Non-fiction Christian inspirational book: write entire book or submit proposal only?

The old saying is that you should NEVER write a whole nonfiction book without a contract. I don't think that's absolutely true, but nonfiction, unlike fiction, more often sells on proposal. I'd say put together a proposal, shop it around and see what agents think.

Jasper, you may want to consider attending a writers' conference and discussing your book idea with an agent in person to get their feedback on its viability. Barring that, I'd say it's a good idea to get feedback via the querying process before you go through the effort of writing something which may not get picked up.

Proposal only; write book on receipt of contract. This is per editors at last year's ACFW conference.

I'd write the proposal and the first 1 or 2 chapters, as they usually want to see that in addition to the proposal. If you just query, then you'll have to scramble if they ask to see proposal and sample chapters. Doing the proposal will let you know better how to query specifically, too. It isn't helpful to write the whole book, because often the publisher will want some input in what direction you're taking with it.

And, like III said, take the idea to writer's conferences, if at all possible. Pick up a copy of the Christian Writer's Market (Struthers) if it's a specifically Christian book.

Terry Whaln is a Christian writer and agent, and he has a terrific book out on how to put together non-fiction proposals. Book Proposals That Sell. He explains that you should always submit proposals when doing non-fiction.

He also keeps a great blog.

HI

If you (or anyone else) pm me with your email I will send you how to write a book proposal. I have 2 from: 1) a company & 2) a Lit Agent. Both say more or less the same. They giv you clearly what to write. Personally I think a book proposal is harder to write than the actual book.

Kev