Book Proposal, Outline, or Both?
Let's start with a given.
Before any literary agent or acquiring editor at a publishing house will seriously consider publishing your book, they're going to first want to know what the book is about.
This goes without saying, but many hopeful authors never go beyond this elementary insight.
Thinking that all a literary agent or editor will need is an outline of their book, they prepare a simple chapter-by-chapter outline and maybe a cover letter to introduce themselves and their book, and they think that's the end of the matter.
In actuality they are missing the mark so seriously that probably no literary agent or editor would give them serious consideration.
What is it they're missing? They're missing the whole concept of the book proposal, the most important tool for selling your nonfiction book idea.
Without a book proposal you're like a lost man without a compass.
The book proposal is your ticket to publishing success.
It will lead you to the right literary agent and then to the right publisher, just as surely as a compass will lead to magnetic north.
And how does it do this? WHAT IS A BOOK PROPOSAL, REALLY? A book proposal, when understood for what it really is, can lead you to the right literary agent because it will tell anyone who reads it three things: what the book is about, who will buy the book, and why you are the right author to write it.
A book proposal is a marketing tool.
It helps you market and sell yourself to a literary agent and then to an acquiring editor and then to the marketing and sales force in the publishing house.
The book proposal is so much more than a simple outline of your book.
As a person who wants to get published, you have to begin to think like a publisher if you want to understand how to get your book into the hands of a large number of readers.
Many writers would rather avoid the business side of publishing.
This is understandable; creative people often don't like the business side of things.
But to sell your book you're going to have to take some time to go beyond the basic outline -- the creative product of your imagination -- and consider the larger world and the readership you might develop.
The book proposal will help you do that.
HOW A BOOK PROPOSAL SELLS YOUR BOOK A book proposal can help sell your book, and it can do this 100 percent better than a simple outline alone.
You may know who would like to read your book, you may even have a target audience in mind when writing the book, but a literary agent and an acquiring editor will want to be told, in plain English, right in the first few pages of your book proposal, "This book will appeal to women aged 18-45," or "This book will be perfect for people who use computers," or something along these lines.
A book proposal also sells your book to a literary agent or editor by telling them how the book will be promoted.
Do you plan to go on radio and television to talk about the book? Have you ever been on radio or television before? What is your platform? Do you have a Web site? Do you give lectures or presentations? If so, mention all that in your "promotion" section, and it will help sell your book idea to your literary agent.
Writers hoping to get published must think beyond the simple outline.
Take the time to write a book proposal for your nonfiction title, and you will reap the rewards.
Once you've done that, your next step is to find literary agents and query them.
This is the way to be taken seriously in the publishing world.
Copyright © 2007 by William Cane
Before any literary agent or acquiring editor at a publishing house will seriously consider publishing your book, they're going to first want to know what the book is about.
This goes without saying, but many hopeful authors never go beyond this elementary insight.
Thinking that all a literary agent or editor will need is an outline of their book, they prepare a simple chapter-by-chapter outline and maybe a cover letter to introduce themselves and their book, and they think that's the end of the matter.
In actuality they are missing the mark so seriously that probably no literary agent or editor would give them serious consideration.
What is it they're missing? They're missing the whole concept of the book proposal, the most important tool for selling your nonfiction book idea.
Without a book proposal you're like a lost man without a compass.
The book proposal is your ticket to publishing success.
It will lead you to the right literary agent and then to the right publisher, just as surely as a compass will lead to magnetic north.
And how does it do this? WHAT IS A BOOK PROPOSAL, REALLY? A book proposal, when understood for what it really is, can lead you to the right literary agent because it will tell anyone who reads it three things: what the book is about, who will buy the book, and why you are the right author to write it.
A book proposal is a marketing tool.
It helps you market and sell yourself to a literary agent and then to an acquiring editor and then to the marketing and sales force in the publishing house.
The book proposal is so much more than a simple outline of your book.
As a person who wants to get published, you have to begin to think like a publisher if you want to understand how to get your book into the hands of a large number of readers.
Many writers would rather avoid the business side of publishing.
This is understandable; creative people often don't like the business side of things.
But to sell your book you're going to have to take some time to go beyond the basic outline -- the creative product of your imagination -- and consider the larger world and the readership you might develop.
The book proposal will help you do that.
HOW A BOOK PROPOSAL SELLS YOUR BOOK A book proposal can help sell your book, and it can do this 100 percent better than a simple outline alone.
You may know who would like to read your book, you may even have a target audience in mind when writing the book, but a literary agent and an acquiring editor will want to be told, in plain English, right in the first few pages of your book proposal, "This book will appeal to women aged 18-45," or "This book will be perfect for people who use computers," or something along these lines.
A book proposal also sells your book to a literary agent or editor by telling them how the book will be promoted.
Do you plan to go on radio and television to talk about the book? Have you ever been on radio or television before? What is your platform? Do you have a Web site? Do you give lectures or presentations? If so, mention all that in your "promotion" section, and it will help sell your book idea to your literary agent.
Writers hoping to get published must think beyond the simple outline.
Take the time to write a book proposal for your nonfiction title, and you will reap the rewards.
Once you've done that, your next step is to find literary agents and query them.
This is the way to be taken seriously in the publishing world.
Copyright © 2007 by William Cane
