I am a full-time writer, editor, speaker, and writing coach. My background is in the traditional publishing industry, where I spent over 20 years as an editor, acquisitions editor, and the last seven as editorial director for Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group.
I’m the creator of Book Proposal Academy, BookCamp and The Winning Book Proposal Power Pack.
This is my personal blog. My mission is to help writers get their books into the world.
I wrote a manifesto titled Do Your Art: A Manifesto on Rejecting Apathy to Bring Your Best to the World.
“Chad’s manifesto delivers a simple but profound truth: you have unique art to offer the world, and deliberate action is the only path to making it happen. A wonderful (and welcome) kick in the pants!”–Todd Henry, author of The Accidental Creative and Die Empty
To pick up a free copy, drop me your email and I’ll send it to you!
I started this blog in August of 2012 for one simple reason: I felt called to do it. Something deep within moved me to begin writing, and I’ve been posting consistently ever since. (By the way, if you too are feeling the pull, visit How to Start a Sustainable Blog.) I blog about writing, publishing, creativity, and personal development. Occasionally I will post on a subject that does not fit neatly into these categories.
Following is a list of popular posts:
- How to Do More of the Work You Love and Less of the Work You Hate
- Who Else Wants to Design Their Own Blog Header?
- The Very First Thing I Look at in Your Book Proposal and Why
- How to Come Up with a Great Book Concept
- How to Write a Chapter Synopsis for Your Book Proposal
If you want to know what the R in Chad R. Allen stands for, read My Dirty Little Secret…and Why I’m OK with It.
I am married to Alyssa, and we have two children. We make our home in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
We like to have fun. 🙂
Thank you for checking in on this page and for showing interest in my blog! I’d love to hear from you. Following are some ways to connect with me.
- If you’d like to hear about new blog posts via email (and get a free copy of our book proposal template), click here.
- Twitter: @chadrallen
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/chadrallen
- My blog and homepage: www.chadrallen.com
Are You Interested in Working with Me?
My main areas of expertise include helping writers develop their books, grow their audience, and pursue a winning publishing strategy.
For a complete list of products and services I provide, please visit my products page here: www.chadrallen.com/products.
If you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to fill in the form below to send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!
[callout]Bonus Content: The best way to start a nonfiction book project is by writing a book proposal. I’d love to give you a free copy of my Book Proposal Guidelines, used by countless authors to write their book proposals. [button href=”https://www.chadrallen.com/getbookproposalguidelines” primary=”true” centered=”true” newwindow=”false”]Download[/button][/callout]
Send Me an Email
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Hi Chad. This is really granular detail, but do you have font style, size and spacing recommendations for book proposals?
Not really. Just make it easy to ready! And if you want to go one step beyond this, you could design or have your book proposal designed. Also, be sure to check out this blog post on how to format a book proposal: https://www.chadrallen.com/2019/09/19/format-book-proposal/
Hello, Chad! Mike Morrell asked me to contact you because he really appreciates your blog and thinks you’d be an excellent candidate for his Speakeasy Blogger Network. Do you like to review off-the-beaten path faith, spirituality, and culture books? Speakeasy puts interesting books in your hands at no charge to you. You only get books when you request them, and it’s free to join. Sign up here, if you’d like: http://thespeakeasy.info
Sounds interesting, but I’m afraid I just don’t have the bandwidth to add book reviews to my calendar! Thanks for thinking of me all the same!
I like your communication style, Mr. Chad. Thanks for putting yourself out there.
Arlen, thanks, I appreciate it.
Hey Chad- I serve your delicious coffee and oatmeal almost daily pending on the week. I finally got around to checking out your blog and in only about 5 minutes you have prodded me to make some changes. I plan on reading more of your blog and your book. I am slow when it comes to reading, but I hope to have some life enlightenment which is well needed right now. Thank you for sharing! Good luck too…
Ali, welcome! So glad you made it. And I’m even happier to know something I wrote was helpful to you. I do hope you find time to read the book, more of a booklet really; most people can read it in about 20 minutes. Anyway, I wrote it for anybody who has a passion or dream or side project that they are pursuing or want to pursue. Would love to know what you think of it. In the meantime I’ll see you at the counter!