Chapter 2 | On Pitching
A properly developed and researched proposal can take weeks or even longer to prepare. The proposal length varies depending on agent and publisher requirements, and the complexity of the book project.
Your book proposal serves as an overview of the book project and a sense of your voice, book direction and target market. This proposal is all about showing that you have thought about your book beyond someone asking you ‘so, what is your book about’?
You must show them that you have done your research and have a very clear idea of what the book will be about, why you are the best person to write it, and why it must be written now. You want your proposal to instil a sense of confidence in the agent or publisher you are pitching to!
Your proposal needs to focus on why this book matters right now, or why it will matter to the intended readership. Why is it going to resonate? How is it addressing an urgent need? How does it offer something new and surprising that doesn’t feel like everything that’s come before?
While some types of evergreen topics may not have a sense of urgency tied to them, they still must demonstrate market relevance. Think about how and why the argument that your book makes is new and compelling. How does it shed new light on a topic people care about? How does your book illuminate the unexpected or challenge readers in ways they don’t expect?
Let’s break down the proposal down into the possible parts you may be required to provide. There are no set rules around book proposals and thus you will need to vary the components below based on who you are pitching or submitting to; it will depend on the genre, the author, and the agent’s and publishers’ submission guidelines.
Overview
An overview is generally 1-2 pages that functions as a sales pitch more than a description, highlighting the main points covered in the proposal giving agents and publishers a good sense of why your book is important, as well as an insight into what it might be like to read the book. It an excellent place to set up your tone, and knowledge, expertise, or story.
The overview will open your book proposal and I recommend writing it last so that you can really bring the entire proposal together in an inviting and provocative way.
Chapter outline
Your chapter outline is likely to be shaped by the type of book you are writing in combination with the submission guidelines.
A summary of each chapter works well for text-heavy books and may include key points and how they relate to the whole. It must give an overview of what is represented in each chapter.
Alternatively, a table of contents might work best for your book.
Regardless of the kind of outline you provide the most important thing is that it clearly shows how your book concept will play out from beginning to end, and strongly conveys the scope and range of material covered. The agent or publisher want a sense of the finished book.
Sample chapters
If you are writing a nonfiction book that has a distinct beginning, middle and end, then start at the beginning.
If your book is non-narrative, write or include the chapter/s you feel is best representative of your writing, knowledge and skill, and one that makes the strongest impression.
The introduction isn’t always the strongest piece, now may it show off the subject, style, structure and overall tone of your book in the best way possible.
Ultimately, you want to show the agent or publisher that you can deliver on your promise!
Comparison titles
The research you provide here must discuss the comparable titles your ideal reader would know about and/ or buy. The goal of this section is to point to the readership who will most likely invest in your book and to prove how, where, or why there is a readership for your book.
Your analysis can include up to 10 titles, however it is okay discussing just a few if your book is highly specialised or niche.
For each competing title, begin by noting the:
ISBN
Title
Subtitle
Author
Publisher
Year of publication
Page count
RRP (recommended retail price)
First published format (usually hardcover or paperback)
Then, briefly summarise the book and its readership in relation to your own book (up to 500 words)
The best comparison titles are those that indicate your book can also be commercially successful. Look for comps from well-known publishers, with a good number of reviews, decent media coverage, and a semblance of success in the market.
Please don’t bad mouth your competition – it isn’t necessary to do so and will only reflect poorly on you. If there is something about a competitors work that is problematic in some way, back up what you’re saying with research. Keep it professional, don’t make it personal.
And finally, don’t skimp on your research! An agent or publisher can tell when you haven’t done your homework, plus fully understanding the competition should help you write a better proposal and a better book.
Marketing plan
What can you specifically do to market and promote the book? Never discuss what you hope to do, only what you can and will do (without publisher assistance), given your current resources.
Avoid suggestions that you are ‘willing’ to do. Instead, you need to be confident, firm, and direct about everything that’s going to happen with or without the publisher’s help. Make it concrete, realistic, and attach numbers to everything.
Bio
You may or may not already have a professional bio that you use on your website, for work, or on your LinkedIn. However I recommend that you don’t copy and paste that straight into your proposal.
You must convince agents or publishers that you’re the perfect author for the book which requires showing how your expertise and experience give you the perfect platform from which to address your target audience. If this is a weak area for you, look for other strengths that might give you credibility with readers or help sell books—such as connections to experts or authorities in the field, a solid online following, and previous success in marketing yourself and your work.
It is also beneficial to add some of the following if you have them:
stats and analytics behind your online following, including all websites, blogs, social media accounts, email newsletters, regular online writing gigs, podcasts, videos, subscribers etc
your offline following—speaking engagements, events, classes/teaching, city/regional presence, professional organization leadership roles and memberships, etc.
your presence in traditional media (regular gigs, features, any coverage you’ve received, etc)
your network strength—reach to influencers or thought leaders, a prominent position at a major organisation or business
sales of past books, self-published works, or contributions to other publications.
Target audience
Who will primarily buy your book? ‘Primaril'y’ is key here. You want to describe the people who will be easiest to convince, or the most likely readership. Who will be lining up to pre-order and spread the word from there?
Publishers don’t want or need to be given broad statistics; they need you to draw a clear portrait of the type of person (beyond ‘book buyers’) who will be interested in what you have to say. Good market insight could include statements such as:
recent reviewers of [competing titles] complain that they are not keeping up with new information and trends. The hottest new trend in [category] is not discussed or covered in recent titles.
The Guardian recently wrote about the increased interest in military memoirs; [X and Y] media outlets regularly profile soldiers who’ve written books about their experience.
my readers include the people who have become devoted supporters of [X podcast or Y paid newsletter], which have X subscribers/downloads.
And finally, here are some hot tips I’ve collected for you too:
don’t assume that a short, ‘accessible’ treatment of your topic is a selling point. It isn’t easy to prove that an audience is out there waiting to a buy a book only if it were shorter or less difficult than the alternatives (taken from personal experience!!)
don’t assume that your personal experience is the key selling point; just because you have personally experienced something doesn’t make your book instantly more saleable (unless you are a famous author or have a well-established platform that has already attracted agents and publishers to your door)
you must clarify, define and articulate the market and need for your book.
take time to consider if your market too niche for a commercial publisher to pursue?
do you have a lack of expertise or credentials needed to convince and agent or publisher to take a risk on you?
don’t spend too much time describing the content and forget to state the book’s hook, benefit and appeal to the readership
don’t retread what has come before without identifying what is compelling enough to set your book apart.
as part of your market research, you need to think about whether the topic of your book suits the mass market. The big publishers might not be a good fit ,but a small publisher might! The big publishers are more likely going to want to see verifiable credibility, influence and impact already happening. This does mean being an ‘influencer’, but they want to know how your knowledge and expertise is already making an impact in the market.
On pitching memoirs
For memoir writers, the lines blur and submission guidelines vary tremendously. Some agents don’t require a book proposal, while others want only the book proposal and the first few chapters. Some agents may even ask for both the proposal and the complete manuscript if you’re an unpublished author.
Professional, published writers can typically sell a memoir based on the proposal alone. New, aspiring authors who have no publishing track record may be asked to submit a complete manuscript to prove they can write, sometimes in addition to the book proposal itself.
Publishers and agents are looking for compelling stories, and if you are writing about a situation that affects thousands or millions of people, the odds may not be in your favour unless you can articulate how your story will stand out from the crowd.
For memoir writers, an agent or publisher is more likely to look for the ways that you already reach readers without their help – the beginnings or a well-established platform of some kind is going to be viewed favourably.
You will likely be judged based on your writing skill, the strength of your platform, and your story’s potential to have mainstream media potential or the ability to land major interviews that will lead to sales.