Book Treatments?

The pastor of my church has been asked to submit a "book treatment" to a publisher. He's asked me for advice. As a fiction writer, I'm not really knowledgeable about "book treatments."

I did advise him to contact the publisher for specific quidelines, but I wondered if someone here could educate me about treatments.

The book would be written by someone else - not the pastor.

Can someone here help me?

Nancy

K1P1 said:

The best information I've found about the whole process and preparing a non-fiction proposal for the publisher is in the sticky at the top of this forum: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22176

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Thanks, Maggie.

That proposal seems to be geared more toward an author who is writing the book.

This publisher (a large one) actually contacted the pastor with the book idea. The church has started a missions ministry that is unique, and the publisher is wondering if there might not be a book in it. So, some of that info doesn't apply.

I told the pastor to write a 3 or 4 page explanation of the ministry: how it started, how it was implemented, what the impact has been overseas, and how it has impacted the church. BUT, I'm not sure if that is enough.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

Nancy

JennaGlatzer said:

Hi Nancy!

I've never heard of a book treatment, but my questions are the same as Maggie's-- I'm not sure I understand what the pastor's role is in this. It does sound to me like they would just want him to write an overview of what the book would be about. Maybe a 3-5 page summary about the ministry, plus an annotated table of contents/outline, and a short history about the church. But you're right that he should contact the publisher to be sure that's what they're asking for.

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Thanks, Jenna. I'll pass that along. The idea about the history of the church is a great idea. My guess was along the lines of a 3-5 page summary, so we're on the same page.

I hope the pastor contacts this guy for more specific info. As we all know, every publisher is different. One wants one thing in a proposal and another wants another thing.

My best guess is that they will want to see just why this book should be published.

Nancy