A couple of questions about my first query and proposal

Hello all,

I'm a new member, but have been trying to read as much as possible on the forum in order to educate myself about the ins and outs of non-fiction proposals. I have a couple of questions that I haven't seen addressed specifically (apologies in advance if I just haven't been using the right search terms).

1. For the query letter, I've been fretting over how to avoid recycling material that's in my proposal. I've worked hard on the language in the proposal to ensure it's engaging and efficient-- particularly the "hook." What are your thoughts on using the same hook for both the query and the proposal? One of the how-to-write-a-nonfiction-proposal books that I've read suggests this is just fine, but I'd like to know what you all think based on your own experiences.

2. Speaking of recycling... the book I'm proposing is based heavily on an essay I published in an academic journal. I'm certainly editing/expanding the essay to form it into a book manuscript, but I'd like to use some of my original writing from the published essay. Can anyone see an ethical reason not to do this? It is my own material, but could this potentially raise the hackles of an editor?

3. The book I'm proposing will be quite short-- 20-30k words. I've read in other posts on this forum that 60k+ is the usual expectation for nonfiction, especially since publishers usually want readers to pay around $25 for hardcover nonfiction, and it's hard to get someone to do that for a short book. However, I have a solid rationale for brevity based on the topic of my book, and I have also armed myself with examples of short books that have done extremely well in recent years (think "On Bullshit," for instance), especially when sold at a price appropriate for their length ($10 or so). Is this the correct way to make this argument in my proposal-- that is, justify the length I'm proposing both in terms of the content of the book and in terms of the marketability of other short books?

Any opinions/thoughts/advice on the above are very much appreciated!

Thank you very much for the advice, susangpyp (and for the affirmation, TrixieBelden). I felt reassured in particular by the bit about "if you can explain it, you can do it." That helped me feel a lot more confident, which helped with putting the finishing touches on the proposal.

Before going the agent route, I decided first to query an editor with a history of publishing books of the size/type I'm writing-- the "fit" seemed so good that I thought it would make sense to give that particular editor/press a try. I got a response within an hour asking me to send the proposal, then a second request a day later asking for sample chapters, with a promise to follow up in a couple of weeks. I hope this is a good sign-- it sure feels encouraging, at any rate!