A book proposal is one of the first tools you’ll need to pursue a traditional publisher. Most beginning authors don’t realize they need one and don’t know how to write one. Some have never heard the term.
I asked Steve Laube to help us understand book proposals and what purpose they serve. Steve is a veteran of the bookselling industry with nearly 40 years of experience. In the 80s, he was a bookstore manager. In the ’90s, he was an award-winning editor for Bethany House Publishers. For the last 15 years, he has been an agent and owner of The Steve Laube Agency representing over 1,500 new books. He was named agent of the year by ACFW.
What is a book proposal?
Thomas: For many authors, book proposals are mysterious or an onerous burden. Before you explain how an author can use a proposal to advance their career, tell us what a book proposal is.
Steve: A book proposal is kind of like a job application. If you’re applying for a job in a new industry or business, you give them your resume. Your resume usually includes your goals, aspirations, and experience, and you present it to human resources.
In many ways, that’s what your book proposal is. It’s an overview of the entire book project, plus sample chapters that demonstrate whether you can write.
Why do authors need a book proposal?
Thomas: Why do authors need a book proposal? Why not just send agents and editors your complete manuscript?
Steve: Some people send the entire manuscript, but here’s the problem: I still don’t know what the book is about. You’re asking me to read the whole thing before I even know if I want to look at it. Think of yourself as a consumer browsing books at a physical bookstore or online. You look at the title, the topic, and maybe a 150-word book description. Only then do you decide whether to open the book, flip through the pages, or click “Look Inside.”
The book proposal provides that overview without asking the agent or editor to read the entire manuscript upfront.
Of course, if you don’t write a good book, even the best book proposal won’t save you. But if you’ve written a great book and a terrible book proposal, you’ve got a problem. The reality is that everyone decides to buy a book based on the overview before they’ve read the book itself.
Thomas: There’s a famous quote by Will Smith in which he says, “I’m not in the movie business; I’m in the movie trailer business.” People don’t decide whether to watch a movie by watching the movie itself. They make that decision based on the trailer.
Some excellent films never found an audience because their trailers were poor. On the other hand, some trailers make the movie look incredible, but when you see it, you realize every funny moment was in the trailer, and the rest of the movie wasn’t funny at all.
As authors, we’re in a similar position. In a sense, we’re in the book cover business. It’s all about how the book is packaged, from the cover to the title and book description. If you want word-of-mouth to kick in, the writing has to be good. But you don’t earn the chance for readers to talk about your book until you win the first battle of getting them to pick it up because of the packaging.
Steve: I would correct you slightly by saying that authors are in the back cover business. The author doesn’t necessarily control what the front cover looks like. But the book description (or back cover copy) in your proposal is what a publisher will read to find out how you described your book. The proposal is a description of the book rather than an image. In fact, authors who try to create a book proposal with a cover usually don’t know what they’re doing, and it’s easy to turn off an editor by sending them your cover idea design. That’s a mistake.
Thomas: If you watch someone in a bookstore, their process is often the same. First, they look at the spine; that’s usually all they see at first. If the title or author catches their eye, they’ll pull the book off the shelf and look at the cover. Then they flip it over to read the back.
At this point, a few things can happen. If the back cover is strong enough and you’ve made a compelling promise, or if they’re already familiar with you as an author, they might think, Shut up and take my money! and head to the register. But often, they’re not quite sold yet.
So, what do they do? They open the book but usually don’t start at the beginning. They often flip to a random page in the middle and read a few paragraphs. That’s why the writing overall has to be solid. You never know which page they’ll land on, but whichever one it is, it needs to be well-written and keep them hooked.
Another advantage of book proposals is that they make the process manageable for agents and editors. If you’re an agent and five people send you a 100-page manuscript every day, that’s 500 pages to read daily. No one can do that. It’s physically impossible, especially considering they still have to do the rest of their job. Some agents and editors receive dozens of proposals every day.
A proposal allows agents and editors to engage with the content in a non-linear way. When I look at a book proposal, I’m trying to answer specific questions about the author: Does this author have strong writing? Do they have good endorsements? Do they have a solid marketing plan?
Typically, one of those elements stands out more than the others. With a well-crafted proposal, I can quickly find the answers to those questions. This makes it much easier to evaluate the project and, ultimately, to say yes to a promising proposal.
Steve: Or to say you’re willing to look deeper. It all comes down to the execution of the idea in the sample chapters. I pass the proposals I receive to a reviewer who works for me. Her job isn’t to look at the proposal itself. It’s to evaluate the sample chapters and determine if the person is a good writer.
She determines whether the person is a good writer. If it’s a “maybe,” she’ll assign it a grade like A, B, C, or even a C-minus or C-plus.
Once I have her feedback and know they can write, I look at the proposal. That’s when I ask whether I can sell this idea. Editors trust me to only bring them proposals for well-executed books and not just great ideas that fall apart in the execution.
A great idea is one thing. Great writing is another. If you can combine the two, you’ve got a winner. And if you add a strong platform to the mix, that’s the third piece of the puzzle.
I don’t want to confuse the issue, but writing a great book is only part of the process. A well-crafted book proposal is what helps sell the book because that’s how consumers buy books.
When we purchase a book, we haven’t read a single word yet. We’re buying based on the idea and the promise that there’s something worthwhile inside. Later, when we read the book, we might think, “That wasn’t very good,” or “Wow, that was a great book!” But we bought the promise. That’s why the proposal matters. It’s what sells the idea before anyone sees the writing.
Thomas: And this is a great practice for the market because around a thousand books are published every day, either independently or traditionally. And that’s more books than anyone can read. People are constantly making decisions about which book to read. Most people only read a handful of books a year. You are practicing for the ultimate test of convincing an agent or editor to accept your proposal instead of all the others. You’re convincing readers to read your book instead of all the others.
The marketing plan is another key element of a book proposal the publisher’s marketing team will pay close attention to. I have worked in marketing for a publishing company, and I know that marketing teams want to play to an author’s strengths.
For example, if you’re great at giving radio interviews, I want to help you get even more of them. If you excel at guest blogging and already have relationships with popular blogs, I want to help you get more. If you’re speaking at events across the country to large audiences, I want to make sure there are boxes of books in the back of the room, along with someone to sell them to that audience who just fell in love with you as a speaker.
No author has all of these strengths. For some writers, the idea of standing in front of a crowd is terrifying; they’d rather die. Others thrive in front of an audience and say, “Please, put me in front of as many people as possible!”
Because authors are strong in different areas, I need to quickly identify your strengths and how we can build on what you’re already doing well. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to marketing, and that makes it tricky.
You can introduce a book to potential readers, but you can’t make them buy it. And even if they buy it, you can’t make them read it. For a book to truly thrive, you need to “sell” it twice. First, you sell readers on buying the book, and then you sell them on reading it. Because people don’t recommend books they didn’t finish.
It is essential to pull a reader through the book and get them to stick with it to the end. That’s why a well-thought-out marketing plan is so important. It helps give the book its best shot at success and creates the best possible experience for the reader.
What other elements should a book proposal include?
Hook
Steve: I recommend you start with the hook. The hook is the aspect of the book that is going to make me stop and say, “That looks interesting.” In a novel, that can be a sentence or a phrase. In nonfiction, I’m looking for what makes your nonfiction book compelling. Why should I read it?
Look at the back covers of the books on your shelves. You’ll usually see a headline at the top of the book. For example, one of mine says, “How should Christians engage the broader culture?” It’s a big headline at the top. Below that, there’s a breakdown of how the book does that.
Back Cover Copy
The back cover copy is a paragraph or two about the essence of the book.
About the Author
A lot of authors make this mistake. In fact, just this past week, someone emailed me what they called a “proposal.” It included a little bit about the book and 50 sample chapters but absolutely nothing about who the author was other than their name.
I’m not going to sign this person. I don’t know anything about them. They could be a warlock for all I know! I have no idea about their background, their credentials, or their platform.
That’s why I recommend including a section about yourself. Take a half page to talk a little bit about who you are. You can even include a professional photo or “glamour shot” if you’d like. That way, I have an idea of who you are and what you look like.
This is especially helpful if you’ve met an editor or agent at a conference and are sending your proposal later. Including your photo can jog their memory and remind them, Oh, I met this person! They might not recall your name, but they’ll often recognize your face. That simple addition can make your proposal more personal and effective.
Marketing Plan
What will you do to market the book? How would you approach this project if you were in charge of marketing it yourself? What specific strategies or activities can you implement? Who is your audience?
Endorsements
If you have well-known people who are willing to endorse your book, be sure to include a section on endorsements. However, please don’t make the mistake of using initials instead of full names. If you only include initials, I have no idea who those people are. For all I know, it could be your mom or your brother, and you’re trying to disguise that it’s a family member offering the endorsement.
Now, if your mom happens to be someone like Condoleezza Rice, that’s fine, but give me her full name. Don’t just write “CR.” Let’s be clear about who these endorsers are, especially if they’re influential or well-known. Substantial endorsements from recognizable figures can make your project much more appealing to a publisher.
Synopsis
If you’re writing a novel, you must include a synopsis of the entire book condensed into three single-spaced pages. The whole story in three pages. We understand this might not be great writing—it’s not about the prose. Since you’re only sending the first few chapters of your novel initially, we need to know how the story ends and how you’ve developed the idea.
Annotated Outline
For nonfiction, do not send a three-page, single-spaced synopsis like you would for fiction. Nonfiction proposals require an annotated outline. This outline should include a brief summary of what’s in each chapter. A small paragraph or a few sentences that clearly show the book’s logical progression will do.
Memoirs can be tricky since they fall between nonfiction and fiction. A memoir is a true story, but it’s told as a narrative. In this case, a full chapter-by-chapter breakdown may not be as practical. Instead, provide an overview of the life story or event that the memoir explores, capturing the essence of the narrative. Then, include your sample chapters.
Of course, there’s more to a book proposal than this. I’m simplifying here for time’s sake. If you’d like a deeper dive, I have a one-hour lecture on this topic available at the Christian Writers Institute. It includes sample templates for book proposals, making it easy for anyone to put together a strong, professional submission.
What are some common book proposal mistakes?
Thomas: What are the fundamental mistakes you see over and over that are easy to fix?
Steve: As mentioned earlier, one common mistake is leaving out any information about the author.
Another mistake often shows up in the endorsements section. For example, someone might write, “I’m going to ask James Dobson for an endorsement.” Good luck with that. Unless you’re a personal friend, it’s highly unlikely that a famous figure like him will endorse your book. Make your endorsement requests realistic. Don’t just list every famous author or public figure you can think of.
In the marketing section, a common issue is overly simplistic or exaggerated claims. For instance, someone might say, “My book is about adoption, and there are X number of adoptions in America. If we sell one book to each of those families, we’ll have a million-copy bestseller every month.” That’s not logical. It’s simply unrealistic and shows a lack of understanding of how publishing works.
Thomas: That’s a well-known business fallacy called the 1% of China fallacy. It’s when someone takes a massive market and says, If we could just sell to 1% of the people in China, we’d sell 100 million copies of our book, or something similar.
Instead of starting with a big number and trying to work backward, it’s far more effective to build up from what you can realistically achieve. Ask yourself: What would selling 100 million units even look like? How would we get there? You need to start from where you are, focus on what you can do now, and be faithful with the resources and opportunities you have.
Authors aren’t the only ones who make this mistake. It’s a common error in business, especially when crafting business plans.
Steve: It’s an eye roll on my end. When I see that, I sigh. It doesn’t impress me. I understand that there are many adoptive families out there, but what I need to know from you is how you are going to get your book into their hands. That’s what a marketing strategy is all about. It’s not about the size of the market; it’s about how you can effectively reach and engage that market using your skills, resources, or network.
Authors often make the mistake of focusing on the market’s potential size rather than outlining a clear, actionable plan to penetrate it effectively.
Those are some of the common mistakes I see.
To explore these topics in more detail, check out the following episodes:
- Book Proposals Tips & Tricks With Chad Allen
- Book Proposal Tips and Tricks with Ann Kroeker
- What Christian Editors Look for in Book Proposals
- How to Pitch Your Book at a Writers Conference with Bob Hostetler
Sponsor
The course we would like to feature today is The Elements of an Effective Book Proposal by Steve Laube:
- One hour presentation by Steve Laube about what you need to include in your proposal to make it irresistible to agents and editors.
- Sample Proposal Templates,
- a Proposal Checklist, and more
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