Overcome Fundamental Book Proposal Pitfalls
Avoid common mistakes
I have edited or coached hundreds of book proposals. My authors consistently face the same stumbling blocks along the way. Here are my tips for overcoming those pitfalls so that you can sell your book.
Accept That Repetition Is Needed
This is one of the hardest things for authors. A book proposal requires you to repeat the same thing in several places. It’s about summarizing, summarizing again, and then summarizing again. And most authors are totally resistant to doing that.
Your book proposal should cover your book’s concept, your bio, your promotion plan, your audience, competition, a table of contents, chapter summaries, as well as sample chapters.
Already you are discussing what’s in each chapter at least twice (possibly three times if it's a sample chapter).
But then you write your overview where you summarize ALL of the other sections of the proposal, and you once again summarize (in an even shorter way) what’s in your chapters.
But wait, you’re not done yet. You still have to write your query letter, which summarizes all of that into one page.
And throughout all of that you’re going to be repeating over and over what makes your book special and unique, why it’s important, and why your audience will want to buy it.
Overkill? It might feel like it. But you’re writing for people who are very busy and unfocused. No matter what section they pay attention to, your proposal has to grab them, which means you’ve got to sneak in your sales pitch at every chance you get. You’ve got to hammer things home by repeating them in a way that does not sound like the same sentence over and over.
Pump Yourself Up
A lot of authors, especially first-time authors, are very uncomfortable positioning themselves as experts. But that’s exactly what you have to do. You are an expert in this topic because you are writing this book.
Your job is to convince the agent or publisher that you know things, have professional or personal experience, have credentials, or at least care very deeply about this topic, so much so that you are the perfect person to write this book. Why would they buy this book from you if you’re just someone who knows a little about this and is just sort of dabbling?
It’s time to suspend your self-doubt and puff up every last detail about yourself to impress the agent or publisher.
Believe in Your Concept
You probably have a lot of imposter syndrome. I don’t know a writer who doesn’t. But you have to push that aside and at least act like you firmly believe in your concept and that it is:
Unique
Exciting
Important
Ground-breaking
Necessary
Helpful
Engaging
You can’t sell this book unless you can convince an agent or editor that these things are the case. So you have to sound like you believe them yourself.
It’s time to be a used car salesman. Hype your concept and yourself. Sell it. Even if you don’t fully believe it, this is what the proposal must do.
A book proposal is an argument that must convince an agent or editor your book is needed and will sell well. Every piece of the proposal is a building block in that argument. You must sound as if you believe it all or it won’t work.
Make Your Book Stand Out
The competition section can be particularly hard to write because most authors don’t really understand the purpose of it. A lot of people assume that you want to show that there is no competition for your book and that it is the only book that covers this topic.
Wrong! That’s scary to a publisher because if there are no similar books then there’s no way to know how much yours will sell. Instead, you want to find some books that are comparable so that you can show them that books about this topic sell well.
Then you must distinguish your book from those and convince them that yours has magic pieces that are missing from the other books.
Don’t write about how great the other books are and how much you admire them. Be clinical in saying these books cover XYZ, but are missing ABC, and my book is the only book that includes that. Or maybe your book has a different approach, perspective, or twist that the others don’t. Whatever it is, tell them that yours stands out in comparison.
If you are working on a book proposal and need help, drop me an email at brette@brettesember.com. I can edit it or coach you through so that you can sell your book.
Fun Stuff
Here’s what I’m thinking about this week.
In My World
I finished working with a client on her proposal for building a profitable preschool. She’s an amazing pro with great ideas and I’m excited to see who will buy her book. Watch this space!
Obsessed with…
Maybe not obsessed yet, but we started Zero Day on Netflix, and I am liking Robert DeNiro as a former president. The first episode was a little weird, but by the end, you start to realize what’s up and it’s scary. I can’t wait to see more.
Good Goods
I have a hand cream drawer in my nightstand, and I feel like I’ve tried every expensive and inexpensive option, yet my hands are always dry. I wash my hands a lot because I am allergic to cats, yet have two cats, one of whom sheds outrageously.
I picked up a tube of O’Keefe Working Hands and it is magic. My hands were instantly improved after one use and now I put it on each night at bedtime and I don’t need to keep moisturizing my hands throughout the day.
I never would have bought this if I hadn’t read a review somewhere. It doesn’t look cute or feminine or seem fancy and there’s no talk of ceramides or fancy anti-aging stuff. But man, does this stuff work.
[This isn’t a paid ad, but I’m using my own Amazon associates link. I’m just posting things I love - no ads!]