Proposal for a Coloring Book?

DLacy · Jul 6, 2015

I went through the proper steps to query a wonderful agent with my adult coloring book idea. Now she's asked me for a book proposal, which is great, but how do I write it? If it was a typical non-fiction book, there are many examples out there. Same with children's book proposals. But coloring books? I'm thinking it should be heavy on the art (since I'm an illustrator and it's a coloring book). Hoping it doesn't have to be as long as a typical non-fiction book proposal. Does anyone have experience with a proposal like this?

oceansoul · Jul 7, 2015

I think you need to make sample pages. After all, what the publisher will be looking for in this case is -- how well can you DRAW? and what exactly makes your style unique? We sell more than 5,000 colouring books a month at the company I work for, but certain titles definitely make up the bulk of the orders. The style of the illustrations / uniqueness, and the way the publisher presents the book make all the difference. So, I would think that in any proposal that is going to work, they need to really visualise the product.

veinglory · Jul 7, 2015

The proposal should show that you understand the market and what kind of pictures appeal to adult coloring book buyers (now this is a semi-mature market area).

oceansoul · Jul 7, 2015

As a tip, the garden / birds / flowers / tree / mindfulness themed ones are kind of being overdone at the moment. But, buyers definitely want to see a mythology based one, sea-creatures, really intricate animal designs that are not birds. Cityscapes don't tend to sell nearly as well.

Secret Garden, Enchanted Forest, Animal Kingdom and Tropical Wonderland sell about 10x more than their next closest competitors.

DLacy · Jul 7, 2015

Thanks for the advice, Oceansoul and Veinglory. Yes, I sent the agent some art, but no sample pages yet. She knows how well I can draw, but I'm thinking she wants more. I'm not as concerned with that as with the meat of the proposal. Part of the proposal I'll be explaining just why I'm qualified to produce this work (my MFA in Illustration helps).

Oceansoul, it's like you know my book already! It's mythology-based sea creatures, and in a graphic novel style, which is why she's interested. No mindfulness or repretitive patterns here. I've looked around at the competition some and noticed they lack my particular flavor, which is good for me. Now I just have to form all of this information into a proposal.

gingerwoman · Jul 9, 2015

I think you're meant to list other comparable books on the market for this kind of thing?

wallfull · Jul 14, 2015

In your comparables section, remember you DON'T want to say "There's nothing like this out there!" Editors hear that as "There's no market for this!" You want to find recently published comparables with decent sales and explain why your book is even better.

Proposal for a Coloring Book?

DLacy

Through dangers untold...

oceansoul

veinglory

volitare nequeo

oceansoul

DLacy

Through dangers untold...

gingerwoman

wallfull

author, psychologist, speaker