What’s a Book Proposal?

A book proposal is an argument for your idea, a business case for your project, a showcase of your expertise, and a declaration of your voice. It is used by nonfiction writers seeking literary agents and traditional book publishing deals.

The book proposal is generally used to make a pitch to agents and to publishers before the book is written. You use the proposal to invite an agent and publisher to invest in you and your project.

Click to watch my 15-minute video about the elements of a book proposal, or take 5 minutes to read about the elements, below.

 
 

The 8 Elements of a Killer Book Proposal

 

Overview

The Overview is a short, powerful summary of your book, written for agents and publishers. It includes what the idea is, why it matters now, who might care about it, and how the book is structured, all told in a compelling way that showcases the tone of voice of the author. If you already have blurbs and endorsements from prominent individuals in your field, these are sometimes included at the end of the Overview. You want agents and publishers to finish reading the Overview and say, “Yes! I love it!”

Manuscript Specs

This short section of the proposal gives an indication of how long the finished manuscript will be and when you expect to be finished writing. The timeframe may vary greatly depending on how much research needs to be done to complete the work, what else you have going on in your life, and how important it is for the book to be on the market soon.

Author Bio + Photo

The Author Bio is not just a recitation of your education and accomplishments. It needs to answer the question, “Why are you the best person to write this book?” It needs to give agents and publishers some sense of who you are in the world in relation to your audience so that they can begin to envision how you will connect with them. Your Author Photo should support the business case you are making for your book. If you are writing about fighting forest fires, your photo will need to send a different message than if you are writing about dating after divorce.

Audience Analysis

The Audience Analysis section of the book proposal is where you give evidence that there is a wide readership for your book. Traditional publishers are looking to bring books out that appeal to a lot of people. You need to define who those people are, where they can be found, and why they might be looking for a book like yours at this time. This section typically includes statistics and data on a primary audience and several secondary audiences.

Comp Titles put your book into the context of the marketplace. You need to analyze what other books your ideal audience is reading, what other books in this space are doing well, and where your book fits into the mix. This is a key part of your argument: to define exactly where on the shelf your book will sit.

Comp Titles

Marketing Plan

The Marketing Plan is your chance to show exactly how you are going to connect with your ideal audience once your book is out in the world. It is not just a list of who you know, what stages you have spoken on, and what publications might be interested in your work. It is a presentation of a fully-fleshed out vision of your author brand. This section will discuss workshops you might hold, courses you might build, keynotes you might give, articles you might write, your next book (if applicable), and how you will leverage your connections and contacts. If you plan to work with PR and communications people on your book launch, your marketing plan will serve as a roadmap for exactly what to do.

Annotated TOC

The Annotated TOC is the hardest part of the book proposal to pin down. That’s because you are doing the heavy lifting of outlining the entire book — every step, every point, every chapter. You have to define your reader’s transformation journey and show the arc of change they will go through as they read your book. You have to give a clear sense of the elements of each chapter. And you have to do it all in a way that is both logical and compelling.

Sample Chapters

Choosing which Sample Chapters to include is part of the strategy of writing a killer book proposal — and then you need to make sure that they are polished to a high shine. These are not just drafts or re-purposed articles or blog posts: they are your very best work, meant to prove to agents and editors that you can pull off what you promise in the rest of the proposal. By the time the agents and editors read your sample chapters, they should not only be sold: they should be dying to sign you.

Did you miss the video on the elements of a book proposal? Watch it here >>

What does the path to publishing look like with a book proposal?

 
 

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Go Back to the Book Proposal Page

I help writers wrangle their big ideas, raise their voice, and get gut-level clarity on a book they love so much they can’t wait to bring it to life. If you want to write a book proposal that gets the attention of agents, acquisition editors, and readers, this is where you have to start. Choose from either 1:1 coaching or my Incubator program starting in March 2022.