Writing a Book Proposal

If you’ve written a non-fiction book, and you are seeking to have it published, at some point you’re going to be asked to submit a book proposal. I initially assumed that sending a sample of the book would suffice as a book proposal! Not so, I learned. The book proposal gives agents and publishers a big picture vision of your book and how it fits into the landscape of non-fiction already on the market.

I can imagine that some writers would find the book proposal a chore to write. However, with a background in marketing and business, to me writing the book proposal was a fun and useful exercise. I recommend putting your proposal together early in the process of selling your book to an agent/publisher. Whether or not an agent asks for a book proposal, they will ask for certain information that your proposal will contain. Thus, writing a proposal helps organize the information you’ll need in order to discuss your work with those in the business of publishing.

You can do a search for templates online. Most of them include some variation of the following sections.

Project Overview

The project overview is essentially your elevator pitch: a brief introduction to your book and why people should read it. Agents and publishers are inundated with writers trying to publish their works. If you only have a page or two, what can you say about your book that will grab their attention? What makes your book unique? What makes you qualified to write about your subject? Have you already proven yourself as a person that people want to hear from (do you have a social media presence or an existing media audience)?

About the Author

In this section about yourself, you can go into more detail on your qualifications. Why did you write/are you writing the book? Since you will be the key to marketing the book, you are as much the product as the book is. In this section, you get to sell yourself. Why will readers want to hear from you?

Target Audience

The publishing industry will want to know that you’ve given some thought to who your ideal reader is. We all want to think that our book will be of interest to everyone. I wrote a book on happiness, a topic that applies to everyone in one form or another, but even I had to acknowledge that not every person is going to want to read about happiness (the agony!). If you are writing about a niche topic, you probably already know who your demographic is. For other types of non-fiction, I suggest you do some research into who buys/reads the genre in which your book fits. This can give you a starting point. You can also think about who shows the most interest when you talk about the book with others, and who would gain the most from the lessons in your book?

Comparable Titles

Additionally, publishers will want to know that you have some understanding of where your book fits into the existing market of non-fiction books. This is how readers talk about books, in comparisons with known titles. You’ll see it sometimes in book blurbs: readers of <bestseller> will love <similar well-loved feature> in this new book. On the other hand, readers do want a hint of freshness. They want to be surprised. Reading the same book over and over again gets boring. Therefore, you’ll want to outline how your book overlaps with multiple existing titles to be a work all its own that is new and exciting. There is something a little outrageous in this demand for similarity yet novelty, but I’m sure it’s easy to become jaded when you see so much of the same. If you’re having trouble with this exercise, you might try asking a librarian for help. In my next blog post, I’ll also discuss how to use Publisher’s Marketplace as a resource.

Marketing and Promotion

In the marketing section, what the agent/publisher really wants to know is how big your audience is currently. This is why, if you haven’t already done it, it’s a good idea to create your author website ASAP. In this section, you can include links to your website and your social media profiles as well as give information about the analytics of your website (e.g. number of monthly visitors, number of newsletter subscribers, etc.). It may also be helpful to discuss your next steps for growing your audience to show that you’ve thought about how to meet your target demographic where they are. For example, if your target audience is the 18-35 set, you might look into how people are using TikTok and Snapchat to market their products or brands and come up with a plan that incorporates these platforms. On the other hand, if your target audience is moms, your plan might revolve around a presence on Facebook.

Manuscript Specifications and Delivery

This section is for the logistics of getting your book to market. How long (measured in number of words) is your manuscript? What hurdles need to be cleared to polish the book and get it published? For instance, if your book has a number of illustrations to highlight concepts, and you are a terrible artist, you’d mention the need for artwork. I just read a J.K. Rowling book where she began each chapter by quoting another book, all quotes taken from the same work. If you do something similar in your book, you would need to state if permissions need to be sought to re-print those selections. Finally, if your manuscript is not yet complete, explain how much work is left and the expected timeline for readiness.

Table of Contents/Chapter Overview

These sections can be combined or given their own space. I chose to separate the two because I think the table of contents tells a story in itself, and I didn’t want the reader to be distracted from that story. The chapter overview is a short summary of each chapter. These should show a progression and the purpose of the chapter’s presence to the overall theme of the book.

Chapter Samples

The samples you provide need not be introductory material, but rather should be the strongest samples of your writing to give the agent/publisher a feel for your voice. Include 25-50 pages (double-spaced) of your writing. You can trim this down depending on the submission guidelines. Therefore, I recommend maxing out the 50 pages to start.

 

Hopefully writing your book proposal is as enjoyable a process for you as it was for me. By thinking about the project as a whole, I was able to map out my plan for the manuscript whether I find a publisher or wind up self-publishing. Good luck!