Book Proposal Examples - What You Can Learn from Them

"I've read a lot about book proposals," say beginningconvince a literary agent and editor of your ability to
writers. "But the advice is always different. I'mwrite this book. That's why looking at other people's
confused."book proposals must be done cautiously. Somebody
Confusion is natural because of one little-known fact.else's book proposal may be vastly different from
It's something few people in publishing will tell you,yours in almost every section. Your book proposal
but I'll explain this secret in a moment. First let memust reflect you.
ask you: Have you seen any examples of bookThat being said, there are things you can learn from
proposals? If not, this is your opportunity to learna book proposal, or from the parts of a book
what somebody else's book proposal can teach youproposal that have been prepared by someone else.
about writing your own book proposal -- and it's quiteYou can find examples on the web and in books
a lot.about book proposals. But the best thing to do is to
Now to answer your question about the differentread one trusted source and use it to write your
advice you've been getting here and there and theown book proposal. If you go looking at too many
confusion that you felt. The truth is that there is noexamples from too many sources, chances are your
standard book proposal. Surprised? You shouldn't be.book proposal will be a hodgepodge and will have no
Publishing is an art, not a science. There is no exactcontinuity and cohesion.
formula for writing a book proposal. Basically there'sWHAT CAN I LEARN FROM AN EXAMPLE OF A
no absolute need for a book proposal either. All youBOOK PROPOSAL?
really need to do is convince an editor at a publishingThe number one thing a book proposal example can
house to buy your book.teach you is that structure is important. In the
"Well, how am I going to do that?" you ask.overview section, for example, you'll see how the
The way to convince an editor to buy your book is,writer hooks a reader's interest and then talks briefly
of course, to answer the questions that will beabout the book. In the marketing section you'll learn
uppermost on the editor's mind, such as "What is thehow to talk about your own market. Didn't know you
title of your proposed book?" and "What does yourhad one? Of course you do -- if you have a book
book contain, what is the basic premise of youridea, you have a market for the book, that is, the
book?" and "What are your credentials for writing thepeople who will buy it. In the promotion section you'll
book?" and "Who do you think would buy yourlearn how other authors talk about promoting their
book?" and "How can we promote and publicize yourbook, and that can give you ideas how you can
book?" and so on. All these questions are answeredpromote yours.
by a book proposal, which is why even though aBut once again, don't be limited by what these other
book proposal isn't absolutely required, it's a goodpeople do. Maybe you have ideas that they haven't
idea to write one 99.99 percent of the time. Unlessthought of, ways of getting the word out, or
you and your editor are good buddies and you canmethods of promoting your book that others haven't
just explain all of the above to her over the phone,mentioned.
it's a good idea to write a book proposal.From other writers' book proposal examples, you can
EXAMPLES OF BOOK PROPOSALSlearn how to structure your own. In fact, if you
Before you even go hunting for examples of bookselect one good example to base your book proposal
proposals -- which I'll tell you where to find in aon, you'll likely have a winning book proposal of your
moment -- you've got to understand the basicown before you know it.
purpose of a book proposal. The purpose is to