How to Create an Effective One Sheet to Showcase Your Writing Project

by Larry J. Leech II @LarryJLeechII

While accepting pitches at two recent conferences, I noticed a disturbing trend—one sheets that are no longer a ‘one sheet.’

Almost all the one sheets were printed on the front and back. Unfortunately, most of the information was not relevant either.

This is two examples of what a one sheet should look like: 

• Fiction One Sheet
• Nonfiction One Sheet

As you can see, all you need is the following:

• Title of your project

• Your name 

• Your contact info (I’ve seen a few one sheets that failed to include this information.)

• Three — or four — paragraph summary (Novelists, please include the ending. We, acquisition editors and agents, need to know how the story ends. Don’t end with a hook similar to your back cover copy or online description.)

• A short bio. Short. Like 80-100 words. Anything longer than that will decrease the word count for the summary.

• A headshot

• Some like to include an image related to the book. I think that helps. Otherwise, the one sheet ends up being a gray blob of words.

Now, for the honest, brutal truth. 

Please Do NOT Include the Following in a One Sheet:

• Market research / target audience

• Marketing plan

• A second summary

• List of endorsers

• Endorsements

• All those items should be included in a book proposal, And, please, no color text. Black text is industry standard.

To confirm my suspicions about the recent shift in one sheets, I reached out to a handful of agents for their take. One said this: “I much prefer info on just one side….the point is brevity, and if you can’t get your pitch across on one side you haven’t refined it enough.”

Years ago, a top agent spoke to the writers group of which I was president. During his presentation he mentioned that he knew within ninety seconds if he wanted to represent a project. That was eye-opening for a lot of people. And he wasn’t being mean. Just honest.

Having the right information in a one sheet presented similar to the example in the link will better catch the eye of an editor or agent. My writing mentor taught me that ‘great writing is not what you leave in, but what you leave out.’ The same goes for the one sheet. 

So, if you plan to pitch at a conference later this year, please make sure your one sheet is just that—a one sheet.

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Usually with a hot beverage nearby, Larry J. Leech II spends his days working with words—as a writing coach of award-winning authors, as well as Acquisitions Editor and Master Book Coach for Illumify Media. More than forty years ago, Larry started his career as a sportswriter in southwestern Pennsylvania where he covered prep sports, college sports, and the Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers. In 2004, after 2,300 published articles, Larry shifted to book publishing. Since that time, he has ghostwritten thirty books, edited more than 450 manuscripts, and coached hundreds of authors through the writing and publication process. For nearly two decades Larry has taught at numerous general market and inspirational conferences nationwide. When he has a minute, Larry likes to hang out on Facebook and Instagram. You can also find out more about him on his website: larryleech.com.