In Stairway to Earth, I urge authors to write not only a proposal for publishers. I also urge them to write a pitch. If you’re going to submit a proposal to a publisher yourself—or your agent is going to do it for you—you’ll need to pitch your idea in a cover letter or email.

The best time to write the pitch is after you’ve finished the proposal. Only at that time have you fully refined your idea, market positioning, and marketing plans. You are then in peak form to persuade an editor that you have a winner.

Of course, your agent could write the pitch for you. Agents do this all the time. But you can make this easier by provide a first draft of the language. Your agent can then refine and add his or her two cents.

As an example, I’m pasting below the language I gave my agent, Helen Rees, at Rees Literary Agency, to sell Merchants of Virtue: Herman Miller and the Making of a Sustainable Company in 2009.

“In the late 1980s, a group of young leaders at Herman Miller, Inc., the $1.6 billion Zeeland, Michigan, office-furniture maker, set out to reverse the environmental damage caused by America’s industrial machine. Over 20 years, they rethought and revamped the entire approach to industrial production. They achieved a feat that has eluded most companies today – establishing a definitive pathway to environmental sustainability.

This is the story told in Merchants of Virtue. It is an intriguing tale of a handful of people on a quest to remake a traditional American company. Their experiences reveal insights and lessons for us all – about designing products, jobs, organizations, and our lives.

Other companies claim to have achieved sustainability, but few have done it like Herman Miller. The company relies on the twin bedrocks of Midwest values and globally preeminent industrial design. It is a company featured in business- and design-school case studies worldwide. It wins awards by the basketful, in management, design, manufacturing, and the environment. Its brand is akin to the Porsche of its industry.

To date, no trade book has revealed the inside story of its management. One reason is that Herman Miller previously shied from trumpeting its management successes. CEO Brian Walker and others, however, endorse the writing of Merchants of Virtue: They promise full access to people and to the trove of documents in their huge archive…”

To this, Helen added a couple of lines about marketing. Notice that the pitch should hook your editor with your unique idea, how it differs from other books in the market, and why it has so much promise.

Don’t forget to add unique marketing strengths you have—for example, your keynote speaking gigs and prospects for bulk purchases. Editors love to hear about how their business partners—that’s you, the author—can help market the book.

The proposal will sell your book to publishers, but the pitch will get them to read the proposal. It’s worth more than a few hours of effort.

[Revised January 2020. Originally published August 30, 2011]