What Goes into a Winning Book Proposal?

There’s a big difference between submitting a fiction and a non-fiction book proposal to a publisher.

If you want to see your fictional book in print, you must write the entire manuscript and send it to publishers for review.

That’s a tall order for some, but if you’re truly passionate about the subject and characters, this won’t be difficult.

Non-fiction is considered easier because the entire book does not need to be written. Each publisher requires two or three chapters along with the following information:

Proposal letter

Table of contents

Marketing plan

Competitive book list

Each package contains many pages. The fiction proposal’s page count depends on the novel’s length while the non-fiction manuscript contains between 40-60 pages.

In both cases, a self-addressed, stamped No. 10 envelope is included so that the publisher can quickly send you their decision by mail, usually expressed on a form letter.

If you want the entire manuscript back, you’ll add a self-addressed, stamped envelope the same size as the one originally mailed rather than the smaller envelope.

My first book proposal was mailed to 28 publishers, and weeks later, the rejection letters began arriving at my door. How would you feel about receiving responses such as:

“We’re not interested now.”
“It’s not the right fit.”
“This would be a great self-published book!”

None of these decisions phased me. Deep down, I knew that my book would be accepted, and three months later, that’s what happened. I encourage you to develop the same confidence when submitting your proposal.

I’ll review the non-fiction parts mentioned above with you in future posts, but for now tell me – what part of the proposal process concerns you the most?

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