Pitching Your Book Proposal: What You Need to Include

Whether you already are a self-published author or just getting started, you need to know how to create a book proposal.

Whether you already are a self-published author or just getting started, you need to know how to create a book proposal. Although you may dream of writing the next bestseller that takes bookstore shelves by storm before becoming the surprise blockbuster hit next summer, you may have to temper your expectations. Starting out as a freelance writer or ghostwriter can help you get noticed by printers and publishers.

The Cover Letter

Your book proposal won’t go far without getting the attention of writing agents or the editors that will help get your book published. Much like the cover letter you include in a job application package, you need to be sure that the cover letter is brief but intriguing enough to warrant being read, so be sure to answer questions such as:

• What is the premise of the book?
• Who will the audience be?
• How are you qualified to write about the book?

The Overview

Most of the time, a book proposal is meant to pitch a nonfiction book. As the next section of your proposal, the overview expands on the material you first introduced in the cover letter. Ultimately, though, the overview should answer the question of why the book needs to be published. Can it be marketable enough? You’ll need to do market research to prove you are aware of who your target audience is or who will be willing to read your book.

About the Author

In the about the author section, you have the opportunity to highlight why you are the right writer for the book project you are looking to undertake, especially if you have earned advanced degrees in a particular field of study. Historians and history professors might be more qualified to write about historical events influencing current ones. Likewise, physicists and astronomers are more likely to be taken seriously if their goal is to help make complex scientific concepts such as black holes and exoplanet detection easier for the general public to understand.

The Table of Contents

The table of contents doesn’t only lay out the chapter arrangement of the book; each chapter has an explanation demonstrating why it is a vital part of the story you are trying to tell.

A Sample

The sample chapter doesn’t always have to be the first one. However, since the book proposal is meant to introduce the project, an introductory chapter might be the best way to ease potential readers into the subject material.

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