My book, Namaslay®, was published in October 2016, after a successful pitch and proposal to my publisher. It’s now sold on Amazon, at Barnes and Noble throughout the USA, Chapters in Canada, and at most major bookstores everywhere. Here are my tips for writing a book proposal.
How to Write a Book Proposal
Your book proposal is essentially a word document, broken down into various sections.
Section 1: Synopsis
In the synopsis, you want to give a brief overview as to what the book is about and what readers can expect.
Section 2: Background, Inspiration and the Goal/Purpose of the Book
In this section, you’ll give the reasoning for why the book is needed. Where did the idea come from? What is the purpose or the goal of publishing this book? How will it help/entertain/move people? Why is it needed?
Section 3: Outline
In this section of the book proposal, you’ll break down the book chapter by chapter and give a brief overview of each.
Section 4: Audience
This is the section of the book proposal in which you’ll explain who the book is intended for. Why would they be drawn to it? This is also the place to give proof for how you will help sell it. What social influence can you leverage? What is your reach? Do you have a blog? A popular Facebook page? This is the time to put those stats.
Section 5: Promotion
In this section, you’ll explain what you will do to help promote the book, if it’s published. This can include in-person promotion or online promotion, or both.
Section 6: Competition
In this section, you’ll further explain your reasoning for why your book should be published when compared to other books in the genre. For example, there was nothing quite like Namaslay® before it was published. Yes, there were a few books here and there that showed poses, but the photography and design wasn’t done quite like mine, and the way I wanted to do it was so visually appealing and easy to understand that it really was one of the most powerful arguments for why it should be published.
Section 7: Writing Time and Sales Goals
Here is where you’ll explain how much time you need to write, and a proposed publishing date, and what the goals are for sales.
And that’s pretty much it! Once it’s finalized, you can mail it in and wait for their response! Good luck!
I hope this was helpful! Are you hoping to publish anything soon? If so, I’d love to hear about it in the comments!