Book Proposal Basics
Part One: understanding the role of a book proposal, and the timeline from proposed to published
Since I’m writing a book proposal of my own for an essay collection tentatively titled Back to Ohio,1 I’m sharing my book proposal-in-progress. There are plenty of books, guides, and courses that can help you write your book proposal, as well as writers (including me) who will do the work for you. I offer this series as an overview and perhaps an inspiration to get going.
If you're writing a nonfiction book, spend your energy and that initial burst of enthusiasm on a book proposal. Some university and indie presses will consider your proposal if a literary agent does not represent you, but that number is dwindling. Either way, both presses and agents need a book proposal (and frankly, so do you).
With that said, even if you plan to publish your own book, you can learn a lot from the book proposal process. I too often hear from authors who have labored over their books only to realize they have meandered from the main point, don’t have a main point, have belabored all of their points, etc. The disciplined thinking required to write a book proposal can help you avoid that heartache. Read on!
Why start with a book proposal?
Publishing is a business. Even nonprofit publishers have to keep the lights on, and they do that by selling books2.
Reputable literary agents work on commissions and choose new projects based on proposals. You might compare the front-loaded work of a literary agent to that of a real estate agent. Both types of agents are familiar with what’s selling. They want to work with clients who are not jerks, and they want to present the product in the best possible light in order to get the best outcome for all concerned. A book proposal helps them separate the wheat from the weeds.
Bottom line: everyone in the publishing world wants to know three things:
There is a market for the book
You have the chops to write it
You have a platform to help sell it
Your book proposal must show all three, because, I repeat, publishing is a business.
The long path to a book contract
Here’s an example of taking a successful book through the process of getting a contract with a press (with and without an agent).
Writing a thorough proposal will take most writers a good six weeks, even with help. This assumes you start the process with a couple of chapters or a detailed table of contents—if you don’t have either, allow for more time.
Querying an agent or submitting to publishers requires a good deal of research, and patience as you wait for responses. First, you need a list of prospective agents and presses that are 1) interested in the type of book you offer, and 2) are open to receiving your proposal. Give yourself three months minimum to find an interested agent, then add at least three more months from the time you sign with the agent to start hearing from publishers.3 If you go directly to publishers, it can take six months or more to hear from them. Then again, you might never hear from them.
Revisions. No matter how brilliant the proposal is, every agent or press will recommend improvements. They may want you to write more about (this aspect of the subject) and less about (that aspect). You need to act quickly to complete the changes. Once you’ve done so, give the agent or publisher at least one month to respond.
It might be a year or two after you sign the contract before your book hits shelves. For example, I’m writing a book proposal of my own for an essay collection tentatively titled Back to Ohio, which I don’t expect to see on the shelves until 2025 at the earliest.
Start with a firm organizing concept
When I’m writing a book proposal, I like starting with a firm statement of what the book is about and why the author is the person to write it. I’ve pasted my organizing concept below BUT IT WILL CHANGE as I continue my research and consult with agents, publishers, and beta readers.
Educated in Ohio public schools, I was proud of our state’s history on the right side of the Underground Railroad and Civil War. The Ohio River marked the legal boundary between slave- an free-states. Forty years after leaving Ohio to live in the South, I learned that the county where I grew up had hosted the two largest Ku Klux Klan Konclaves of the twentieth century. Did Klan history explain why I never shared a classroom with a Black student—even after desegregation?
Back to Ohio is an essay collection from an Ohio ex-pat who’s traveling the Ohio River from headwaters to mouth to discover how slavery and racial subjugation shaped history, culture, and institutions on both sides of the border. Working my way through cities, towns, and crossroads, I candidly share my racial reckoning.
If you close your eyes right now, you’d probably be able to describe the book to a friend over coffee. You might say, the author grew up in Ohio and attended all-white schools, then figured out years later that the KKK might have had something to do with that. She takes a trip down the Ohio River to explore racial history on both sides of the slave-state border.
I might or might not agree with that summation, but it hits the chief points and gets the general drift. That’s what you’re aiming for when you approach your book proposal. Can you describe your book from memory this quickly?
Feel free to get in touch if you’d like to talk about working together on your book proposal.
Two of my 2022 book projects
Last year I worked on two different nonfiction books. I’ll discuss each to give you a sense of the breadth of books in the nonfiction category.
Two Old Broads
Two Old Broads: What You Need to Know that You Didn’t Know You Needed to Know is a self-help book about aging as an essay collection by Dr. Mary Ellen Hecht and Whoopi Goldberg. This hybrid form is not conventional, but admit it, you’d be disappointed if Whoopi bowed to convention.
Publisher Harper Horizons hired me to assist the authors in shaping the second and third (final) drafts of the book. We combined some essays, deleted others, and wrote new chapters to round out the book’s six parts: Broad Mentality, Broad Life, Broad Bones, Broad Well-Being, Broad Shoulders, and Broad Insights.
Maximum Trading Gains With Anchored VWAP
Maximum Trading Gains With Anchored VWAP: The Perfect Combination of Price, Time & Volume is a how-to book for traders and investors. Author Brian Shannon, CMT, had written little since his first book in 2008. He hired me to help him finish the first draft on time and then shape the book into two parts. I also managed the publishing project team of designers, a copy editor, and an indexer. I just checked his Amazon listing and see that 95% of his reviews are FIVE STARS.
Ask me anything!
Click here to read Part Two of this series.
I’m grateful to the Arts & Science Council for a 2022 grant that gave me the grant to pay for my time and travel to research this book.
Self-publishers might write their books to generate income in other areas, usually speaking and consulting, which makes publishing a part of their overall business. My point stands.
Note: It may take your agent upwards of a year for the agent to sell the book.