# Seller brief — the source of editorial voice

The seller brief at `<property_dir>/seller-brief.md` is the single most influential input to the brochure's copy. It is an interview document with 20 questions that the operator collected from the seller (the home's current owner). Read it once, in full, before writing any chapter copy. It does not get quoted verbatim unless an answer is explicitly marked `[VERBATIM]` — it is *distilled* into the editorial register.

A complete brief is a precondition for `property-brochure` (and the orchestrator gates on it — see `make-brochure → Brief routing`). If the brief is missing or incomplete, stop and report the gap; do not synthesise answers from the listing description.

## Per-question mapping — what each answer informs

The 20 questions cluster into four uses: **voice setters** (Q5, Q19, Q20 — set tone of the cover and opener), **body content** (Q1–4, Q6, Q7, Q11–14 — body paragraphs across chapters), **list emphasis** (Q8–10, Q18 — particulars list and feature highlights), and **disclosure** (Q15–17 — buyer avatar and Material Information context).

| Question | What it informs in the brochure |
|---|---|
| **Q1.** Why did you first buy this home? | Opener body paragraph 1 (the home's "of place & pedigree" framing) |
| **Q2.** Length of ownership / why selling now | Not surfaced directly; informs the brochure's tense and time-frame voice |
| **Q3.** What you love most | Cover sub-line candidate; opener body paragraph 2 (the "what makes this house unusual" hook) |
| **Q4.** What you'll miss most | Back-page tagline candidate; orangery / sitting-room caption |
| **Q5.** Feeling on first walking through the door | **The opening chapter deck** — the single italic sentence at the top of page 3. This is the brochure's tone-of-voice contract. |
| **Q6.** Your favourite room | The room that gets *hero* treatment in its chapter (tall feature cell, full-bleed intermission, or strongest in-spread image). The brochure agent re-orders slot priority around this answer. |
| **Q7.** Lifestyle the home supports | Buyer-avatar tone of every body paragraph; choice of which chapter gets emphasis (e.g. an entertainer's home leans into pool/kitchen/dining; a quiet retreat leans into garden/orangery) |
| **Q8.** Renovations done? | Particulars list i–iii items; opener body paragraph 2 |
| **Q9.** What changed and why | Particulars list item phrasing — *what* the seller did becomes the headline; *why* becomes the qualifying clause |
| **Q10.** Design details others notice | Strip-cell captions (page 4); attr-grid features (page 7 feature page) |
| **Q11.** What you love about the local area | Garden & ground page text panels (rear garden, front & approach, ancillary) |
| **Q12.** Hidden gems nearby | Garden & ground secondary panel; possibly a footnote on the back page |
| **Q13.** Commute / transport | Opener spec line (e.g. "*Essex · CB11 3LZ · 50 minutes from Liverpool Street*") if commutable |
| **Q14.** Community vibe | Garden & ground tone; back-page tagline supporting line |
| **Q15.** Who this home suits best | Buyer-avatar tone (reinforces Q7) |
| **Q16.** Hoped-for next buyer | Tone of the back-page CTA ("Arrange a viewing of …") |
| **Q17.** Anything that needs context before viewings | Material Information page note (page 11) — the "context" line above the disclosure grid, or a footnote on a specific MI row |
| **Q18.** What buyers might overlook | Promotes a slot from strip-cell to hero, or surfaces a particular in the list that wouldn't otherwise be there |
| **Q19.** Three words to describe the home | **Cover sub-line OR opening chapter deck.** The seller's three words appear unrephrased — they are the home's tagline. If the cover already uses Q5 for the deck, Q19 lands on the cover sub-line in tracked-caps small. |
| **Q20.** Feeling, story, or phrase for buyers to connect with | **Cover tagline OR back-page tagline.** This is the single phrase the brochure carries. If marked `[VERBATIM]`, it is preserved word-for-word. Otherwise it is gently distilled into the editorial register. |

## Distil, don't quote — except [VERBATIM]

Sellers' answers are conversational. The brochure's register is editorial. Most answers are *distilled* — the seller's "we love how the morning light comes through the chapel windows of the principal bedroom" becomes a deck like *"the morning light through chapel-style windows."* The seller's **information** survives; the seller's **conversational cadence** does not, except where they tag an answer `[VERBATIM]`.

`[VERBATIM]` is a contract: the answer is preserved exactly, in italic, as a pull-quote on a chapter page or as the back-page tagline. Use it sparingly — at most one or two per brochure. The Q20 answer is the most common candidate; Q4 and Q5 occasionally.

## Worked example — Sparrows Farm

(Hypothetical — Sparrows Farm shipped without a brief; a real example would source from the seller.)

> **Q5.** A buyer should feel that the home is *settled*. Six hundred years of beam and stone with a kitchen that wants to be cooked in.
>
> **Q19.** *Settled. Restored. Loved.*
>
> **Q20.** [VERBATIM] *A timeless home, lived in well.*

Becomes:

- Opening chapter deck (page 3): "A home built to be settled in — six hundred years of beam and stone, with a kitchen that wants to be cooked in."
- Cover sub-line (page 1): "SETTLED · RESTORED · LOVED" (tracked caps, beneath the title)
- Back-page tagline (page 16): *"A timeless home, lived in well."* — preserved verbatim, in italic, beneath "Arrange a viewing of …"

The brochure agent records which question informed which copy element in a one-line internal log so a reviewer can check that every brief answer found a place in the brochure.
