Why You Should Write a Book Proposal

St. Louis Publishers Association

January 12, 2011

Book Proposals

Kim WoltermanAuthor, Who’s Been Sleeping in My Bed(room)? Researching a St. Louis County, Missouri Homewww.myhousehistory.net

“Just as you wouldn’t set out on a road trip without a road map,

you don’t start a book without a plan.”

- Bobbi LinkemerHow to Write a Nonfiction Book

From Concept to Completion in 6 Months

But I am going to self-publish, so I don’t need a book proposal, right?

Not Necessarily!

Well, I write fiction so I don’t need a book

proposal, right?

Not Necessarily!

So what is a book proposal?

It is a marketing tool used to present your book to a

literary agent or publisher.

It communicates the overall book concept, identifies the market

value, and demonstrates your ability to write and

market the book.

And if you are self-publishing?

The proposal will help you organize your thoughts and ideas for the entire project.

With a fiction book proposal your sample chapters must

truly shine to capture an agent or publisher’s

attention. However it will look similar to a nonfiction

proposal.

Realize that the audience for your book proposal is vastly different from the audience

for your book.

Know Your Audience

The audience for your book proposal is not your readers.

It is a literary agent or a

publishing house.

Most book proposals will contain:

Title page

Brief overview

Table of Contents

About the author section

Discussion of the market

Author marketing plan

Competition

Details of the book

Chapter outline

Sample chapters

Contains the following:

Title Author’s name Contact information

Title Page

This tells a publisher in a succinct form what the book is about and defines the market for the book.

Brief Overview

Include a Table of Contents for the proposal itself.

Table of Contents

Why are you qualified to write this book?

What other books or articles do you have published? List sales figures if available.

For fiction, list any degrees or certificates in creative writing.

About the Author

Who is the market for this book? Why would they buy your book? How is this audience reached? What magazines and books do

they read? What radio, t.v. shows and

websites do they tune into?

Discussion of the Market

How are you able to reach your potential audience?

What steps have you already taken?

What contacts do you have?

What plans have you already made?

Marketing Plan

Give a general discussion of the marketplace on your topic.

List other books in print on your subject, or novels similar to yours.

Write a couple sentences on what each book is about.

Tell how your book is different.

The Competition

How many words will your book be?

How long will it take you to complete the book? (Fiction books should be complete.)

For fiction, have you included book club discussion questions?

Book Details

For nonfiction, you will need chapter titles and a small paragraph capturing each chapter’s theme.

Fiction proposals should include a longer synopsis.

Chapter Outline

For nonfiction, this is usually the Introduction, plus one or two chapters.

Fiction authors should include the 1st 40-50 pages of the book.

Sample Chapters

You’ve completed the book proposal. Now what?

If you are self-publishing, it’s time to write your book!

Next Step

If you are going the traditional route, it is time to research the proper agent for your

book, and craft a succinct and compelling

query letter.

But before you send the book proposal off to an

agent…

Edit!

Proposals containing typos

and grammatical errors are

not likely to be accepted

by an agent.

If you don’t respect your work enough to carefully

edit it, others won’t respect it either.

The proposal is much more than an exercise because nearly every word of it will be used in your book. Don’t

think of it as a waste of time!