Please Stop Writing Your Whole Nonfiction Book.
Back in July, I encouraged y’all to ask me anything.
And RaShonda did. She asked —
Honestly, how can I get my manuscript out to publishers?
Someone else — clearly thinking the same — asked:
How much of your transcript* you need done before pursuing the traditional publishing route?
Before I jump into haterade, I love that you’re asking this question.
And here is the answer.
You do not need to write an entire book (aka manuscript) to get a book deal.
This advice applies specifically to how-to prescriptive nonfiction.
Which is: books about business, self-help, personal growth, inspiration, parenting, personal finance, and anything where you’re teaching someone to improve their life.
If you’re writing anything else, please: Subscribe to my friend Kate's newsletter instead. (She is a literary agent and will be way more helpful to you, I promise.)
You don’t need to write your manuscript to get a how-to book deal because traditional publishing doesn’t work that way.
Instead, you need a book proposal — which is what I help folks with, when they are ready.
(Have more than 100,000 followers? You might be ready — take my quiz here to find out.)
For the rest of you, who aren’t ready — yet — I suggest doing any or all of these instead of writing your manuscript:
Sharing what you want to teach with your ideal audience.
Getting results for your methodology with those ideal audience/clients.
Growing your audience and author platform.
Learning all you can so that you don’t make simple mistakes like focusing on the wrong thing.
*Assuming this person meant manuscript, because you definitely do not want to send an unedited transcript to publishers. And don’t even ask about screenplays.
