4 Reasons You Need a Book Proposal
Everyone thinks book proposals are just for pitching publishers - but the truth is everyone who is writing a book can benefit from the planning that a book proposal forces you to do.
A book proposal is a plan for success.
Imagine for a moment that you're starting a new business, and you have to ask for a loan from the bank to help you get it started. The bank is going to ask you for a business plan. They want to know that their investment in you is going to pay off; that you're going to be able to pay back this loan (with interest). In other words, they want to make sure you have a concrete plan for making your business successful.
That's exactly what a book proposal is. When you seek a partnership with a traditional publisher, you're asking them to make a financial investment in you - in your idea. You have to show them exactly why this idea is going to pay off, how they're going to recoup their investment (and hopefully much more).
Now imagine that you're starting a new business, but you're funding it yourself. Let's say that your business doesn't have substantial start-up costs, so you can get it going just on your own dime. That's great, but... you still need your business to succeed. Self-publishing is the same. Even if you're publishing a book on your own, you don't want to just launch it into the world without knowing if it's going to be a smart investment of your own time. Don't treat your time and money as less valuable than a publishers'!
Here’s how proposals help all authors, regardless of how they're publishing:
- You need a book proposal to clarify your thinking.
There’s a little thing called perspective, and I can’t stress enough how important it is to change your perspective often when writing a book. I always encourage authors to take a step back from their work and look at it with new eyes. Writing a book proposal asks you to reflect on your work differently, to justify the choices you made. If you can’t answer any of the questions/prompts in a book proposal, then you know you still have additional work to do.
- You need a book proposal to put your work to the test.
Writing a book proposal can be intimidating, because suddenly you’re forced to realize that your work is on trial. But you NEED to put your work to this test - even if you do it just for yourself - to see if it holds up, just as you might try on a piece of clothing you made if you were a seamstress, or test a new product if you were a manufacturer. It’s ok to poke and prod at your work, to see where its weak points are. Because once it’s out in the world, I can promise you other people will find them. It’s better for you to identify those weak spots early and fix them, rather than having them pointed out to you later.
- You need a book proposal to get to know the competition.
You might be thinking, “There is no competition for my book - this is a totally original piece of genius!” And sure, that might be the case. But here’s why no publisher wants to hear that: because if it hasn’t been done before, it might mean there’s no market for it. Otherwise, why hasn’t anybody else thought of it?
Let’s say you are a creative genius and you’ve come up with something no one else has ever. That does NOT mean you don’t have competition. Regardless of whether you self-publish or traditionally publish, you’re competing with other books written for the same audience, even if they’re on other topics or have other angles. Focus on getting to know those books. Why would someone in your audience go after those books? What would help them pick up your book instead? You need to get clear on this, if not for a publisher, then for yourself.
- You need a book proposal to get a head start on marketing.
Like it or not, when you publish a book, one of your jobs as an author is marketing your book. If you traditionally publish, then you get a partner in marketing - but make no mistake, you will also be marketing your book (or you should be!). Your book proposal will help you think through how your audience will receive your message and will even give you some of the language you might use to write copy later. By forcing yourself to do a bit of research and planning, you’ll already have a plan for later when you get closer to the book’s publication.
A book proposal is truly one of the most helpful tools I recommend to all authors, regardless of what stage of writing you’re in or how you plan to publish. That's why I'd love to give you my book proposal template (one that has been used successfully by authors and agents!) to work on yours.
Click here to download the book proposal template.
The template I’ve created is specifically for nonfiction books, but you can easily adapt it to work for fiction, too. In my next post, I’ll break down the four key components of a book proposal - and, trust me, you need these four pieces whether you’re writing fiction or nonfiction. Sit tight for my next post, or grab your free template right now and get started!
Writer, I hope this is helpful to you as you think about bringing your important work to life. If you have any questions, feel free to email me: ariel@arielcurry.com.
