Oddly enough, several people have raised the same question with me this past week: is it possible to write a good proposal just using one of the checklists or books out there in the marketplace?
The answer is yes...maybe.
I want to answer that question by starting with one of Nathan Bransford's excellent (and funny) analogies. In one of his blog posts he compares a book proposal to lasagna, pointing out that "there are a thousand ways of making it, everyone has their own recipe, but most every lasagna will have a few basic ingredients and chances are it's going to taste good in the end." His point is, as always, not just well stated but well taken. There is no one single formula (or outline, or checklist) for a successful book proposal. Many variations will work.
But (as Nathan points out often in his blog, though not in this lasagna-related way) if you're an aspiring author hoping to publish a nonfiction book through a commercial (as opposed to self-) publisher, it's also important to note that a good-tasting lasagna isn't necessarily the same thing as an award-winning, restaurant-ready lasagna. To make a lasagna lots and lots of people will pay for, it's not enough to follow a recipe. You're going to need to know why those ingredients are there. Why they're there. How they work. How they react to heat or cold or time. How much they cost. Which ones people like best. What can be substituted for a fresh or updated version of the old standard. In other words, you're going to have to become quite expert not just on lasagna, but also on gastronomy and marketing as well. Only once you understand these broader subjects will you be able to tweak an ordinary lasagna recipe into something that is truly yours, truly unique, and truly salable. Only once you understand them will you begin to be a chef, not just a good cook.
A book proposal that actually sells to a commercial publisher is like that award-winning, restaurant ready lasagna. It's not just good, it's expert. It's not just expert, it's original. It's not just expert and original, it's salable, and to strangers, and to strangers in quantity, and to strangers in quantity in a profitable way. That kind of book proposal is entirely different from the kind of proposal you write by dutifully following someone's outline without deeply understanding either that outline, or publishing in general, or even your own book.
That's why people like me, who are trained to teach and consult on book proposals (or their fiction equivalents, queries and synopses) exist in the writing marketplace and offer personalized help. When I work with a client on their book proposal, my job isn't merely to repeat the same checklist and explanations that are available for free. My job is to help that client understand the "whys" behind each element of the proposal, to answer them as compellingly and professionally as possible, and even perhaps to adjust his or her book as necessary to make a strong case for it in the current market. We're not just writing a proposal together, we're thinking it together. I don't say this to suggest that you must hire a professional book consultant or teacher in order to create a proposal that succeeds. I just want to point out that there is a level of professionalism and thought and exploration in a good proposal that is difficult to achieve if you don't learn a lot about all that's behind that simple checklist of "Overview" and "Competition" and "Marketing" and "Credentials."
That "tough love" imparted, let me use the lasagna metaphor once again to offer a closing note of hope.
It's not easy to create a restaurant-ready lasagna or a selling book proposal. But it is possible, and possible for the "average joe." The ingredients, the practice, the mentorship, the comparison with others' creations past and present, the feedback, the care that go into a great book proposal--they are all available, to all of us. Finding them, using them, and building from them may take hard work and the investment of both considerable time and a little bit of money. But you can create a selling proposal, whoever you are.
You just have to want it...a lot.
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