Writing for an Audience

The paradox of modern publishing — and indeed, of most mass-released art forms — seems to be the quest for something that is fresh, new, and innovative; but also marketable and low-risk with a built-in audience; but also which will generate sales at minimum expense. It seems to be one of those "choose any two" scenarios.

• If it is 
• If it is 
• If it is fresh and 

The publishing world likes to see authors submit comp titles in its query letters. A comp title is a book (or list of books) similar in content, tone, and/or market demographic to the one the querying author has written. It shows the author has done a minimum of homework and has anticipated the needs of the target audience. A query letter is the author's initial pitch to a literary agent — why the agent should take a risk on this novel, at this time.

I sometimes observe that the

Ideally, of course, an agent would probably prefer to receive a query letter that provides a maximum of information density on the work in question. Something neither too long, nor too short, so the agent can spend as little time as possible deciding whether that project is right for the agency, and with a maximum of accuracy.* There's nothing