How to Write A Book Proposal
It’s actually ridiculously simple.
My clients and I write book proposals the same way I’ve run five marathons.
By chunking that shit down.
One of my favorite stories from working at Penguin was when celebrity author Danica McKellar — aka “Winnie Cooper” from The Wonder Years — told me she freaked out the day after signing the contract to write her first book, Math Doesn’t Suck.
“I had no clue how I was going to write 70,000 words,” she told me. “But then I realized that writing is like a math problem — you just have to take it step by step, in little chunks.” And that’s how Danica wrote all her books.
I take a similar approach with my clients — and when I run a marathon. Standing on the starting line, I don’t think about the four or five hours of running I have ahead.
I simply concentrate on the first mile. I know that if I don’t chunk the marathon down, I’ll run the first mile too fast and the rest will seem impossible. But running the mile I’m in — a quote attributed to David Willey, the former editor-in-chief of Runner’s World — helps me to slow my roll.
SO:
IF YOU ARE FEELING OVERWHELMED, TRY CHUNKING IT DOWN.
What I like to do is divide the proposal into three sections:
1. The Editorial
Creating a table of contents, which become Chapter Summaries
Sample Chapters
Hint: A full-length introduction (5 to 10 pages) counts as a sample!
2. The Business
About the Author
Marketing and Publicity
Competitive Titles
3. The Overview
Notoriously hard to write, this section combines the business and editorial. I prefer to draft the Overview last — and insist on doing it for all my clients, even those that write their own proposals — because it’s just that difficult.
In a marathon, there’s not a lot of point to predicting the future miles because literally anything could happen. You could be doing super well and then be visited by the Blerch. The trick I’ve learned — and this applies to writing, business and so many other things in life — is to stay present and focused on the mile you’re in.
So, when your task is drafting editorial content, draft editorial content.
Similarly, when your task is to draft the marketing section, draft that section.
Trust me when I say that bouncing around gets you nowhere but frustrated.
And count yourself lucky that no one shits their pants writing a book proposal.
(Or definitely shouldn’t anyway).
