nonfiction
How to Write a Nonfiction Book Proposal
October 20, 2010
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by Shennandoah Diaz
Unlike fiction, where an author must have a completed manuscript ready before they approach a publisher or agent, a nonfiction author only needs to develop a proposal to submit to publishers and/or agents. The proposal should answer the following questions:
- Content: What is the book about?
- Market: Who would be interested in this idea?
- Competitive Titles: What other books already exist on this topic and how does this one differ?
- Platform: Who is the author, why is the author the best person to produce this book, and what are they doing to engage with potential readers?
Section One: Content
This section of the proposal is usually 1-3 pages, unless you include a sample chapter which can range anywhere from 5-20 pages. Length is not as big of a concern as the quality of what’s included.
First, you want to come up with a brief, one sentence pitch that captures the soul of your idea. For example: “Affordable and complete wellness.” This is the hook of your book—the key message we discussed earlier.
Next you want to create a short summary paragraph that goes into slightly more detail about how the book will achieve your hook. For example:
This book is a guide for achieving complete wellness in an affordable and holistic way. It explores the pitfalls of the modern health care system and identifies ways to integrate alternative medicine techniques into traditional medical practices. The book educates the reader on current practices and arms them with new resources and techniques to achieve total wellness.
If you have a startling statistic that stresses the importance of this message, by all means use it here. That information will help sell the importance of your topic to the prospective agent or publisher.
Once your opening summary is developed, you will follow it with your outline. Your outline identifies the chapters and the key topics they will address. Identify any compelling facts, strategies, case studies, or information you will use to support the ideas in each chapter. You may include a sample chapter if you choose. Some publishers and agents require one, but many don’t. It really depends on whether you will be the one actually writing the book (or working with a ghostwriter), and on the agent or publisher’s requirements.
Section Two: Market
This section can be anywhere from 1/2 of a page to 2 pages. Here you identify the market for your book both in qualitative and quantitative terms. To determine who your audience is in qualitative terms, ask yourself the following questions:
- Who would be interested in your topic?
- Where do they live?
- What kind of work do they do?
- What are their hobbies?
- How do they get their information? And so on.
The key is to be as specific as possible. It’s not enough to say your book is geared toward “men” or “businessmen.”
Section Three: Competitive Titles
In your proposal, it is important to note the top 2-3 related titles and how your project is different from them. Not only does this help identify the potential sales numbers for your book, but it also helps the publisher identify exactly where you fit into the market.
Section Four: Platform
In this section list all platform-building activities you are engaged in and those that are in theworks. This includes any speaking you are doing on your topic, organizations you are involved in, articles you written or been cited in, etc. It’s important that the agent or publisher see that you are indeed an expert on the subject and that you are building a career as an author and an expert.
For more information on how to write a book proposal, check out the following resources:
How to Write a Book Proposal by Michael Larsen
Book Proposals that Sell: 21 Secrets to Speed your Success by W. Terry Whalin:
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Keep It Clear: Nonfiction Writing for Clarity, Not Condescension
August 2, 2007
by GreenleafBookGroup
Anytime you’re writing nonfiction, it’s nice if you know a lot more about your topic than your audience does. That isn’t usually a problem—most of us write what we know. But how do you know your audience will get the point? And how do you avoid explaining too much and losing their attention? There’s a fine line between clarity and condescension—but you need to know where it is.
The best way to be sure that you haven’t over- or underexplained your topic is to find a couple of members of your target audience and have them read the part of your work in question. After they’ve read it, ask them a few questions—how long did it take? Did they ever lose interest or get lost? Is there any part that needs more explanation? Ask them to explain the concept back to you, then rework the piece to correct any problems.
This method is almost foolproof. But unfortunately, often a deadline doesn’t allow for focus groups and three rounds of revisions. When that’s the case, you still need to make sure your point is clear. Read the piece over yourself and imagine you have the same level of knowledge as your audience. Look at these specific areas:
Are there passages with heavy use of buzzwords or specialized vocabulary? Try to break up or rephrase them. Even readers familiar with the material can get lost in too much specialized language, and one misunderstanding on what the particular word of the moment means can unravel your entire argument for that reader.
Take a sample paragraph completely out of context and read through it. Does it still make sense? Is it clear why this information is being presented? If not, revise it, and do a few more spot-checks on other paragraphs. Readers who get lost need to be able to find firm ground to stand on soon after to help them work out what they don’t understand, and an argument that depends on immediate knowledge of pages and pages of information isn’t going to get your point across.
If the argument is complicated, try to keep your prose simple. There’s no reason to complicate it more with involved language. If you’re making a particularly crucial point, rephrase it or give an example of what you mean in the sentence immediately following to reinforce it.
To avoid sounding condescending, don’t define words or terms more than once. Give the explanation, then reinforce the meaning by using the word in context soon after and using synonyms in the surrounding text if you haven’t used it for a while. Repeat your key principles, but keep your reader engaged by using different words or making the key point a sort of “punchline” at the end of an example. The idea is to present the same information with enough variation that a reader who got it the first time won’t be bored, but a reader who didn’t has another chance to catch on. As a test, read the piece yourself. Do you find yourself skipping over certain passages? Condense them.
Finally, there’s really no substitute for a fresh pair of eyes. If you can’t get a member of your audience or a real live editor, ask someone you trust to tell you the truth. (This should not be Microsoft Word’s spellcheck function.) Don’t get upset if your pages come back covered in suggestions. You don’t have to take them all—you just have to think about them. Your reader stopped to tell you she had a problem. In the interests of clarity and respect for your audience, you owe your piece a second look.
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