Nonfiction Book Proposal or Book? Chicken or Egg? Which Comes First?

Photo by Babs Gorniak on Unsplash

New to writing nonfiction? You might be surprised to learn that it’s common practice to write the book proposal before you write the book. But even if you’re self-publishing, writing a book proposal first is a valuable way to clarify your vision.

Without getting into the whole, which came first the chicken or the egg debate, here I’m saying that the chicken is the book proposal and your book is the egg. Stay with me.

The Chicken  

Why do you need a book proposal? A book proposal is a marketing document. You use it to convince an agent and later a publisher that working with you and publishing your book is a good return on their investment of time, money and energy.

The goal of a good book proposal (the chicken) is to:

1. Convince an agent to sign you

and

2. Convince a publisher to buy your book from your agent.  

So, what exactly does your book proposal need to contain? It needs to answer these questions:

What’s the book about? This is a big picture/overview of your book that needs to immediately catch the attention of agents and publishers. It’s the first section they’ll read so it needs to make an impact to keep them engaged and convince them to keep reading. Tell them what problem or pain point you’re addressing, why you’re the best person to write this book, how it’s unique and why it will appeal to readers.

In other words: Why should they or readers care about your book right now?  

What are the ms. specs? These are the manuscript specs or specifications. This includes the word count, the delivery date and if there will be photos or illustrations.

Who are you? Your bio should introduce you and establish your credentials, experience and platform. Its purpose is to convince an agent or publisher that you’re the best person to write this book and that it will sell.

Who are your readers? The audience analysis identifies and defines the target readership for your book. In this section you’re presenting statistics and data to show publishers that you have defined the primary audience  for your book, how you plan to connect with them and

why they’ll want to buy it.

Is there a market for your book? For this section called competitive titles or comp titles you need to demonstrate that there is already a market for your book and how your book will fit into the publishing marketplace. You do this by compiling a list of books that were published within the last three - five years. The more recent, the better. Look for titles that have similar content, focus and an audience to your book but define how your book’s take is different on the problem and provides an effective solution.  

What’s the structure of the book? The annotated table of contents provides a detailed overview of the book’s structure and content. Include a working title for each chapter, what content will be covered, and how it will be structured. Will there be subtitles, sidebars, callouts of important text, checklists, or action steps? Each chapter should build on what’s come before and set up the next chapter for readers.

How will you sell your book? The marketing section of the book proposal is where you show what you’ve done so far to build your brand, who your audience is and what you’re willing to do to promote and sell your book. For example, how many followers do you have on social media? Have you given talks or workshops on the books topics? Have you been on tv, radio, podcasts, in print media? Do you have an email list? What are your overall plans for marketing? For most books, gone are the days when the publisher will do this for you. Embrace marketing and do it consistently to get results.

Can you pull it off? The sample chapter should leave an agent or publisher with no doubt that yes, you can! That you have a clear, unique, and engaging vision for your book and a strategic, effective approach to the material you want to cover. For example, is your solution to the problem clear? For a health and wellness book, do you have a method or plan that readers can follow to get results? Do you write with authority? Have you put the reader first?

These are big questions and can often be complex. But if you want to sell your book to a traditional publisher it’s worth taking the time to answer them thoughtfully, thoroughly, and persuasively.

Sell the chicken (your book proposal) and, hopefully, the egg (your book) will appear!

Until Next Time!

Contact me when you’re ready if you need:

 1. A book and writing coach to be your editorial guide, support and project manager as you write or re-write your book and/or book proposal.

2. A manuscript evaluation for a big picture, smallest detail overview.

3. A developmental editor to structure your book, and make the text clear, concise, and reader friendly.