Q Overview A creative work proposal is a central document in the publishing process, serving as the bridge between writer and publisher. A proposal is a business plan for a creative work that is submitted to a publisher or agent for consideration in offering an author a contract. However, the proposal is also an important document for the self-published author, because it serves as the roadmap for successful publication of a self-published work. For your final assessment in this course, you will complete a professional creative work proposal. For the purpose of this course, your proposal will consist of the following: a query letter; a synopsis of the work (a novel, fiction or nonfiction; collection of poems; collection of short stories; book series; screenplay; etc.); a marketing plan (including genre and audience research, author background and qualifications, and current market trends); and a comparative titles analysis with explanations of how each compares or differs from your proposed work. Each piece of the proposal plays an essential role in your development as a writer. In the query letter, you will demonstrate your ability to quickly and effectively sell your idea to an editor or agent. Your synopsis demonstrates your ability to write a market-friendly description of your creative work in a few brief paragraphs, using such concepts as telling detail and narrative drive to heighten interest in your work. A marketing plan is vital to the success of any creative work, either professionally published or self-published. A marketing plan leads you to address the important matters of what your work is (genre, style, and theme) and who wants to read it (defining your key audiences). It also encourages you to think beyond the work itself and about how the work will be received by the media, booksellers, and other people of influence. A list of comparative titles is an offshoot of a marketing plan, but it serves a distinct purpose in creating a vision of where your work belongs. While every author wants his or her work to be unique, the truth is that categorization and comparison are vital to the success of a new work. By associating your work with known works, you give your audience a snapshot of why your work should matter to them. The final project for this course consists of four parts: a query letter, a synopsis of the creative work, a marketing plan (including research of the genre and audience, author background and qualifications, and current market trends), and a comparative titles analysis. The final project represents an authentic demonstration of competency because it involves application of real-world publishing skills. The project is divided into two milestones, which will be submitted in Modules Three and Five. The final project creative work proposal will be submitted in Module Seven. In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes: • Analyze current genres, writing styles, and publishing trends for guiding writing and publishing choices • Conduct market research and analysis to support a creative work’s position in the marketplace • Write professional, targeted query letters to agents or editors for establishing professional connections and selling written work • Create market-friendly descriptions of creative works with clear structure, detail, and narrative drive Prompt Write a professional proposal for an original written creative work of your choice that includes a query letter (1 page), a synopsis (1–2 pages), a marketing plan (2–3 pages), and a comparative titles analysis (1 page). (Note: This work must be one of your own creation, but it does not need to be complete. A work in progress will suffice for the purpose of this assessment.) Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed: I. Query Letter: In preparation for writing your query letter, research agents and editors that might be a good fit to represent your work. You will choose one agent or editor to be the recipient of your query letter. A. Compose a query letter that is addressed to a specific agent or editor appropriate for the genre of your creative work and that clearly states your purpose for writing. B. Throughout your query letter, utilize a professional tone, while also giving a clear indication of your author voice for the editor oragent. C. Describe your creative work using clear structure, detail, and narrative drive. D. Write a succinct, single-paragraph biography that includes who you are and any writing- or publishing-related background youpossess. E. Conclude your letter, expressing gratitude to the recipient, informing them of any attachments, including your contact information, and ending with a targeted solicitation to read the proposal and larger work. II. Synopsis A. Compose a synopsis with a complete structure (i.e., clear beginning, middle, and end) while utilizing narrative drive to engage the reading audience. B. Describe necessary details that provide a visual, market-friendly synopsis of your creative work while eliminating extraneous information. III. Marketing Plan A. Write a professional author biography that highlights your experience, background, unique expertise, and what you bring to the market or genre. (Expand on the biography you wrote in your query letter to include more about your unique identity as a writer.) B. Define the genre and format of your creative work, including an explanation of how it fits into a specific genre. You may want to consider illustrating your response with specific examples of other works in the genre. C. Analyze current writing styles and publishing trends in the genre of your creative work. D. Explain how your creative work reflects these trends while bringing something unique to the genre. E. Explain the primary audience of the creative work, using detail from market research. F. Propose how the primary audience can best be reached. Use research to support your proposal. IV. Comparative Titles Analysis: For this section, you will need to research works in the same genre or subject matter as your own. You will select three specific works to discuss throughout this section. A. Provide a list of comparative titles, including price, format (e.g., hardcover, paperback), year the book was published, and ISBNnumber. B. Write a brief, market-friendly synopsis (one to three sentences) describing each work. C. Compare these works to each other and to your own creative work, highlighting similarities and differences that would indicate your work is a good publishing choice. Use market research to support your claims. Milestone One: Query Letter and Synopsis Milestones In Module Three, you will submit the query letter and synopsis. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone One Rubric. Milestone Two: Marketing Plan and Comparative Titles Analysis In Module Five, you will submit the marketing plan and comparative titles analysis. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Two Rubric. Final Submission: Creative Work Proposal In Module Seven, you will submit your final project. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final project. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. This submission will be graded with the Final Project Rubric. Final Project Rubric Guidelines for Submission: Your Creative Work Proposal should be approximately 5–7 pages consisting of four parts: query letter (1 page), synopsis (1–2 pages), marketing plan (2–3 pages), and comparative titles analysis (1 page). Your proposal should be double-spaced (with the exception of the query letter and synopsis, which should be single-spaced), have one-inch margins, use 12-point Times New Roman font, and use other appropriate formatting for each component. Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (85%) Needs Improvement (55%) Not Evident (0%) Value Query Letter: Addressed Meets “Proficient” criteria and demonstrates exceptional ability to align creative work to an agent or editor Composes a query letter that is addressed to a specific agent or editor appropriate for the genre of the creative work and that clearly states a purpose for writing Composes a query letter, but it is not addressed to a specific agent or editor appropriate for the genre of the creative work or it does not clearly state a purpose for writing Does not compose a query letter 5.93 Query Letter: Professional Tone Meets “Proficient” criteria and demonstrates mastery of professional tone in use of language, style, and word choice Utilizes a professional tone throughout the letter while giving a clear indication of the author voice Utilizes a professional tone, but it is not consistent throughout the letter or does not give a clear indication of the author voice Does not utilize a professional tone 5.93 Query Letter: Description of Creative Work Meets “Proficient” criteria and demonstrates mastery of structure, detail, and narrative drive Describes the creative work, using clear structure, detail, and narrative drive Describes the creative work but does not effectively or consistently use clear structure, detail, and narrative drive Does not describe the creative work 4.75 Query Letter: Biography Meets “Proficient” criteria and composes a succinct yet memorable biography Writes a single-paragraph biography that specifies the author and publishing-related background Writes a biography, but biography is either cursory or too lengthy Does not write a single-paragraph biography 5.93 Query Letter: Conclusion Meets “Proficient” criteria and conclusion is exceptionally effective at encouraging further contact Concludes the letter, expressing gratitude, informing of any attachments, including contact information, and ending with an appropriate, targeted solicitation to read the proposal and larger work Concludes the letter, but does not express gratitude, inform of any attachments, include contact information, or end with an appropriate, targeted solicitation to read the proposal and larger work Does not conclude the letter 5.93 Synopsis: Structure Meets “Proficient” criteria and demonstrates masterful use of structure and narrative drive Composes a synopsis with a complete structure while effectively utilizing narrative drive to engage the reading audience Composes a synopsis with a complete structure but does not effectively utilize narrative drive to engage the reading audience Does not compose a synopsis with a complete structure 4.75 Synopsis: Details Meets “Proficient” criteria and demonstrates mastery of identifying relevant details that add clear visual components to the description Describes necessary details that provide a visual, market-friendly synopsis of the creative work while eliminating extraneous information Describes necessary details that provide a synopsis of the creative work, but synopsis includes too much extraneous information, is not market friendly, or does not utilize visual language Does not describe necessary details for a market-friendly synopsis 4.75 Marketing Plan: Author Biography Meets “Proficient” criteria and biography is exceptionally clear and memorable Writes a professional author biography that highlights experience, background, unique expertise, and what is brought to the market or genre Writes a professional author biography, but it does not clearly highlight experience, background, unique expertise, or what is brought to the market or genre Does not write a professional author biography 5.93 Marketing Plan: Genre and Format Meets “Proficient” criteria and illustrates response with specific examples of other works in the genre Defines the genre and format of the creative work, including an explanation of how it fits into a specific genre Defines the genre and format of the creative work, including an explanation of how it fits into a specific genre, but definition of genre is inappropriate for the creative work or explanation is cursory Does not appropriately define the genre and format of the creative work 5.93 Marketing Plan: Writing Styles and Publishing Trends Meets “Proficient” criteria and analysis is exceptionally clear and contextualized Analyzes current writing styles and publishing trends in the genre of the creative work Analyzes current writing styles and publishing trends in the genre of the creative work, but analysis is cursory or contains inaccuracies Does not analyze current writing styles and publishing trends in the genre of the creative work 5.93 Marketing Plan: Unique Meets “Proficient” criteria and explanation is exceptionally clear and contextualized Explains how creative work reflects these trends while bringing something unique to the genre Explains how creative work reflects these trends while bringing something unique to the genre, but explanation is cursory or illogical Does not explain how creative work reflects these trends while bringing something unique to the genre 5.93 Marketing Plan: Primary Audience Meets “Proficient” criteria and is exceptionally insightful in defining the primary audience Explains the primary audience of the creative work with detail from market research Explains the primary audience of the creative work, but explanation is cursory or not supported with detail from market research Does not explain the primary audience of the creative work 7.92 Marketing Plan: Audience Reached Meets “Proficient” criteria and provides multiple examples of research into audience to reach and/or the market for the creative work Proposes how the primary audience can best be reached, using research to support the proposal Proposes how the primary audience can best be reached, but proposal is cursory or is not supported with research Does not propose how the primary audience can best be reached 7.92 Comparative Titles Analysis: Comparative Titles Meets “Proficient” criteria and demonstrates keen insight into drawing connections between original creative works and existing works for the purposes of marketing Provides a list of comparative titles with identifying information Provides a list of titles with identifying information, but titles are not all relevant for comparison Does not provide a list of titles 7.92 Comparative Titles Analysis: Synopsis Meets “Proficient” criteria and synopses are exceptionally clear and engaging Writes a brief, market-friendly synopsis of each work Writes a market-friendly synopsis of each work, but not all synopses are brief or accurate Does not write a synopsis of each work 4.75 Comparative Titles Analysis: Comparison Meets “Proficient” criteria and illustrates claims with multiple, relevant examples Compares the works to each other and to own creative work, highlighting similarities and differences and why the work is a good publishing choice Compares the works to each other and to own creative work, highlighting similarities and differences, but comparison is cursory or does not indicate why the work is a good publishing choice Does not compare the works to each other and to own creative work 4.75 Articulation of Response Submission is free of errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, and organization and is presented in a professional and easy-to-read format Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas 5.05 Total 100%