I used to think that the way a book is sold is by first writing the book, and then selling it. And for fiction books that is the case. But after months and months of typing away at my book, I learned that nonfiction books are sold via book proposals.
Once you have a proposal written, then you craft what’s called a query letter, which is just a fancy way of saying email. The query letter introduces you and the concept of your book to the agent you’re contacting, and then invites them to request a copy of your proposal. (You don’t send a proposal unsolicited. You ask first)
After they read your proposal, if they think your book would be a good fit for them, they’ll reply back and say they would like to represent you.
Once you have an agent, they’ll likely work with you to hone your proposal a little more to get it just right. Once they feel it’s fully ready, the agent will essentially do what you just did to them. They’ll research editors working at publishing houses, they’ll prepare a list of the most relevant ones, and then send their own version of a query letter inviting the editors to read your proposal.
The reason a literary agent works as the gatekeeper is largely to save the publishers’ time. They filter out all the proposals that aren’t a good fit. For this service they get a percentage (usually ten percent) of whatever your book sells for. The agent does not get paid unless they sell your book. And you don’t pay anything to anyone. When the agent finds the right editor, the editor will make an offer. When a deal is reached, the publisher will send your agent a check to buy the rights to your book, your agent will take out their percentage, and they’ll then send you a check for the remainder.
So as you can see, a literary agent is the key to getting traditionally published. Once you’re represented, from there the agent will do most of the work to get you a publishing deal. So the rest of this book is going to focus on everything you need to do in order to get an agent to represent you.
Here’s what we’re going to do:
1. First, in this section we’re going to build your book proposal.
A book proposal is a formal business plan that tells the agent all of the details of your soon-to-be book.
2. In the next section we’ll map out your marketing plan.
The marketing plan is technically a part of your proposal, and doesn’t take hardly any time to write, but it’s so important it deserves its own section.
3. After that we’ll craft your query letter.
Even though a query is only one page long, this is arguably the most important element when seeking an agent. There’s a format you need to follow, and you have to say a lot with very few words, so we’re going to focus a great deal of effort to get it right.
4. Once your query is ready, we’ll search for your agent.
I’m goin to show you how and where to find the right agents for your book, and then I’ll share my step-by-step process for submitting query emails. In this section I’ll also share some shortcuts and secrets I used when finding my agent, that will save you tons of time and chop down on rejections (though some rejections are a natural part of the process).
If you’re ready, let’s get to it.
Here are the standard sections that go into a book proposal:
· Overview (or Synopsis)
· Sample Chapters
· Chapter Outline
· Marketing Plan
· Competitive & Comparable Books (a.k.a. Comp books)
· Author Bio
There’s no set order these sections have to be in, but the way they’re listed here is how I’ve seen others do it, and this is how I’ve done it. Of course this doesn’t mean you have to work on them in this order. In fact, if you’ve already made a list of the other books yours would sit next to on the shelf, your Comp Books section is already eighty percent done.
The Sample Chapters section is going to be the biggest and will likely require the most effort which is why I like to knock it out earlier. But before you can write a sample chapter you’ll have to at least have a general idea of what you’re writing about.
This is why we’ll start with the Overview.