In a pursuit—and an industry—that can be incredibly
inefficient, book proposals cut to the proverbial chase. They’re tidy and
focused. They get straight to the point—with millions of books competing for a
reader’s attention, is your project strong enough to stand out?
In traditional publishing, book proposals are how you pitch
your nonfiction projects to agents and editors. But parts of the proposal
process can be incredibly helpful to authors of fiction as well, and they can
also be helpful to authors who publish on their own.
A proposal forces you to think about how your book fits in
the marketplace. You shouldn’t do this sort of thinking too early in your
project—it can potentially stifle your best creative impulses. But at some
point, the market will bring itself to bear on the success of your book. A
proposal is a vehicle that allows you to successfully navigate the market.
Even if developed strictly for your own purposes, a proposal
makes you see your book as readers will see it. It’s your game plan for wooing
your readers, for courting them, for convincing them t how beautiful their
lives would be if only they gave themselves over to you and your book.
If you’re writing to submit to an agent or editor, there are
lots of resources to guide you through drafting the components of a convincing
proposal. Here, I’ll focus the three aspects of a proposal that every writer
would benefit from addressing. Much of this information comes from literary
agent Jeff
Kleinman, who’s one of the best in the business.
Positioning: In a
book proposal, Kleinman suggests devoting one or two pages to showing how your
book fits in the big world of publishing. Search for hugely successful books by
authors whose credentials, marketing reach, and style/angle/worldview are similar
to yours. When positioning your book, don’t concern yourself with the subject matter.
Positioning is about the ways in which authors like you connect with their
readers, regardless of topic. If you’re unknown, if you’re up and coming, seek
out authors whose careers have been catapulted by breakout books and discuss
(briefly) the ways in which you and your work are similar to them and their (incredibly
successful) work.
Market: This
section of the proposal (2-8 pages if you’re actually writing a proposal) is
where you prove that you
know the audience for your book—and you know how to reach them. You might
think of this as the Research and Development (R & D) phase, not for the
book itself but for the book as a project. Your goal is to prove that you're the best person to write this book, not so much from the standpoint of knowledge or craft but because you'll be its strongest advocate. Maybe you have a blog following, or
you give lectures, or your cousin who writes for a Big Name Newspaper likes to
consult you for articles that relate to the book you’re writing. This is not
the place to be modest. If you have no connections, no platform, then think of
your readership in terms of an author whose work is similar to yours. Hoping to
reach readers who love Jane Bestseller’s books? Figure out who those readers
are and how Jane reaches them, then lay out a marketing plan in which you’ll do
the same.
Competing Works:
Where will your book be shelved in a bookstore? On those shelves, which titles
will be its closest competitors? You want to show how the book fits and, at the
same time, how it stands out from the rest. Without disparaging another author
or book, explain why a reader would buy your book instead of a similar title. Kleinman
suggests completing this sentence: “My book is the first book that…”
For more on how to write and publish your book, check out
Deb’s What
Every Author Should Know and Write
Your Best Book.