Posted by Meg Leder
In a few weeks, I’m giving a talk at a writing conference. The subject: How to Make Your Book Stand Out. There are a number of ways I can approach this talk: the ins and outs of crafting an attention-getting proposal; tips for making sure you’re the author your in-house team wants to go the extra mile for; how to self-promote beyond your publicity and marketing team’s efforts; and so on.
But the tip that keeps coming to mind, beyond the etiquette and rules and insider tips? Have a really, really great idea from the get-go. Take, for example, a quirky proposal that landed on my desk in December 2009: Images You Should Not Masturbate To.
The project came in through the slush, and as most unsolicited manuscripts we receive rarely focus on the subjects we publish (let alone spell our imprint’s name correctly), I wasn’t expecting much. But then I opened the envelope and found a mock-up of the book.
The cover featured a strange old man chopping ice with an axe… while naked. The title was prudish and willfully awkward (it ends with a preposition!), but also intriguing. And the content—a collection of random images, ranging from a dog with wig to hair on a drain to a wrestler named “Chad”—was bizarre, and frankly, kind of awesome. I found myself flipping through the pages, eager to see what would come next.
When I shared the project with my colleagues, their reactions were similar: mild revulsion at the cover image, slightly appalled laughter at the title, and curiosity at the content on the interior pages.
This deceptively simple and deliberately off-putting project was weird and provocative, and like nothing we’d seen before. It made us want to turn the page, even if we cringed the entire time. And so, we made an offer and are now the proud publishers of Images You Should Not Masturbate To.
This February, if you’re looking for a gift that will truly stand out—something with a cryptic cover, grammatically incorrect title, and strange interior content—you’re in luck. Enjoy!
