Blogger: Rachelle Gardner
Authors sometimes ask me, “Why do I need a book proposal? My book is finished—can’t I just send you that? I don’t see the need to write a proposal.”
So, here is a quick outline of the reasons you need a book proposal for a non-fiction book:
1. Publishers usually don’t look at manuscripts without a proposal.
2. The book proposal provides information the publisher needs in order to make a publishing decision, such as who the author is, where the book fits into the marketplace, what your platform looks like, and what books already exist on your topic.
3. The book proposal is used throughout the publishing process to help the editorial, marketing and sales teams write synopses of your book and create marketing plans and sales strategies.
4. One of the most important advantages of the proposal is that your efforts in creating it can be instrumental in your own understanding of the structure, themes, and execution of your book. It will help you understand where your own book fits into the market, and who your audience is.
5. Going through the process of writing the “competition” section of your proposal shows whether your book is needed in the marketplace and if so, where it fits. It will also show you if the market is already saturated with books on your topic. If this appears to be the case, you can search for a niche that seems to be left open.
6. If you do it right, the proposal shows the publisher that you’ve done your homework, you’re a professional, and you know what you’re talking about. Alternatively, a shoddy proposal makes it easy for an editor to quickly say “No” and toss it in the reject pile.
7. Finally… editors don’t have time to read a whole manuscript in order to make decisions. Proposals give them the information they need to get through those stacks of submissions as quickly as possible.
What’s the hardest part of writing a proposal? Do you think writing a proposal is beneficial to you, the author?
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Mary Kay
As much as I don’t like writing them, I understand they’re important. And I was surprised that in writing it, #4 happened. Happy surprise.
Thanks for the encouragement, Rachelle.
Shirlee Abbott
* Writing can be a solo venture. Publishing can not. I would add to your very worthy list, Rachelle:
* 8. A book proposal demonstrates your willingness to put forth your best effort for the sake of the team. It respects the process and the many people who make the process work.
* Prima donnas need not apply.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Shirlee, by cherished alter ego, Primo Don, would beg to differ with your last point…
* Actually, I’m not completely kidding, It may be from extensive Zen practice, but I’ve been told that I almost completely lack both ego and that certain flavour of ambition that goes with it…and that while it may have served me well in the bush, it’s the kiss of death in most civilian endeavour. My experience in academia and in close personal relationships have led me to agree; one needs a healthy conceit to advance and thrive.
* The alternative is to emulate what is fittingly my animal doppelganger, the water buffalo. The boo and I do quite well at enduring, but that’s about it.
Shirlee Abbott
* Primo Don? Love it!
* I agree that as writer I need enough ego to believe that my words are worth reading, which isn’t the same as believing that my words are so wonderful that others will fall at my feet (I think God has that role covered).
* Our writing must be accompanied by some water-buffalo humility and perseverance. Primo Don the Water Buffalo is a great example to us all.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Primo Don the Water Boo…great image!
* I think you make a great point, Shirlee, in the distinction between believing in the worth of one’s words and feeling them so wonderful that surely all who read them will kneel…but it may go beyond that, to personality.
* Authors are ‘creatives’, and it pays to feel that anointing. I don’t; at best, I’m a journalist whose byline could as well be ‘Anonymous’.
* Eventually, should I live that long, I will have to set up an author website, and I’m really at sea in what sort of content to include. I mean…I’m That Guy who set out, in the 70s to find myself…and I wasn’t there.
Lara Hosselton
I like your 8th point, Shirlee.
*The synopsis is also a killer for me, but sometimes it’s made me aware that parts of my story have become like a ladder missing a rung, or worse, several. This makes my climb to the finish off. It’s helpful for me to do a rough draft synopsis as I go.
*Andrew, I love your thought on marriage and book proposals.
Kristen Joy Wilks
I actually love writing the proposal and query letter. It gives me a creative outlet for the more logical part of my brain when the creative part is stuck on something. I’ll put the story aside and go work on the proposal, just for a break. Then by the time the book is finished, the proposal is well on its way. The hardest part is the synopsis. But I’ve found if I concentrate on writing about the 15 key beats of the story (Save The Cat) in my synopsis that makes it much easier.
Shelli Littleton
I would say the hardest part is the synopsis … trying to get the major points across, yet show my voice, too. Articulate, but attractive. But I’m getting there. On the MS I’m working on now, I tried starting off writing my synopsis first and my back cover copy, while plotting my story out, because I’d heard others here having success with that. I’m hoping that will help me when I have the MS complete. It’s lacking completely, but it’s a start.
Carol Ashby
Shelli, since I usually have interweaving plotlines taking place at different locations and periodically converging, I create an actual timeline of days and sometimes specific dates, adding new and amending old entries as I write. When it’s synopsis time, all the events are right there before me, and it becomes a matter of selecting which to include instead of trying to remember what I wrote. It also makes for a more cohesive plot with no glaring inconsistencies. The heroine shouldn’t break her leg in a car wreck and win a dance contest at the charity ball only three weeks later (unless a miraculous healing is part of the plot).
Shelli Littleton
Ha ha! That’s a very good idea, Carol. As I’m writing, I’ve been including the day on my chapter headings so I don’t get mixed up. I got one day mixed up on my last novel and had to do some repair work, so I learned my lesson there. I should do the timeline on the side, too. I don’t have interweaving plotlines, but that would still help me. I’m used to taking information and compiling a story from it … since I write articles. That has really helped me … but a novel is a much bigger project to undertake, to summarize. 🙂 Since I’m halfway thru my novel, I think I’ll stop work on my synopsis a bit … get it caught up.
Lara Hosselton
Carol, I also find a timeline very helpful. The YA I’m working on takes place over the course of one summer so it’s vital I keep track of how many days have passed since a certain event occurred and what chapter it happened in. I was constantly flipping back through my notes without a timeline. Another thing I find helpful, although it may seem trivial, I keep a list of all my characters names. This comes in handy during editing if you decided to change Uncle Bob to Bill, late in the story.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
If more couples approached marriage with a fraction of the care to which authors give book proposals, the world would be a better place.
Shirlee Abbott
That’s a great insight, Andrew. Don’t take the proposal too lightly.
Two questions for those thinking marriage:
1) Do I want to be married?
2) Do I want to be married to this person?
Two questions for writers:
1) Do I want to write?
2) Do I want to write for publication?
For me, both #1 questions got an easy yes. It took time to decide on #2.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Interesting, Shirlee…partly because my rationale was exactly the opposite.
* I knew I did not want to be separated from Barbara in any way…but I also knew that I was a terrible candidate for marriage. Combat changes a person, and I wondered if I was too far gone. (In hindsight, the answer was, probably, yes. Her endurance of my quest for some measure of peace…and the realization that it will never come…surely qualifies her for sainthood.)
* And I don’t particularly enjoy writing. I enjoy having written. I believe the message is important, but I would be delighted if it could get out there without my name being connected to it (income is good, however). I’m merely the conduit, and a literary rain-gutter needs no name.
Jeanne Takenaka
Great post, Rachelle. For me the hardest part of writing the proposal is writing the book comps in a thoughtful, yet concise way. I found it challenging to write not just about the other book, but about the feel/voice of my book in relation to the books I compared my voice with.
*Writing a proposal is definitely a good thing for an writer. It helps us writers get a feel for the process. It makes us look at what other books are out there, and it gives us the opportunity to stretch and think about what publishers are looking for—meaning we have to take a look at and evaluate how our books fit into the market.
Amber Schamel
Great points, Rachelle. Proposals are absolutely important. I think maybe folks who ask this question don’t really understand what a book proposal is. It has so much more information than just what the book is about. Is there a market? Who is the market? What are your qualifications as an author? What will you do to help sell the book? These are all questions that the proposal answers, but the manuscript does not.
Richard Mabry
Rachelle, although there’s often a feeling of, “But I’ve had books published. Why do I need a proposal for this one?”–you make excellent points. It’s sort of like children who don’t want to learn multiplication tables. It’s not fun, but it’s necessary. Thanks for the reminder.
Jaxon M King
It seems to me that a proposal gives an author a chance to really express what it is that makes his/her book special-details that may otherwise be embedded in the story or hidden in the characters’ minds and emotions. We all enjoy talking to others about what we have written, and a proposal can be a good opportunity to do just that.
Shelli Littleton
Jaxon, I love your attitude. 🙂
Jaxon M King
Thanks, Shelli!
Billie Jauss
Do you have a good resource for the layout of a proposal? I see different outlines online and in books and do not know what the best option to follow.
Linda Elliott Long
Thank you for the excellent guidance. I’ve been reading this blog (and enjoying it) for about a year — which is the same time frame in which I’ve been writing my first novel. When I started it, I wasn’t even sure that I would end up with a full novel; but the process has been full of blessings. Now, my manuscript is close to completion; and I hope I can learn to write a good proposal! Maybe, for my next novel — and, I hope there IS a next one — I can work on the proposal as part of the first step! Thank you all — and blessings on all your work.
John Wells
So be it! Sorta reminds me of James Whitcomb Riley’s poem about the weather: “Ain’t no use to crumble and complain. You might as well rejoice. When God sorts out the weather and sends rain, then rain’s my choice.”
Working on a proposal, and as much as I dislike doing it, I’ll do my best to make it perfect.
Peter DeHaan
I never like doing the competitive works section. It’s tedious and grueling, but in the process.I do learn things about how to write (or not write) my book.
Alexa Darin
Query letters and the synopsis (or proposals) are not the most fun to write, but they are a valuable tool in that they can help your writing become more succinct.