The traditional publishing industry has been around a long time, and as much as it sometimes feels stuck in the past, it has also honed the process of publishing for success and profit. One of the tools it has created in that honing is the book proposal. On the surface, it can seem like a book proposal is simply a summary of your book—and that doing it upfront will slow you down. But the truth is, book proposals are central to the acquisition of books and provide valuable benefits for authors, even if they have no plans to find a traditional publisher.
In a lot of ways, you could say the publishing industry (especially for nonfiction) turns with book proposals at its hub. This is because the industry banks on the fact that if you can write a convincing proposal, you can also write a profitable and successful book. This saves a lot of time and effort for everyone involved.
Although there are many reasons you should develop a book proposal before you write a book, we’ll look at five that I’ve found offer the most benefit to authors.
1. Writing a book proposal is easier than writing a first draft.
This makes sense logically, but the caveat is that it’s not necessarily a whole lot easier. Book proposals cast a wide net in helping evaluate all the key factors that can make your book a success. Because of this, writing a book proposal forces you to answer several questions that writing the first draft of your book will not. The bonus here is that considering these questions upfront will prepare you to write a higher impact, more successful book.
Creating a proposal also forces you to collect several of the elements you will need to market your book in one place from the beginning. This one master document will better enable you to plan and control your publishing venture. Whatever systems you can establish early to help you both write and sell your book will offer all sorts of dividends—from saving time to saving your sanity. It’s a lot like trying to remember that one quote from that one book you read in your research that you suddenly realize is crucial to make a point, but because you didn’t note the reference, now you have to go back through everything to find it.
Having one document that records all of your possible endorsements, all the different podcasts you might appear on, all the books your book is comparable to, the best summary blurb you’ve written so far, and the like will be helpful both when you go to start writing and when you’re ready to start marketing. Plus any time you have a thought in between, you now have a place to put it where it won’t be lost.
2. Creating a book proposal allows you to evaluate the potential of your book idea.
A book proposal is a holistic, big picture evaluation of a book idea, the market it will compete in, and its potential for sales. Determining your target audience and the controlling question of your book are a key step in beginning the writing process, and doing a proposal forces you to consider them carefully and clearly define them. Determining and researching your “comps” (books that have sold well that are comparable, complimentary, and/or competitors to your book idea) is incredibly valuable for finding language to distinguish your book from the pack. Identifying your audience, your controlling idea, and the other crucial elements will set you up to write a better first draft and ultimately, a better book.
3. A book proposal will make your writing time more efficient.
There is no better preparation for writing a successful manuscript that creating a book proposal. Through the years, I’ve found that those who take time to craft a solid proposal save on the number of drafts they end up writing. The proposal provides you with a valuable process for figuring how to communicate your thoughts and ideas in a way that will resonate with readers. Too often, because it’s the first time they see all the pieces, a writer doesn’t really know what they are writing about until they finish their first draft. Doing a book proposal takes you a long way down that same road.
4. A book proposal is a business plan for the success of your book.
A sad reality of publishing is that, for the most part, books don’t make authors money from book sales. You need to sell tens of thousands of copies to do that, and that’s uncommon. However, books are a key that opens a bigger world to authors. For example, having written a book will allow you to sell training programs based on your book—or give you more opportunities to speak and larger honorariums when you do. Having written a book will bring clients into businesses, make trainings simpler once clients sign up for your services, increase donations for nonprofits, and a myriad of other things that make money that are not book sales. It’s good to have an idea what a book is going to do for your mission before you even write the first sentence; a book proposal will force you to develop that plan.
5. A book proposal allows you to get your book to market more quickly.
Most new authors don’t realize all that is involved in getting a contract with a traditional publisher. There are really three separate processes:
1) creating the manuscript,
2) finding an agent, and
3) that agent finding and closing a deal with a publisher.
Each of those processes may take months or even years. And even after all that, once you sign your book deal, the release date of your book will still typically be 18-24 months away. That’s a game-changer for most prospective authors.
There is a way to speed this up—and that is to have two or three of these processes happening at the same time.
This is another place where the book proposal is a crucial tool. It allows you to shop your book idea to an agent, and then allows that agent to be shopping your book to publishers, while you are completing the manuscript. This can be tremendously time-saving compared to writing your book and then doing the proposal.
Another added benefit is that if no publisher shows interest or makes a decent offer (believe me, not every offer is worth accepting) by the time your book is ready for an editor, you can self-publish. Since you already have a plan in place, you can move ahead with getting your book to market in a matter of months instead of years, and you’ve already got a plan for marketing it.
On the other hand, if you are intent on your first book being published by a traditional publisher, and you have managed to find an agent, you can wait for a book deal before completing your manuscript. Since publishers only get serious about designing and promoting a book the year before it is released, there will be a six-to-twelve-month window between signing the contract and needing to turn in a completed manuscript. Not only that, but typically an author will receive half their advance upon signing, which is money that can be used to take time off to write the book, or hire a coach, editor, or ghostwriter. Also, if no one picks it up, you can pivot to a new proposal without having lost the time writing a book no one took interest in.
The bottom line is, creating a book proposal at the beginning of your book writing process gives you options. Writing the manuscript first pushes everything off until the manuscript is complete, and if you want to publish traditionally, you will still have to do a book proposal (and when you do, you will often discover you need to rewrite your manuscript!). Instead of putting the cart before the horse, harness what is available to you now and build the momentum that will see your book writing goals completed and exceeded months or years rather than decades!
Do you have an idea for a book you’d like some feedback on, or just general questions about writing and publishing? Sign up for a free consultation. I hope to chat with you soon!
Recent Comments