Macguyver was the all-time master of double use. Watch what he does with this paperclip, for example:
I can’t promise writing a book proposal will save you from certain death, but doing so definitely has more uses than pitching an idea to traditional publishers.
Writing a book proposal will help you:
- Clarify your vision for the book. Writing the brief description of a book proposal helps you to cast the vision—for yourself if no one else (but see 7 below).
- Define your audience. One of the most important steps to writing a book that has a market, not to mention marketing your book, is defining your audience.
- Structure the content. A chapter-by-chapter synopsis helps you see how your ideas will flow, one to another.
- Save yourself some work. The work you put into a book proposal now can save you a lot of work in the writing process later.
- Start working on a marketing plan. It’s never too soon to start working on a plan to promote. In fact, a little platform building while the manuscript takes shape can go a long way.
- Determine whether you have the energy to write the book. If you can’t finish the proposal, you might think twice about trying to write the book!
- Talk with others about what you’re writing. Writing a book proposal is a great way to get feedback from others and incorporate some really important tweaks before launching into the writing process.
- Try out various titles and subtitles. This is eminently worth doing.
- Figure out how long your chapters should be. Again, the chapter-by-chapter synopsis will help you figure out how many ideas to place within each chapter.
- Know what the next step is when the going gets tough. Writing has a way of taking us down rabbit trails. Your proposal will help come back to where you’re supposed to be.
- Focus. If the road map is front of you, it’s that much easier to stay on track.
- Establish your credibility. Working on your bio will help you explain to yourself, and others, why you’re a credible source for the information in your book.
- Try out different angles for the concept. This is somewhat related to number 8, but writing a proposal gives you an opportunity to try out different ways to position your book. Sometimes a subtle change can make the difference between a book that sells and one that doesn’t.
- Take the first big step toward actually writing a book! If you’re like me, you’ve been dreaming about writing a book for a while. Writing a book proposal helps you get that much closer.
Are you working on a book proposal? What has been useful or frustrating about the process?
Thanks Chad — this makes great sense. I know that doing a thorough book proposal for my first book vastly improved the book for many of these reasons.
As to self-publishing: Hope you’ll post about the advantages you see, the kinds of things that might lend themselves to that option and so forth.
I’m wondering as well how a publisher would view the self-publishing efforts of an author they have published, or an author they might publish in the future.
I’m thinking about self-publishing because honestly i don’t want the hassle of trying to submit my concept to a traditional publisher. I realize that my market is a bit limited. I’m happy to pick up whatever sales I can via my platform and, more importantly, to use the book as a platform builder! Mind you, if a traditional publisher read this comment and expressed interest, I’d be all ears! 🙂
If an author I had worked with self-published without at least mentioning it to me, I’d wonder if I did something to offend her. But if the author talked with me and explained why she thought self-publishing was the best way to go, I would either make a case for traditional publishing, with which of course the author could either agree or disagree, or I’d be all for it. It would depend on the situation.
If an author self-publishes and does well in terms of sales (selling, say, 2,000 copies or more), that tells a publisher something, namely, that the author has a platform and knows how to hustle. If an author self-publishes and the book doesn’t sell well, that too tells the publisher something, namely, that the publisher won’t be able to rely on the author for much promotional help.
I hope that answers your questions.
These are all great. I love number 11, focus. I’ve been working on a proposal along with your series. The work has served to get me so excited and exactly that, focused. The non-fiction avenue was something I had only contemplated before, but now I have the confidence to pursue it. Doing the proposal first has been invaluable to showing me that I do have it in me.
That is so encouraging for me to hear. Thank you, Lisa, and you’re right, you CAN do it!
And oh, I don’t like to write book proposals, but I do write them, and you’re correct, Chad. There are so many reasons to do so. I especially like your #10. Those Rabbit Trails! I’m about 3/4 through my current novel-in-progress, but being very distracted by those pesky rabbits.
I’m also currently rereading WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL by Donald Maass, which inspired me to go through that novel chapter by chapter and decide which chapters were in the “break-out” category and which needed work. It’s a variation of the book proposal and has really put me back on track.
Thank you for another great and thought-provoking post!
Sue, wow, i love that idea of reviewing each chapter for breakout potential. That’s awesome, and has nonfiction application too!
Great post! It reminds me of business plan development. I’ve coached several people in starting businesses, and I always tell them to write a business plan first, even if it’s just for themselves. People usually think of a company name, buy a domain and think they’re a few weeks from launching. Doing a business plan makes you think through the reality of everything else (for all the reasons you listed here).
I’m working on my proposal daily right now. I love the flexibility that comes with there not being a truly “standardized” proposal, but at the same time it’s been hard to find consistent answers to some really basic questions (e.g., formatting standards like single vs. double space). I have a few different books on proposals and have searched the web endlessly, but everyone seems to have different opinions on those things. I’m just scared to make some horrible newbie mistake!
That said, I’m really enjoying the process. It’s made me even more convicted of the need for this book and it’s given me a truly burning desire to write it! That increased passion was an unanticipated outcome of the process for me.
Lastly, your posts have all been a huge help. I’ve dug back through them several times at this point. Many, many thanks.
Natasha, I’m so glad to have been of some use to you. I wouldn’t get too bogged down with minutiae like double-spaced vs. single-spaced. They’re truly is not a standard when it comes to that kind of thing. My advice is to focus on content, and the simpler the better!
Thank you for asking that question, Natasha :). And it’s nice to know that the devil isn’t in the details (it’s in the solid writing).
I LOVE MacGuyver :). We somehow let our children grow into young adulthood without sharing the show with them–over Christmas, we remedied the situation!
But, as to book proposals. I’ve completed a rough draft and it has definitely been an eye-opening experience for me (I actually had a second draft of a manuscript completed before I started the proposal). The most frustrating part was doing the comparative analysis for other books on the market–the book I read on writing a proposal, as well as another ebook suggested that we use actual numbers of books that have sold well in the same category. Alas, I never found actual numbers or how to find them despite spending several frustrating days searching. The other frustrating, yet useful part involved the realization that I needed a platform. I quickly ordered a book on platform building, read it cover to cover, and got to work. The question remains, though, at what point does one’s platform become mentionable in one’s proposal. Does one keep building platform while finishing up the proposal and then send it out into the cruel, hard world (ok, that might be a wee bit dramatic 😉 ) with a cheery outlook on the platform building endeavors and results? Or does one wait for some measure of ‘success’ before sending the proposal out?
Anita, wow, i’ve never heard of asking someone to provide a number of books sold within a particular category. That strikes me as overkill at best, not mention impossible! I’m sorry you invested so much time in that endeavor. Platform building, however, is a worthwhile endeavor. As for when to send a proposal, you can always try now and see how it goes. If you don’t like the results, keep chipping away at the platform (and perhaps the concept and proposal), and try again a few months later….Great to see you here, Anita!
Thank you :). Whew! What a relief! Searching had it’s silver linings, though, that’s how I stumbled across your blog. I really appreciate the series you’ve done on writing a non-fiction book proposal.
You’re most welcome!
Music to my ears, Chad! Anita, this has been one of my questions too – how to get and provide these numbers! We must have the same proposal books. 🙂 I finally decided that the area in which I’m writing (Christian parenting) is a mainstream enough market that I don’t need to quantify exact sales. I can imagine if you want to write a book on something random you might need to quantify the audience, but for a more general market I just have to hope the book comparison is enough (Chad, you’ve made me feel much better!).
I ended up doing a “map” of the competitive landscape, segmenting by two key attributes. My hope is to visually show how my book fits into an established market but is uniquely positioned for a new audience (it sits in its own part of the map). Then I do the book-by-book comparison.
Natasha, we must have read the same one, for sure :). I love your idea of a map!