Tip Sheet Outline

A basic tip sheet should include:

• The book's vital statistics: title, author, publication date, retail price, ISBN, distributor, specs (page count, number of illustrations, binding), category (e.g. fiction, poetry), status of foreign rights, first printing amount. Also include mention of sales territory the reps are authorized to cover (e.g. North America, world).
• Five to ten sales handles. What's your one sentence description of the book? Is the book the first in any category? Does the book speak to a timely issue? Any outstanding details about the author? These should be the kind of details you mention to pique a casual listener's interest.
• Description of target audience. Think about this on many levels: book content, genre, regional interest, author's biographical facts (e.g. the author is Chinese American, the author is a chess master, the author lives in San Francisco, etc.). You will base most of the rest of the information in the tip sheet on what audiences you have identified.
• Specific retail venues that will be interested in the book.
• Other organizations and venues that will be interested in the book (e.g. scholarly associations, community centers, etc.).
• Specific regions the reps should concentrate on (i.e. where is the target audience located?).
• Summary of publicity plans, giving cities where author will tour, any conferences or book festivals where book will be featured.
• List of previous books by the author.
• List of comparable or competitive books.