Turn the Page Blog
Thoughts, Musings & Advice on All Things Writing
The COVID pandemic has changed everything, and the world of writer’s conferences are no exception. With that being said, many conferences have pivoted to doing things online, and they can still be a terrific resource for authors at all stages of their writing and publishing journeys. (Poets & Writers Magazine has a great database of conferences and residencies – check them out.)
We’re at the tail end of our series on book proposals! So far we’ve talked about the five main parts of the book proposal - the Overview, the Author’s Bio, the Competitive Analysis, the Marketing Plan and the Chapter Summary. So, what do you need to know about choosing your sample chapter? Let’s get into it. First of all, it’s always a good idea to include your first chapter/introduction, as well as a later chapter. If you’re writing a self-help or guidebook, you want to make sure that one of the chapters is prescriptive – this is where you’re teaching them something, or detailing a particular step they need to take.
The Chapter Summaries section is basically an annotated outline of the structure of your book. The point of the Chapter Summary section is to give the editor an idea of your content and your method of presenting that information, AND to make sure you are organized and know what you are writing about. Most books are around 60,000 words, and most have 12 chapters (each chapter is usually about 5,000 words long, including 2,000 words in stories/anecdotes/case studies).
Your marketing plan is a biggie because publishers (and therefore literary agents) are more concerned with author platforms than ever. In addition to having the basics – an author website (a non-negotiable), social media, and so on – it’s important that you have a way of illustrating how you are currently interacting with potential readers/book buyers. This is what you have been doing, what you are doing now AND what you will be doing in the future.
The point of the Competitive Analysis is to show agents and editors that you are savvy, and to illustrate that there is already a market for a book like yours – and then illustrate for them why your book deserves a spot on bookstore shelves. There is a good chance that you are already pretty familiar with other successful books in your genre/subject area.
Much like the Overview, the Author’s Bio is pretty self-explanatory. This is where you tell the reader (the literary agent/editor) all about you. However, it is important that the information and qualifications you share relate to your expertise as an expert on your book’s subject matter and/or as an author. (With an emphasis on the former). It doesn’t matter if you are an award-winning gardener, unless you are writing a gardening book.
So, really quickly, what is a book proposal? A book proposal is essentially the sales plan for your book – it serves to answer the questions of agents and editors before they ask them. It tells them what your book is about, why you’re the one to write it, and who is actually going to go out and purchase this book. Publishers want to invest in books, but they want to invest in authors, too, and they want to know that they will be making back their investment. (And agents want to know that the clients they are pitching are actually going to sell.)
Are you new to the world of book publishing? When you first start out, it can seem like a complicated – even overwhelming – world to navigate through. Who are the decision makers and gatekeepers? What do they do, and how can they do to help you and your book? Let’s talk about the traditional publishing journey.
Back in the olden days, there was really only one way to publish – with one of the big, traditional publishers. If you wanted to be an “author,” you needed a New York-based editor to make you one – and you could only buy books from bookstores? Nowadays, things are much different! Did you know that now close to two million books are self-published each year? And that Amazon is responsible for 60% of all book sales? It’s a crowded, exciting world out there, and there has never been a better time to add your unique voice to the mix.
I used to dread January, which always seemed like the rainiest, darkest month. The anticipation and excitement of Christmas is over, and January always represented the return to the same old, same old. Over the years, however, my perspective has changed. Now January is all about finding that spark - spark of hope, spark of creativity, spark of beginning. It's not just about resolutions but about goals - dreaming them, defining them, and putting together an actionable plan to achieving them.
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