Just the proposal for non-fiction?

Layla Nahar

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Hello,

I have an idea for a non-fiction book. I've heard that one wants to be sure someone will buy it before beginning to write, but this article implies that the book is to be largely finished before you start proposing. (Perhaps I would do better to phrase it 'most of the work done before you start proposing')

ETA: that linky http://publishingperspectives.com/2...ood-non-fiction-book-proposal-for-submission/

I'm wondering what the wisdom/experience is among AWers.

LN
 
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Fruitbat

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Yes, I think a lot of the book does actually have to be done to write a good proposal, even though they only want to see the proposal.

I'm on my third short nonfiction book, and the whole focus often changes after the first draft. I have to do that first draft in order to figure that out. Also, they want a couple of chapters and a table of contents, which gets back to the same issue. And then the competitive works you have to list and discuss may change along with your book's possibly changing exact focus. So, I don't see how I'd be able to put together a very good proposal without having a significant chunk of the book finished first.

I'd start from a different perspective, decide whether you want to write the book, then figure you are going to write the book, and whether it's picked up by a publisher or self-published are only details. That way, the time you put into putting together a sharp proposal package won't be wasted even if you get no takers.

In fact, I find many books that might do pretty well self-published just aren't going to be big picks for a decent-sized press, for example if the audience is not that large for that type of book. So first thing after you have your general book idea imo is to look on Amazon and see if books of that type are usually self- (or micro-press) published, or trade published. Then, if some of them are trade published, check to see if those books are only published by people with serious official credentials or celebs or not, and weigh that against your own position.

So, yeah, I'd start with the book you want to write and consider the rest details. YMMV.
 
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cornflake

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Hello,

I have an idea for a non-fiction book. I've heard that one wants to be sure someone will buy it before beginning to write, but this article implies that the book is to be largely finished before you start proposing. (Perhaps I would do better to phrase it 'most of the work done before you start proposing')

ETA: that linky http://publishingperspectives.com/2...ood-non-fiction-book-proposal-for-submission/

I'm wondering what the wisdom/experience is among AWers.

LN

Yeah, proposals need enough stuff in them - finished chapters, chapter lists, outlines, etc. -that you can't really do it before you do anything.

If you've got a relationship with a house and you're an expert in an area, maybe, but otherwise...
 

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I've signed a lot of non-fiction books, and very few of them were finished when they were commissioned.

If a good writer with some experience has written the first three chapters or so, a detailed outline, and a detailed proposal, I'd consider it.

There's a good book that I've been recommending for a while now: it's by Susan Page, and is called something like "how to write a good proposal and make a lot of money". I know I've got that wrong, but there should be enough there for you to find it.
 

Layla Nahar

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Hey - thanks everyone. You've given me a lot to think about. So much work to do - but at least it's interesting to me. That market research part is clearly very important. I 'spect that's the next thing I'll do after I finish taking notes from these two books I'm reading - I'd take the notes anyway because I'm interested in the topic. & thanks for the title, O. H. - I'll be stopping by the library soon, I can see about getting my hands on a copy.
 

Jwriter

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Thank you Layla for asking this question! It's exactly what I've been trying to figure out. I have a book idea too -- a local guy about whom I've written before (in my newspaper job) has a pretty incredible story and wants to write a memoir. He's blind and can't do it himself, and he wants my help in the hopes that a memoir (or autobiography? We're discussing) will help launch him into the upper echelons of motivational speaking. I'm on board, and he has a lot of the work already mapped out and figured out ... so I'd really like to get enough material for a kickass proposal and try my luck with it. Query first, I know. Then the proposal.