Don't Skip the Book Proposal!
You may have heard the saying that 90% of painting a house is in the prep work—in the careful taping of edges and windows panes with blue tape; its in the covering of wooden floors and furniture with plastic tarp; in carefully taping over outlets and lighting fixtures; and in removing handles from cupboards. You may not notice a great paint job immediately, but you sure can spot a bad one: from drips of paint running down a window pane… to a mist of old blue paint peeking out from behind the layer of fresh cream paint like the five o'clock shadow of an unkempt beard. You may spot a hardened stream of paint splattered carelessly on your sink basin or tub. Imagine a new buyer wandering through, noticing the rushed paint job. Might they wonder—if you were this careless in painting, what else might be wrong? You’ve immediately lost the confidence of the people who are looking at the fine details. It is the same with writing: a slap dash proposal can give this same bad impression, as opposed to one that is neat, organized, and clearly thought through.
Since writing my book, it’s been almost funny to see how many people have come out of the woodwork, oft times sporting a sort of bemused smile and a faraway look in their eyes as they describe how they’ve, “always wanted to write a book.” “So many funny things have happened to me, you wouldn’t believe it,” one of the computer lab techs at school said to me, as he mused about writing his memoir. I had no idea how many people secretly harbored ambitions of writing a memoir or book, until I published mine. Another fellow told me he had, “All these funny stories,” that would somehow translate into a business book, in the style of someone else’s best-selling book. Shaping these “funny stories” or memories into a book can be aided by the proposal process.
What I’ve learned along the way is that—it’s a long way from harboring a collection of “funny stories” or “strange things that happened to you”—and a completed and marketable manuscript. Telling a story on the page is not the same as telling it tipsy at some cocktail party to a group of drunken revelers only half paying attention. Many people have approached me, asking advice on how to write a book, since I wrote mine. A few have even taken me to lunch to “pick my brain.” “Where does one begin?” they want to know. After hearing the many steps to not only writing—but also editing, marketing, and promoting one’s book, they never seem to get going on the track, much less across the finish line. Many seem daunted by the actual work involved: between dreaming to reality lies rolled up sleeves and a lot of hard work.
The advice I give these folks, and I’d like to impact to you today, is this: Don’t start with the book itself. Start with the proposal. My wonderful literary agent at Trident Media Group Mark Gottleib has prepared a template format for the non-fiction book proposal you can use, which I find extremely helpful called, How to Write a Book Proposal: The 19 step Guide for Nonfiction Writers. I used it for my first book, and found it extremely helpful, and I’ve just used it for my next. You can simply copy and paste the headings he’s provided into a new Google doc, or other writing software program, and start filling them in. You’ll soon see what areas are more fully developed, and which are merely the kernel or seed of an idea in need of more attention.
“…you have one shot, so take your best one. Make the effort to make a great first impression.”
So why start with the proposal? And why am I comparing writing to painting a house? Why start with the prep and not the actual “painting,” e.g., writing the book chapters? I believe that working through the nineteen steps of the proposal that Trident Media Group literary agent Mark Gottlieb has developed gives you a chance to really think through your book in more depth, and where it’s going. You may think you have a great idea, or hilarious stories to tell—you may even have one of hem. But from the 42,000-mile high view, you see one thing—“The Big Idea.” But when you hone in to iterate the proposal, suddenly your “story” may look very different. As modernist architect Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe was said to be fond of saying, “God is in the Details.” God Is in the details, and what the proposal allows you to do is to think through those details in greater depth: what is it you are trying to illustrate with all those hilarious stories? What point are you driving your reader toward? Why would people be interested in your particular memoir? What makes your story unique? The proposal writing process helps you to define the answers to these questions and more. In this way, the proposal serves as a kind of scaffolding for your book—it helps flesh out its contours and scope, and it allows you to see what you may be missing, so you can shore it up before submitting it to a potentially interested literary agent. I always think—you have one shot, so take your best one. Make the effort to make a great first impression.
“…publishers aren’t looking for the last best idea—they’re looking for the next best idea.”
Another reason you want to start with the proposal: one of my friends wanted to write a business book like (fill in best selling book du jour here). The trouble is—publishers aren’t looking for the last best idea—they’re looking for the next best idea. They’ve already published whatever that last book was. They’re not looking to re-publish a second-tier version of it. They want a fresh, new idea to sell. Including in your proposal a section on competing works will allow both your potential literary agent and a publisher to see immediately how your proposed book is unique. It will also help overcome any objections to publishing yours, since you’ve already answered any questions they may have had: you’re specifically “doing the homework” for them by identifying similar books in the market, while identifying how your book differs from them. You’ve also identified what your “platform” is—and how you will take an active role in marketing and promoting the book. This step can get you closer to selling your book.
The last step of the proposal process is the approximate two-three sample chapters that you will write of the actual book. Choose the chapters you are most excited about, your strongest suit, as it were. By that point, having gone through the proposal process, you’ll have a much clearer sense of what your book wants to be, and you can be more confident that you’ve really thought through your intention, what you want to “say” with this book, who you are targeting—and how to set up your book chapters so they really tell your story in a unique and interesting way. Consider having an editor go through the whole thing before you submit it to your potential literary agent. You may also share it with a few trusted friends to get their feedback as well. Be as ready as you can be to take your very best shot.
So don’t skip the prep work for your book by skipping over the proposal. It shouldn’t be an afterthought or an add-on appendage after you’ve written your book. Don’t look at it as a chore, either: See it as a way to explore and flesh out your book concept in a much more concrete and conscious way. The proposal process will force you to answer questions you may not even have asked yourself, and will get you that much closer to “yes” from both a literary agent and a publisher. I’ve just finished my next book proposal using Trident Media Group literary agent Mark Gottlieb’s 19 Step proposal template, and the process helped me immensely to understand what my next book wants to be. Now you have a roadmap to success. I wish you well in writing—and selling—your book!
Dr. Julie Albright is a Sociologist specializing in digital culture and communications. She has a Masters Degree in Social and Systemic Studies from Nova SouthEastern University and a Dual Doctorate in Sociology and Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of Southern California. Dr. Albright is currently a Lecturer in the departments of Applied Psychology and Engineering at USC. She is also a sought after keynote speaker for her insights, and has given talks for major data center and energy conferences including SAP for Utilities, IBM Global, Data Center Dynamics and the Dept. of Defense. She has appeared as an expert on national media including the Today Show, CNN, NBC Nightly News, CBS, the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, NPR Radio and many others. Her book on the impacts of mobile-social-digital technologies on society—Left to Their Own Devices: How Digital Natives Are Reshaping the American Dream published Spring 2019 from Prometheus Books. Her next book on the social and technical issues of "connecting everybody" around the globe will be co-authored with Mr. Dean Nelson (responsible for the digital networks at PayPal/eBay, Uber, and others).