Book Proposal Development
I know what goes into creating book proposals that sell.
From 1981 to 2002, I sat on the editorial side of the desk, judging thousands of book proposals, buying only the tiniest fraction of them. I’ve been to hundreds of editorial board meetings where publishers, editors, sales and marketing folk, publicists, and subsidiary rights folk decide which books live and which die. My judgment isn’t infallible—guess who laughed at the idea of Who Moved My Cheese?—but I have a damn good idea about what gets publishers excited, and I know what makes them groan and write off a book as unsalable or the author as clueless. In 2002, I moved to the other side of the desk to help writers create the proposals that publishers want to buy. Top literary agents send their clients to me for proposal development; see the Testimonials section. Most of my proposals have sold for a lovely six figures. I’d love to do the same for yours. Here’s what we’ll create together:
Kick-ass Sample Chapters: A lot of publishers will turn right to the sample chapters, so they’ve got to be perfect. We’ll make yours sing.
Chapter-by-chapter Synopses: No publisher wants to buy a pig in a poke. I’ll make sure your synopses are punchy, fun to read, and rich with the examples that bring your ideas to life. These synopses will then serve as your blueprint as you write the book.
Author bio: Why are you uniquely qualified to write this book? Why should readers trust you? How will publishers sell you? These days, your publishing platform is as important as your content. I’ll pull together the highlights of your professional and personal experience (which often can be as relevant as professional credentials) and suggest ways to make your platform even stronger.
Sales and marketing info: I’ll spell out how your platform creates the potential for book sales as well as subsidiary rights, foreign sales, special (non-bookstore) sales and more, and offer a comparable/competitive sales analysis for books in your niche. I’ll save you from the most common proposal gaffes, including irrelevant or ham-handed competitive analyses, over- and under-promising, and mentioning Oprah (unless you happen to be the surrogate for her twins and she’s promised you a show—and even then, proceed with caution).
Testimonials: I’ll help you gather wonderful quotes from well-known people in your field who can boost your profile with prospective publishers.
Fact sheet: Did you know that a sales rep spends about 30 seconds tops describing each book on a typical sales call? In-house editors create one- or two-page “fact sheets” to help the sales reps sell the book to their accounts. These include one-line “handles,” one-paragraph summaries, a bulleted list of key selling points, and more. I’ll create a fact sheet that makes it easy for publishers to say “yes” to your proposal because they’ll already have the sell sheet for it in front of them!
Along the way, I’ll give you my best advice on the entire publishing process. No, I can’t guarantee that you’ll be picked up by a publisher or a literary agent, but I’ll do my best to make that connection; it’s what I love most about the business and it’s why I’ve been in it for 28 years! (To be honest, if I don’t think I’m the right person to help make that happen for you, I won’t take you on as a client.) I’ll suggest the publishers and agents that I think would be the best fit for you and, when appropriate, make the introductions.
Fee: Negotiable, depending on the proposal, but it’s a combo platter of a flat development fee plus a percentage of the advance. Get in touch with me and we’ll discuss.