Voice of the Phoenix Blog » Book Proposal

Writing a Book Proposal Pt 4

emmephoenix — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:31:01 +0000

Another audience is crucial to consider as you compose your book proposal—the editor(s), agent(s), and marketing staff who may read the proposal.
You may be so fortunate as to actually know the person or people for whom you are writing. If so, your task will be easier.
If you are writing for an audience you don’t know, it may help to try to characterize him, her, or them to help you focus your writing for this audience. But how do you do this for people you don’t know?

• Use clues implicit in where they work and their job title.
You can assume that literary agents, marketing personnel, and editors are literate, probably even well read. If it’s important for you to use “je ne sais quoi” in your book proposal or refer to Schrodinger’s cat or mention the Spanish Armada, it’s probably safe to assume that they will either know what you’re talking about or make sure that they find out if it’s essential to your proposal. If not, then you haven’t yet found the proper home for your book.
• (Re)check the list and the backlist (if a publisher) or client list (if an agent).
You probably have done this before deciding to submit your proposal to a particular publisher or agent, but it may be worth doing again as you think about the people behind the company logo. At any rate, it will help reveal their frames of reference.
• (Re)check the write-ups in Writer’s Market, Guide to Literary Agents, or whatever source is appropriate.
Again, you may have done this before, but now focus on any quotations that are included to help you get an idea of personality—of course, this is not the most personal or revelatory prose, but you may get some hints.
And if you come to a sticky point, you can address your concern about your audience’s background, and even do so subtly, for example:

Not all readers will initially be familiar with the basic outline of my hero Johann Joseph Fux’s life—organist, court composer to Emperor Leopold I, and author of a famous text on counterpoint (1660–1741)—so I quickly establish this using a quotation and then proceed with the story.

which a) doesn’t run the risk of leaving your audience mistakenly believing that the character is fictional rather than historical if they don’t happen to be familiar with him but b) also is not phrased in such a way that your audience will find it condescending if they do know of Fux.
• If it seems appropriate, you could also try calling someone to get a better sense of “who s/he is.”
If you know nothing about your audience and have no way to find out, it may help to choose someone you do know whose characteristics you would guess might be a match to your audience and write to that person. At the very least, this may help you achieve a consistent tone and approach.
In any case, just focusing on the fact that you’re writing to an audience, not just “expressing yourself,” is likely to help you write a better proposal.

Writing a Book Proposal Pt 3

emmephoenix — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:17:45 +0000

Who’s your audience?
Especially during an economic downturn and at a time when print publishers are trying to figure out what’s next, conceiving and presenting a book proposal that is likely to garner a large audience could be the difference between being published or not.
I think about this in two ways:
1) Writing for some large group – e.g., teenage girls, people who use the Internet, non-native speakers of English
2) Aggregating a number of groups to make a large group – e.g., word buffs + humor addicts + trivia hounds
Consider audience, too, when choosing a title. If you already had a title, consider whether it needs tweaking with your new ideas about whom you’re trying to reach. Since subtitles are popular these days, consider referencing your target groups in the second part of your title.
Additionally, clarifying your audience may change your ideas about which publishers are most likely to have an interest in your book. Recheck your list, if appropriate.

Writing a Book Proposal Pt 2

emmephoenix — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:11:01 +0000

Easley Blackwood, Jr., pianist and composer, was my instructor for an independent study course in composition when I was in college. He once told me that there were two ways to approach any art: one was having made as full a study as possible of all of the details, including what others in the field have done; the second was naively, leaving one free of influence, but also free of what might turn out to be essential knowledge.
If you’re writing the kind of book for which there is competition, at some point, you need to both analyze the genre and also see what your competitors are up to in order to speak to this point in your book proposal.

The need to look at everyone else’s approach may make you feel that it’s difficult to be original. I approach this by following this sequence:
1) I do an initial plan of my book before looking at the competition, keeping influence at bay as much as possible.
2) I read reviews of my competition, both using Amazon’s review feature to see what customers are saying and using JSTOR through the UVM library’s online resources to see professional reviews. This usually brings to light several things that could use improvement, and I incorporate these into my plan as they fit. I also note what they were praised for and consider what I can do in this regard (without plagiarizing).
3) I read the closest competitors and make notes on my experience of the book as a reader. This also brings up new ideas – both about what was well done and also what I can do better.
By starting my plan before looking at how others approached it, I am able to think about the book’s subject “outside the box” and without conventional tethers. Examining the competition and what others think of it then builds on that foundation—altering it, if necessary, to fit any genre conventions or reader expectations about which I may have initially been unaware or just forgotten to address.
Of course, each book proposal is different, and sometimes book ideas come about when you’re reading a book that suddenly turns—by the bubbling up of the idea—from your leisure reading into competition in an instant. But still, the sequence of sketching out your ideas before purposefully researching the field may help you create a proposal with a more satisfying blend of expected generic conventions and original elements.

Writing a Book Proposal Pt 1

emmephoenix — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:04:03 +0000

Of my published books, some have been proposed by the publisher, and I competed with other authors for the opportunity to write them; some have been proposed directly to me with no other authors competing; and some have been based on original ideas of my own, written up in convincing proposals that led publishers to decide that my ideas were worth investing in. This series will provide suggestions from my experience for various elements of your book proposal.
We’ll start with tips to help you figure out how to represent the competition in your book proposal so that you can explain how your proposed book will compare, contrast, and extend the field.

One type of research can be carried out by going to the largest and the smallest local bookstore that carry books of the type or on the topic that you’re proposing.
At the largest bookstore check for:
• the (rough) number of books on the subject
• what the books have in common visually (i.e., without opening the book):
    • cut size
    • approximate page count
    • paperback vs. hard cover
• which volumes catch your eye on the shelf and why:
    • different size from the rest, e.g., oversize, “Nutshell Library”-size
    • unusual shape
    • striking cover illustration or font
• which publishers are represented
• which authors and how many are represented:
    • Is the section dominated by “big names”?
    • Are first time author’s represented?
• the type(s) of title used:
    • the style, e.g., humorous, serious, tongue-in-cheek, etc.
    • the title content, e.g. is the subject name included?
If there are a reasonable number, note the titles. If not, we’ll be coming back to this.
At the small bookstore look for:
• which titles from the set at the larger bookstore are included
• how the titles strike you in this setting
In the small bookstore, try talking to the owner and/or the person in charge of buying if the owner doesn’t do this. Ask about the subject area—
• why the particular books that they carry were chosen
• what the sales in this area look like
• what, in this person’s opinion, is great about these volumes and what, if anything, is missing
Now you’ve laid the groundwork for this part of your proposal, and you haven’t even opened a book yet!