Agent requests bio & marketing statement

veinglory

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The marketing plan I wrote (non-fiction) said what kind of book it was, named similar books, named which individuals/libraries/colleges would probably buy it, and gave a sales estimate. I did not talk about writing communities, my twitter etc at all. The proposal was successful. So, don't assume all marketing statements are the same. Sometimes they just want to know that you are aware if who your market is, and have written a book that will suit them.

I have also written vestigial "marketing plans" for ebooks that could be boiled down to: "Google me, I haz internet footprint". Basically my sites, blogs, yahoogroups etc. I did not list forums.
 

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For non-fiction books you do need to include in your proposal some information on the book's place in the market, and how to reach the market.

Susan Page wrote a book called something like "how to sell a book and make lots of money", which gives all sorts of excellent advice on writing non-fiction proposals: it's very good, has helped many writers that I know, and is worth getting.
 

Donna Pudick

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I've never asked an author what s/he can do to promote his/her fiction book. It's the authors who approach me and ask if they have to. P-cos advertise and put their books in bookstores, but the author should be able to inform, at least the locals, that the book is there. It doesn't take much effort for even a recluse to join a bunch of social networks, including Goodreads, Facebook, etc. to help get his/her name out there.

My most agressive client has been a quadriplegic for 67 years. He has never once complained about promoting his book, even though it's not out yet.
 

AmberS

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My friend's agent asked for this and the agent is legit and got her a three book deal with the Big 5. To be fair she asked for this when submitting the book/proposal to the publishers after they had already signed the author. But to me it's not a stretch that, knowing it will be needed before submission, someone would ask for it sooner. My agent didn't ask for this, but just throwing this out there. Look for verifiable sales with publishers you want to sign with. That's a far better indicator of legitimacy than whether they ask you for a social media/marketing plan.
 

rnpudel

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However, she also wants a bio and a marketing statement.

My first ms was inspirational fiction. While I had a few full requests, one asked for a marketing plan with a bio. I had no idea what that was, so I asked a friend who is traditionally published in this genre. She told me that this type of request can be common in this genre. And in fact, many agents who sell only inspirational books, ask much more of the writer than agents who rep mainstream market books. I'm not sure why.

So I wrote the ten page proposal with a bio, comp titles, and marketing plan. At the time I thought it was ridiculous to be writing such a thing BEFORE I got the agent contract. But you gotta do what you gotta do.

Six months later I got a rejection letter from that agent. It was long and fairly confusing and absolutely showed her lack of experience.

My next ms was fiction for the mainstream market and has generated more than a handful of requests, none asking for a proposal. :)
 

stormie

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Back in 2005 there was an agent--well-known in NYC--who liked my query, liked the partial, loved the full (after a few rewrites she wanted to see), but then in an email asked what marketing plan I had. As I was thinking about it, another agent called wanting to rep me, I notified her (and another agent who had the full) and went with him. At the time and even now, I don't understand why she needed me to submit a marketing plan.

I like what someone said up-thread for their marketing plan to an agent: "I plan on writing another book, then another...." :)

ETA: All of the above relates to novels, not nonfiction.