Lots of authors find themselves stymied by this category, but it’s essential. When I’m unsure of a book’s place in the market as I review a proposal, seeing comparable titles helps me. I define this category as answering the question: “What titles are currently on the market that are similar to the book the author proposes?” You may say, “Isn’t it the editor’s job to know the competition?” Yes and …

Your proposal is where you tell the editor and agent how you will partner with them to market your work. This can be a challenging section to write. The idea is to present the connections (platform) that you have or can create to promote and sell your book. These are things that a major publisher cannot do for you. Here are a few ideas, though this list is by no means exhaustive: Social Media Here …

The next section of a proposal is titled “Author”; and, as you can guess, it is about you. Third Person Though writing in the third person may feel pretentious and strange, compose this section this way. While sharing something like, “I love drinking raspberry herbal tea; and my cat, Sparkles, helps me write my books,” may sound friendly, save that style of writing for another time. If you do want …

Last week we talked about writing back-cover copy for fiction. As you can imagine, writing back-cover copy for nonfiction is a different exercise. The purpose here is not to hook your reader into wanting to read a story, but to show the reader why your book will be helpful specifically to him. The nonfiction reader is not looking to escape reality, but to make her life better. Life can be made …

This section is literally what the reader will see on the back cover, before purchasing the book. This copy is a useful sales tool whether the reader is perusing your book in person or on the internet, so I recommend honing this section. Since the text should be no more than what can appear on the back of a book cover, tight writing is essential. Here is a basic outline I just wrote for a romance …

The next elements are meant to encourage the agent and editor to read your book. These are worth crafting because, otherwise, your intended audience may never go past the first page. When I say “hook” in this post, I am not referring to hooking your reader with the first page of your story. Here, I mean an element in the proposal, the reason your reader will want to read your book instead of or in …

Each author is unique, so are proposals. This series doesn’t cover all possible categories but highlights many challenging components of book-proposal writing. My goal is to help authors know what editors and agents want to see and to offer tips on how to get out of the slush pile and into the “must publish” queue! Another benefit I hope this series will provide is the encouragement to move …