Bonus Features: the potential of transmedia writing

So, in a recent #askagent session, I asked Colleen Lindsay if writers who want to have digital content should include that in a query, or along with their manuscript, or what. Her response was that extra digital content was something that the publisher’s marketing department would discuss with the writer after the book has been sold to them.

This just seems like such a waste to me. I mean, it’s great if a publisher’s marketing department is savvy enough to think of digital extras to be part of the book’s marketing, and if the writer is then able and willing to go along with it. But there’s a huge potential here that could be seized from the start. And I would think a writer who wants to do that — who has ideas for it, the know-how to accomplish it, etc. — would be an asset a publisher (or agent) would want to take advantage of.

Now, I realize that the first and most important consideration for buying (or representing) a writer’s book is, of course, the quality of the writing. But it still seems like a major opportunity is being lost.

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