranged cosmeticist,” is more interesting and tells us more about the story and its tone.

Step five:  Add a second sentence if you feel that the first one missed something essential to understanding the plot or you have particularly stylish details left.  If the first sentence is like the headline for the book, the second sentence is like the subheader.  As a rule, I would suggest focusing the second sentence on developing what came up in the first sentence rather than introducing details that relate more to subplots.

One miscellaneous note: it’s usually more effective to refer to characters by their profession or key traits rather than by name.  The names are usually distracting and don’t add much.  Would the Harry Potter synopsis have been any more interesting if it had begun with “Harry Potter, an ordinary British boy…”?  No.

If you liked this article, I’d also recommend More Tips on Writing a Two-Sentence Synopsis and Can You Pass the Soul Test?

• “You may not have meant it this way, but you managed to insult professional writers while talking down to teens.”
• “This is a bad query letter… Now you show a great facility with language in this letter. Obviously your writing ability is there; but you need to consider the subtext of what you are saying just a teensy bit when you read what you wrote.”
• “You might be a really nice person trying to sound confident and sell her/himself, but you came out sounding pompous.”
• “While you might be right that you are the perfect person to write this book, you’re alienating your reader. Think of it this way, most of the people who read your proposal are going to be 40 and 50-somethings.”
• “You come off as cheery and fun, bright and breezy in your style. That’s good.”
• “[If your advice is] going to be credible, [it's] got to come from someone with credentials to give advice. Which, in practice, usually means someone with a track record of success in their field – the longer the track record, the more credibility. And it takes time to develop that track record.  If you’ve not got the track record, you’re going to have to show us what you do have; putting other people down isn’t an acceptable substitute.”
• So my Q is this: How is writing advice for the teen set different from advice for the not-so-teen set? I could maybe see if you were pitching a career book, but it sounds like you may be pitching a nuts-and-bolts how-to book. (Hard to tell when you don’t really let us in on just what you’re pitching.) Is the difference in the way you present the content? Is it done in text-ese? Twitter-ese? What makes the content relevant? And if teens are going to be competing with the older generation for shelf space, why should the content be different? That’s your hook. That’s what you need to lead with.

If you’d like to see the review, please go here.  However, if you visit Evil Editor’s site, please DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DEFEND ME OR MY QUERY. The first rule of taking criticism professionally is that you shouldn’t get defensive.  Tough criticism is an opportunity for growth, not a personal affront.  Thanks!

Dear [Agent's Name],

I’d like to sell a fun and informative book about how to write superhero novels and comic books. Don’t Forget the Death-Ray! would be aimed at readers aged 13-18.

My main writing credential is that I run Superhero Nation, a writing advice website that has had 150,000 readers in the past two years. My superhero writing advice is credible and effective. In addition, I have three years of experience writing for college newspapers.

I am better-suited to reach teen readers than most of the authors currently writing in this field. Most of them are 40-something or 50-something comic book writers. They have experience that would be absolutely critical to older readers, but teen readers also value relatability. I believe that the success of my website is evidence of that. As a college senior myself, I relate to teens very easily. Additionally, the experience I have– winning a grant to write a superhero novel manuscript– is more relevant to young readers. I’m very familiar with the ground-level of the industry and how to succeed as a newcomer. In contrast, most competing authors broke into the industry twenty or thirty years ago.

Please let me know if you would like me to send a proposal. I can be reached at superheronation@gmail.com or [phone number] or [address].

Yours,

[Name]

1. Soon I Will Be Invincible. Published by Vintage, 2008. “The realm of comic book heroes and villains gets a dose of realism in this whimsical debut from game design consultant Grossman. The story shifts between the perspectives of Doctor Impossible, a brilliant scientist turned world’s greatest menace, and Fatale, a lonely cyborg and the newest addition to the venerable group of heroes known as the Champions.”

2. Devil’s Cape. Wizards of the Coast Discoveries, 2008. “Heroes with a Southern Gothic edge. It blends the gritty crime novel with a heavy dose of the supernatural and weaves a tale of superhuman heroes and villains.”

3. The Quantum Prophecy. Published by Puffin, 2008. Aimed at kids 9-12. “Thirteen year-olds Danny and Colin are shocked to discover that they are in fact the beginning of a renewed superhuman race… When the past resurfaces, Danny and his fellow superheroes must face the new challenges that threaten their survival.” This book sold well enough that it was made into a series.

4. Captain Freedom: A Superhero’s Search for Truth, Justice and the Celebrity He So Richly Deserves. Harper Paperbacks, 2009. This is a comedic look at a ridiculously over-the-top superhero.

5. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Picador, 2001.  This 1930s period piece won a Pulitzer for fiction.

6. Wild Cards. Bantam, 1986. This launched a series that has had more than ten books, including Busted Flush by Tor Books in 2008. Sort of like Heroes, it’s an action-drama with an enormous cast.

7. Playing for Keeps. Swarm Press. This novel is about a conflict between protagonists with joke powers, egotistical “heroes” with real powers and manipulative villains. “As Seventh City begins to melt down, it’s hard to tell the good guys from the bad, and even harder to tell who may become the true heroes.”

8. Superfolks. St. Martin’s Griffin, 2005. “An irreverent look behind the mask of superheroes wrapped up in a cutting lampoon of late ’70s attitudes.” Stan Lee said that it was a humorous novel about superheroes in a mid-life crisis.

9. Those Who Walk In Darkness. Aspect, 2005. Fahrenheit 451 meets Marvel’s Civil War; the story focuses on one of the cops assigned to exterminate metahumans that won’t leave the country.

10. Superpowers: A Novel. Three Rivers Press. “After five college friends wake up after a night of partying to discover they have superpowers, they band together as the All Stars, supernatural crime fighters straight out of Madison, Wis.”

11. Hero. Hyperion, last reprinted in 2009. This is a combination superhero/gay coming-out story.

12. Masked. Simon and Schuster, 2010. This is a superhero anthology focusing on “how far our classic crusaders have evolved—and how the greatest of heroes are, much like ourselves, all too human.”

Would you like to suggest any other superhero novels?

Audience Demographics – this affects how a book will be written, marketed and promoted.  Additionally, it may affect whether the book gets published internationally.

1. Which country are you from?
2. How old are you?
3. What is the highest level of education you have attained?
4. What is your gender?

Audience Interest — this affects whether the book gets published or not.

1. On a scale of “I am definitely not interested” to “I’ve already preordered a copy,” how likely are you to buy my book about how to write superhero stories?
2. How many times have you been to Superhero Nation before?
3. How many how-to guides have you purchased in the last year?  (This will help a prospective publisher determine whether our readers are likely to buy this book).
4. How many books about writing have you purchased in the last year?

Marketing Considerations — this helps the publisher and author decide how to market and promote the book.  Where can the fans be reached?

1. Which of the following have you been to in the last year: a comic book convention, a college campus, a bookstore, a library, and/or a military base.
2. Are you a writer, journalist or a professional in the publishing industry?
3. Do you run or contribute to a blog/website?  If so, which website?
4. Would you like to sign up for our mailing list?

Here is some general advice on these sorts of surveys…

–Focus only on information that will help publishers figure whether and how to publish your book.  For example, “how likely are you to buy this book?” will help a publisher determine how easy it will be to sell the book.  “Which country are you from?” is useful because it will help the publisher determine whether to publish internationally.

–Keep the number of questions low.  I’d recommend ten or fewer, so I will try to eliminate a few questions here.  If there are many questions, fewer people will complete the survey.

Summary
The spectacular success of several superhero movies over the past five years shows that there is tremendous demand for superhero stories. My book will tap this interest by teaching young authors how to write and sell their own superhero novel or comic book.

My target audience is superhero aficionados with an interest in writing. Typically, these tend to be males between 16 and 25 years old. As a 21-year-old male myself, I’m well-suited to write for this audience in a way that they can relate to.

My main qualification to write this book is that my past writings on this subject have attracted hundreds of thousands of readers. Over the past two years, I’ve written several hundred articles about how to write and sell a superhero story on my writing advice website, Superhero Nation. I’ve examined general elements, such as characterization and pacing, but I focus on storytelling elements that a superhero writer couldn’t find anywhere else. For example, why is it easier to write a story about a hero that is vulnerable to fire rather than something like Kryptonite? (A mundane weakness is more intuitive for readers and easier for a villain to take advantage of). Details like these are critically important to a prospective superhero writer but would not be addressed in any other kind of writing guide.

I may draw on a review of SN here. For example, io9 calls us “your very own guide to becoming the next Stan Lee.”

Important Details About the Author

1.  I run a superhero writing advice site that has attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors. My advice about how to write superhero novels and comic books is clearly marketable and credible.

2. As a 21 year-old male, it’s easy for me to write for and relate to my target audience.

3. I have three years of experience writing for college newspapers. This experience writing informative news articles for college students will help me write a how-to book for a similar audience. My frank and no-nonsense style of writing is well-suited for younger readers.

4. I am writing a superhero comedy of my own. Along the way, I’ve made most of the mistakes typical of young superhero authors. I use my writing experience to market my work in a self-effacing way. For example, my website’s tagline is “I’ve made every writing mistake so you don’t have to.”

5. I’m currently a student at the University of Notre Dame, but I plan to take a semester-long leave of absence to edit for a comic book publisher. I will graduate with a BA in Political Science next May.

6. I have interned with a prominent think-tank, the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC. I have a strong background in international relations and data analysis. My ability to analyze data will help me write a nonfiction book. What makes a superhero story successful? If a reader thinks that my answers to that question will be insightful, he will want to buy this book.

Audience
My target audience is comic book fans with an interest in writing. They tend to be males between 16-25 years old. They have a very narrow focus: how to write superhero stories. Nothing else matters. However, the books that compete against me tend to focus on extraneous details that won’t help someone write. For example, The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics spends 12 pages on a chapter titled “What are Comics?” Similarly, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Creating a Graphic Novel has a lengthy section titled “What’s a Graphic Novel?” With all due respect, readers in this field already know what a comic book is. They want to write one. When a reader glances through the table of contents, he will probably feel that a definition of a comic book is patronizing and unnecessary.

In contrast, my table of contents is designed to make readers see that this is a detailed and practical writing guide. I want my readers to think “I’m working on that. This book will really help me.” For example, these are a few of the sections I plan to include in the subchapter on villains.

• How to Write Satisfying Villains: A Checklist
• Villainous Plots that Fit Your Story
• How Evil is Too Evil?

These articles will appeal to readers because they are specific and useful for any superhero writer. Additionally, they will make my table of contents look intriguing. In contrast, most of my competitors have vague tables of contents. For example, the table of contents of The DC Guide lists a section titled “Characterization” but doesn’t provide any details to convince readers to keep going. That’s not a very interesting or compelling way to organize the information. In contrast, my book will provide specific details about why readers should buy the book. If a reader wonders what I’ve included in my checklist about satisfying villains, he will probably keep reading.

Competing Books
The most comparable how-to book is The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Writing a Graphic Novel. It was written by Nat Gertler and published by Alpha in 2004. Even though it is notably long at about 350 pages, it has been successful. Amazon ranks it among the top 60,000 bestselling books.

My book will distinguish itself for three main reasons. First, my book will appeal to authors that are writing a superhero novel or need help deciding between a superhero novel and a comic book. As far as I can tell, there are no books on the market currently aimed at superhero novelists. Second, my book will focus more on writing. Idiot’s Guide spends about 120 pages on content for artists. My book is aimed exclusively at writers and will distinguish itself with the level of detail it can provide about the writing process. My book will include some visual components, but it will only include visual components that matter to a writer. For example, a comic book writer has to create a script that separates each page into panels, so my book will include a subsection that provides strategies about how to do so. Third, my guide book is completely focused on superhero stories and will have content that is geared to the unique needs of a superhero writer. Idiot’s Guide is not aimed at superhero writers, so my book will seem more applicable to them.

Another similar work is Writing for Comics with Peter David. It was published by Impact in 2006. Amazon ranks it among the top 50,000 bestselling books.

Writing for Comics is stylistically unusual because the backcover markets it as “half how-to, half personal memoir” and it isn’t very long. It only has about 175 pages and those tend to have many illustrations. My book will compete by offering a much more comprehensive, detailed look at how to write superhero stories. Since my book will be longer and more detailed, prospective readers will probably find it to be a better value. That is an important consideration, given that my target reader (a male between 16-25 years old) tends to be very cost-conscious. Finally, as noted above, my book will appeal to superhero novelists in a way that Writing for Comics does not.

Similar Concepts in Other Genres
I’d also like to draw your attention to two fiction books that suggest that my book has the potential to succeed: Things White People Like and Eragon.
Things White People Like is a comedic book based on a successful website. The author posted about half of the book’s content on his website as a teaser. That promotional strategy proved successful; the book was a bestseller even though prospective readers could find half of the content for free online. Similarly, I have published approximately half of my book’s content online. A publisher may be concerned that readers would be reluctant to pay for a book that is half-available online, but I would argue that TWPL’s success suggests that giving away a large portion of my book’s content is a rational marketing strategy that will improve sales.

Eragon is a high fantasy novel that is very similar to Lord of the Rings. Its main selling-point is that the author was only 15 years old when he wrote it. Even though critics panned Eragon, it became a national bestseller and eventually a major motion picture. Teen readers were mostly willing to look past major problems with the story because they related with the author.

I understand that publishers may be wary about buying a manuscript—particularly a nonfiction manuscript—from a 21-year-old that lacks credentials in his field. But the example of Eragon suggests that audiences value relatability. I cannot compete with Peter David on experience. But I can compete with him on quality and beat him on relatability. By virtue of being inexperienced and young, I can provide more insight into the problems that young and inexperienced superhero authors face. The success of my website indicates that young readers will value well-written and relatable advice even though I haven’t spent years in the comic book industry.

Marketing and Promotional Opportunities
1. My book can be marketed and sold through my writing website, Superhero Nation. I have a highly loyal audience. According to Google Analytics, 200,000 readers have viewed my website at least once. 7000 readers have visited my website at least 25 times. 4000 readers have visited at least 100 times. Someone that enjoys my writing enough to visit my blog 100 times could probably be convinced to buy the book, particularly when I drop teasers about the half of the book that will be comprised of exclusive content.

2. My book can be sold through comic book stores. Comic book stores usually stock some superhero-themed novels, but I’ve never seen one sell a how-to guide on comic books. My book seems like a natural fit for a comic book store.

3. My book has international appeal. Over 30% of the visitors to my site come from outside the US. Canada, the UK and Australia make up the bulk of my international traffic. Additionally, international audiences have shown tremendous interest in superhero stories in general. For example, The Dark Knight sold half a billion dollars worth of tickets overseas.

4. I can market the book by lecturing on campuses. College campuses are an excellent place to find comic book fans. Many colleges are within driving distance of my home, so it would be fairly easy for me to set up a series of entertaining and informative lectures. I could speak about topics such as careers in writing, the comic book industry and how to write superhero stories.

5. I have a fairly strong background in political science and academia. Fortunately, many other policy wonks are comic book fans, too. In particular, I’d like to send copies to Kevin Drum of Mother Jones, John Podhoretz of National Review and Adam Howard of The Nation. These authors are fairly young intellectuals that have written about superhero stories for their publications.

6. I launched my blog and started writing this book when I was 18. This will help me publicize and market the book. Many newspapers run human interest stories about young authors. Arguably, it will seem even more newsworthy that a young author decided to write a how-to guide. My youthfulness will also help me market the book; I’m intimately familiar with all the problems that a young and inexperienced author faces.

I’ll include a newspaper article or two to sample these sorts of articles. This one is fairly representative.

7. My book can be marketed and sold at comic book conventions like Comic-Con. [I’ll introduce some statistics about how many people attended Comic-Con and some of the smaller conventions closer to home. I’ll indicate how much it costs to run a shoe-string marketing effort at either sort of venue.]

Manuscript Specifications
My manuscript will be about 65,000 words long. At 250 words per page, that would be 260 pages. That’s longer than most of my competitors, but about 100 pages shorter than my main competitor, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Writing a Graphic Novel.

As for graphics, I’d like two pages of black-and-white illustrations. It would be very difficult for me to explain different ways to lay out the panels on a comic book page without actually using sample pages to demonstrate.

I can have the manuscript ready within a month. I’ve already completed most of the content.

Outline
–Still in the works.

Sample Chapter
–Still in the works.