Book Proposal Secrets for Writers

There are four things you need to keep in mind when writing your book proposal. Very few people will explain this to you, yet it’s well known in the industry. In a nutshell this is the secret: Your book proposal is going to be your calling card first to your literary agent, second to your acquiring editor, third to the sales department, and fourth to the marketing people. Knowing this little fact can help you write convincing book proposals that hook everyone all down the line - from agent to editor to those on the in-house team.

Of course the first person to read your book proposal is going to be your literary agent. If you don’t have a literary agent yet, your book proposal is going to be your introduction to this individual. Remember that agents look first and foremost for saleable ideas. If an idea can’t be sold, it won’t appeal to your agent. This is because your literary agent gets a commission only on material she sells. So the first thing you want to do is make sure that your idea is one that will appeal to a literary agent’s view of the publishing world. Can you imagine your book on the shelves of bookstores? You have to see it in your mind’s eye, and you have to make your agent see it - and believe it.

The second person who will read your book proposal - assuming it gets past the literary agent stage - is the acquiring editor. Although acquiring editors have somewhat similar concerns insofar as they also want something that will sell, they differ from literary agents in that they often have more literary or artistic aspirations. Editors are a funny breed of people. They go into the business of publishing with the ideal of becoming another Maxwell Perkins. But then they get barraged with little mundane matters that are the result of being in a highly competitive business, and before long they learn to deal with the commercial side of art. They know they have to answer to the higher-ups in the organization, the CEO, the sales force, and the marketing department. It’s your editor’s vision that will bring a book into a publishing house, but this is only one step in a process that will involve many other departments and people. Editors usually have two diverging interests which they must keep in balance.

On the one hand, they want literary quality and good writing; but on the other hand, they must bend to the commercial interests of getting a book to succeed in today’s marketplace where more books than ever are flooding bookstore shelves. Make sure that you put something into your proposal that goes beyond the crass and the commercial.

Your acquiring editor will latch onto that and shepherd the book through the process of getting it published. This is your chance to do some of your best work because an editor will respond to it.

The third person in the line of command is the sales manager. Do you realize that a sales force will go out into stores and try to talk book buyers at independents and the big chains into buying your book? In order to give them ammunition to do this, you’ve got to have some evidence in your proposal that indicates your book will sell. Who will buy your book? Why will they buy it? Explain all this in your book proposal and the sales manager will greenlight your idea.

The fourth person who has a say in your book proposal’s fate is the marketing manager. This is the person who will be getting the book into the hands of the press, on radio and TV (hopefully!), and into other media outlets. If you have a platform, if you lecture, if you give seminars - all of this is relevant and helpful because it will show the marketing and publicity department that they can get press interest in your book.

Once you understand that your book proposal must pass four tests, you’ll feel more confident about writing it. Each section of the book proposal will be important, but the marketing people will be most interested in the MARKETING and PROMOTION sections.

The sales force will be interested in the COMPETING BOOKS section. The acquiring editor will be most concerned with the OVERVIEW, the LIST OF CHAPTERS, and the SAMPLE CHAPTERS. And hopefully your literary agent will be able to take all this into consideration and coach you through the process of making sure each section is appropriately tailored for all the people who will read it down the line.