The Decent Proposal

Here’s what I have learnt. You don’t just send a wee note to an agent,or a publisher,with your random thoughts on why they should invest in you and your idea. You need to spend time transforming those journal scribblings into a succinct business proposition. And there is a certain way to do it,a format to follow,definite dos and don’ts,tips to taken.

The first book that I bought to help me understand this a bit more,after doing a quick search online under “writing a book”,was the Writers’and Artists Yearbook. It seems to be the thing to do;your first stop on this writing journey. I ordered it with excitement and couldn’t wait to get my hands on it,to see what wonders it held. In a nutshell,it has short articles from various genres of established authors,contact details of agents,publishers along with general guidance and tips. Was is a good buy? Yes. Its a invaluable reference book containing information that would take you forever to try and source yourself,if at all.

First task. You need to create a ‘Proposal’that outlines your idea in more detail which can then be submitted to agents or publishers. Although there are never hard fast rules it seems that if you are planning a non-fiction book then you should write your proposal to first check there is interest before spending time or money on research. I created mine in parallel with writing my first chapters,which worked for me.

So,where the hell do you start? What should it look like? How long should it be?

‘Formatting &Submitting Your Manuscript‘helps answer these questions,bringing it to life by giving you examples of how to structure the document along with other practical hints.

By reading these books cover to cover my proposal was drafted,re-worked,scrapped,drafted again,polished and finally completed. Overall it took me longer to write than the draft chapter to accompany it,even though it was only 16 pages long.

Cover Page. Includes the title,estimated word count and contact name and address.

Overview. This is your 30 second pitch. It needs to be convincing,coherent and sharp and you should keep it to one page. I found this excellent practise at using as few words as possible. Naturally I am a terrible waffler.

Marketing Analysis. Here you can answer their question ‘Will this book sell?’. Put yourself in the shoes of your target readers;describe them,where they would buy your book,what trends could affect the book,what will the book look like,what will your research be based on,how will you approach the book? Be sure to include any facts and figures to support your case.

Competitive Analysis. This details what books are similar to yours,how they have performed and why yours is better than them. Try and get your hands on their sales information to support this. I read all of my competitors titles which really helped me articulate where there were positive differences in my proposal.

Author Information. This means you! Think of what you would put on your books’sleeve;writing experience,interesting and relevant personal or professional history.

Chapter Outline. This shows a table of contents for your book and includes a brief description of the chapter. I found this really quite hard to do and,if I am honest,mine could probably do with a little more refining. Through doing this you may even find that you want to change things about in the book,its a great exercise to do to check your assumptions on how things will flow together.

Sample Chapters. Although all agents,publishers and genres can request different amounts of sample chapters you will need at least one completed.Don’t assume it should be Chapter One,choose one that shows off your writing best.

But,oh no,that’s not everything. There are rules about how this should all be formatted too. Use a standard font,use a 1″margin,single space the body of the covering letter and double-space between paragraphs,number your pages starting from the Overview section,use double spacing for all other sections and so on. Getting it right from the start will save you lots of time later when you are just itching to send your finished article out.

So it seems that it’s true what they say. Spend time on researching,on preparation and don’t rush it. You probably get one chance at getting an agent or publisher to read your proposal so make sure it does you,and your book,justice.

Photo credit –Bob AuBochon