What is A Book Proposal?

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A book proposal is a statement or documented plan to write a book by an author.  The proposal is submitted to a publishing company with the purpose that the publishing company will accept the proposal.  If the proposal is accepted, the company will take the risk/reward of publishing/marketing the book with its resources, and will take on the task of developing/distributing the book with the author's creative genius powering the project.

Creating a successful book proposal is not an easy task.  Most authors are rejected by publishing companies because their proposal is not well written, or they do not come across as qualified enough to write on the subject, when they very well may be, but just could not write a decent enough proposal to get a publishing deal.  That is why the proposal may be the most important part of the author's creative process, more important than even the quality of the book itself. 

The author should understand and be very familiar with the target market of the book.  The author should demonstrate his/her knowledge of the target market by describing their estimated numbers, interests, preferences, age groups, and as much information as the author can muster on the audience.  This information is valuable to the publisher who can determine whether that target audience is large enough for the book's topic to get the kind of sales figures that they are looking for. The publisher can also determine whether that audience in the past has bought similar topics.

The author should spend most of the proposal selling his/her qualifications for writing the book.  It is extremely important that the author presents his/herself as being one of the leading experts in their subject field, even if he/she is not the leading expert.  It is this type of confidence that will be attractive to the publisher. 

Show every professional qualification, any experience with the subject.  The author should boast and brag and truly sell themselves to guarantee their acceptance.

The author should also demonstrate the USP, or unique selling point.  This is the difference between that book and other similar books of the same topic.  The difference is what will allow the author's book to stand out and be a required purchase.  The audience should find material in the book that can be found nowhere else, or at least material that is not easy to come by. 

If an author follows these basic guidelines when writing a book proposal, he/she will see dramatically different responses from publishers than the author who does not prepare for their book proposal.