Your Book Proposal Isn’t the Problem.
Every so often, I get an email from an aspiring author like yourself asking for me to review their book proposal. Although I try really, really hard to not make assumptions, usually three things are true about what I’m about to read.
The book proposal isn’t good.
The author hasn’t developed an audience, proven the concept, or explained how they’ll sell the book.
The time and money spent . . . didn’t create the desired outcome.*
All of this is dreadfully unfortunate. Sometimes, it’s the author’s fault.
But most of the time, it’s not.
Whether it’s a lack of knowledge about how book publishing works, hiring the wrong person to help you, or simply not having an audience — most authors don’t write great book proposals.
Part of that is because traditional publishing isn’t your expertise or industry. That’s why you’re here reading this blog post.
But the much bigger culprit is when aspiring authors are led to believe a book proposal is all they need to get a literary agent and secure a deal with a major publisher. Which couldn’t be further from the truth.
As an industry insider, I feel furious when I see proposals that people paid for that are doomed to fail because the author didn’t have an audience in the first place. Something that’s different about the way I work is that I will only work with clients that I know have a shot at a six-figure deal.
And don’t even get me started on the proposals that are poorly written by “book coaches” or where authors attended a workshop by an entrepreneur who learned everything they know about publishing from someone like me.
What you need to know as an aspiring how-to author is that your proposal is the last piece to your publishing puzzle.
Because your proposal is that final piece, you need to put the other pieces in place first.
Like understanding your goals and creating a flexible timeline for things to happen.
Like creating and testing content.
Like proving out your methodology (preferably at scale).
Like growing your audience — and engaging and evolving and continuing to grow.
Like investing in your success with folks who know what the f they are talking about and having a proven rate of helping people like you achieve their dreams.
Because otherwise? You are wasting your time. Now you know.
