What is a Book Proposal?
In fiction writing, like novels, you usually write the entire book and then reach out to agents or publishers. However, in nonfiction writing, things don’t work exactly this way. Nonfiction writers employ a document or pitch known as a book proposal to sell their ideas to agents and publishers. It effectively serves as a business argument for why your book should be written, and for many authors, it convinces a publisher or literary agent to invest in your work before you even start writing it.
Why do you need to write a Book Proposal?
Before deciding on whether or not to publish a book, publishers want to see the concept or theme of the book. They won’t blindly enter into a book deal or go ahead with publishing a book by simply reading the manuscript.
As agents and publishers, they want to know:
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Whether the book or the concept has the potential to sell tens of thousands of copies.
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The author's background, objectives, and marketing plans
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Story or table of contents of the book
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Days it will take for the person to write the book
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The approximate number of chapters and pages the book might have, and more
A book proposal gives the publisher a detailed overview of the book and helps them to reach a decision.
Even if you submit the entire manuscript, you still need to create a book proposal.
A publishing firm or literary agent will hire you and pay you to write the book if they are persuaded by your idea. This holds true for all forms of nonfiction books, though it can be particularly difficult for certain genres like memoirists who have never been published or who lack a strong platform to sell a project based just on a pitch.
Why should you use a template for your Book Proposal?
A book proposal is a critical document as it is key to getting your book writing project going. From the tens of thousands of book idea submissions, if you want your idea to be noticed by the agent or publishing house editor, you need to have an exciting and thoughtfully written book proposal. And, to draft proposals from scratch means more research and effort, which can be cumbersome and risky. Navigating these blockers is easy if you have a professional book proposal template to assist you on the way.
Following are some of the benefits you will get while using book proposal templates:
1. Helps to build professional book proposals faster
The amount of research and labor to write a book proposal from scratch is reduced with a proposal template/sample. It aids you to place the right content in the right place. This helps you save time and ensures that the quality of the information provided is suited to the standards of a book proposal that appeals to the editor or agent.
2. Ensures uniform messaging in all your proposals
You might be a great fiction or nonfiction writer but drafting proposals can be tricky as they must contain certain key information about the whole concept of your book. Just putting your book’s elevator pitch plainly in the proposal is not enough. In a book proposal, you must present your content in a clear, direct, and interesting manner. Hence, using a professional template ensures that the information provided is to the context and is structured clearly and effectively, eliminating any chance of miscommunication, ambiguity, and disagreements between you and the agent/ publishing house’s editor.
3. Gives you a say on the marketing and creative control of the book
Usually, a traditional publisher doesn’t have a clear understanding of how to sell your book, hence it is important for you to give them a direction as well. With a predefined template, you can assert your stand on the creative direction of the book, how it should be marketed (in a way that benefits you further as a writer), etc.
4. Lets you customize your proposal simply and with ease
When you are writing a book proposal, you should remember that the decision for investing money in your book depends solely on the literary agent or publishing house. The way you pitch varies from publisher to publisher, and if you are reaching out to more than one, you need to customize your proposal accordingly. Writing a book proposal for each one is a harrowing process. Using a proposal template, the time taken to create and customize your proposals can be reduced from days to a few hours! Since templates are readily editable, you will be able to write detailed proposals suitable for your request and needs.
The must-haves of a Book Proposal Template
Want your book idea to stand out before agents or traditional publishers? A clearly structured book proposal is the key. Though you will get many templates online to help you with drafting book proposals, you need to choose the right template that best presents your book’s theme. Hence in this part, we will discuss the important elements that should be there in a book proposal template.
Table of Contents of the proposal
Overview
This is a crucial section of the proposal irrespective of whether you are pitching to a traditional publisher or a contemporary one. In this section, you should write the book's main thesis and explain why readers should buy it.
Avoid talking in length about the book's concept, the motivation behind the writing, the reasons you believe readers should care about the book, or providing sample chapters. It appears rational in this situation, but it's not the best course of action.
The overview should only concentrate on the book's substance enough for the editor to comprehend what it will say. Give a brief summary of the book like the overview of the story, time period when it is taking place, characters involved etc.
Target audience
Every book (fiction or non-fiction) has a specific audience or readers it caters to. Both the author and publisher should have a clear understanding of the audience for whom the book is written. In this part identify and point out the demographics of your target audience, including their age, sex, level of education, and financial situation.
Identify and classify your primary and secondary audience. Give a brief explanation of why each category of readers will choose your book. How may they benefit from this book? Additionally, you can also provide details of the interest groups that will probably purchase this book in significant quantities.
Manuscript
This part gives an overview of the time the author will take to write the complete book. Herein, the writer explains the submission guidelines he/she will follow.
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Manuscript status: The author provides an idea to the publisher whether he/she has started to write the book. If started, then let the publisher know its current status, such as:
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How many pages are written
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The number of words written
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The number of chapters completed or have an outline, etc.
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Anticipated length: The author should give an approximate length of the book - in terms of the number of words and pages it will have.
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Anticipated completion date: Give the time taken (number of days/months/years) to submit the final manuscript.
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Special features: Here include personal stories, key messages, or, famous quotes included in the book.
Competitive titles/ Comparable titles
When you write a book proposal, giving competitive titles for your book is an important aspect. Publishers want to know if there are any books published in the same theme or concept similar to yours. This is where you can highlight to your potential publishers that your book and the theme revolving around it are different and unique.
If there are comparable titles available for your idea, then you can include the details of those books or titles here. Include:
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Book title
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Author, publishing house details, and publication date
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A thorough analysis of the existing book and what it lacks
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And, lastly, how your book is different from them
About the author
This is where as a writer you can market yourself. If you are a newbie in the publishing world, this is where you make the first impression before publishers. Write an impressive self-bio where you can give details like:
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Why is writing your passion?
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Which genres do you have an interest in writing (fiction, non-fiction, biography, etc.)?
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Collaboration with any writing groups or if you have co-authored any previous literary works
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What type of audience would enjoy reading your title?
A published author can mention:
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How many years has he/she been in the writing career?
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Previous works and any awards received for notable works
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What types of themes as a writer do you explore?
Previous sales
This point is applicable only to published authors. They can give details of their previously published books like:
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Book title
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Type of book - whether it was a fiction or nonfiction book
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Publish date and publishing house
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Details of the sales (how many books were sold, in which country, etc.)
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Readers of the book, their age group, gender, etc. (as per the data available)
Past awards and recognitions
Herein list out the awards and accolades you have received for your book/books or for any other literary works.
Testimonials
Under this point, you can provide engaging and interesting reviews of your readers and critics for your past works. You can include testimonials from media houses (book review excerpts from television or newspapers or social media platforms). These reviews help publishers to decide whether the proposed book can hook the target audience from your writing.
Marketing plan
If you are approaching a traditional publisher or agent, they mostly have a basic or traditional approach to marketing your book. Since you know your book and your readers well, you can devise your own strategy to market your work.
Including a proper strategy to promote your book with the proposal not only helps the publishers but also aids in generating great launch plans.
If you have a clear understanding of potential readers, and their age group, maybe you can come up with out-of-box marketing strategies for the book. You can even suggest where you want your book to be launched, how the event should be, who should be the invitees, etc. Overall, you can show your marketing plan on how you're going to market and promote your book before and after publishing.
For instance, marketing activities may include social media marketing, email campaigns, book discussion groups, conferences, endorsements from authors or speakers, etc.
Chapter-by-chapter synopsis
Before entering into a book deal (fiction or nonfiction book), publishers want to see the scope for selling your work. Providing an overview or sample of the story can help you with that. In this part, you can give
Terms and conditions
This is an important section wherein details of receiving payments, termination policy, the confidentiality of the book’s content, and intellectual property rights are mentioned.
Acceptance and signatures
This is the last part of the proposal. When both publisher and writer agree with the terms and conditions they mutually enter into a book deal by providing their acceptance and signature on the proposal document.
Use Revv’s Book Proposal Template and write impressive proposals for your book
People who love writing may write a fiction or nonfiction book, memoir, or autobiography. But if you want a successful career as a writer you also need to find the right market, right platform, and right publishing house to print and promote your book. As a first step to getting noticed by a good publisher, you need to create a stunning elevator pitch for your story with the help of a book proposal.
Through this proposal, writers can give an overview of their book, the reason to write this book, approximate page count, who are the readers, the market where it should be sold, etc. The book proposal should make it clearer for potential agents and publishers why they should publish your book.
You can create compelling proposals for your book faster and easier with Revv’s customizable book proposal template provided on this page. Here are the reasons why Revv’s book proposal template is your go-to partner:
Fully editable templates
You might need to create and submit different proposals depending on the publishing house. Creating multiple book proposals for the same idea can be daunting. But Revv’s comprehensive book proposal template makes it easier to create single and bulk proposals faster. The template is fully editable and can be customized to your needs. The document editor helps you to add/edit images, text, tables, integrate payment systems, and more. You can also connect Google Sheets to the template and import data to the document.
Access your book proposal from anywhere
Even when you are using a digital format for your book proposal, accessibility is a blocker. The proposal documents might be stored on a computer/laptop or other storage devices. You will be able to see your proposals if you carry the device along with you. But with Revv, you can access your proposal documents anytime, anywhere, and from any device because Revv is a cloud-based document management and eSign platform.
eSignatures that are safe and compliant
A few years ago, when there was still a dependency on physical documentation, the signing process was time-consuming. The signing ceremony could only be completed when the involved parties and witnesses were available. Now, you can forget all these tiresome signing processes with Revv eSignatures.
Revv provides you with bank-grade eSignatures that can be easily added to your proposal document once they are ready for signature. The eSignature follows all local and global laws such as ESIGN Act, UETA, and eIDAS, among others.
Easy to track any activity on your proposals
When you are handling multiple proposals, it becomes really difficult to keep a track of each proposal. But from Revv’s Activity tracking feature, you can easily track real-time happenings in your proposals.
Instant notification system
Revv sends auto-generated email notifications to both sender and recipients. Recipients get notified about the action they need to take on the book proposal.
Generates Evidence Summary certificate for all signed proposals
Revv generates an electronic copy of audit trails in the form of an Evidence Summary for all eSigned documents. Evidence Summary is a digital certificate that records each action taken during the signing process. It acts as legal proof in the event of a dispute in the future. A user can download the certificate for free.
Create remarkable book proposals and impress publishers with Revv. To know more, Sign up today!
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Frequently asked questions
How do you format a book proposal?
A standard book proposal format should contain - Title page or overview of the book, Title suggestion for the book, Author’s bio, Submission guidelines or expected timelines to complete the book, Table of contents, Outline the sample chapter or sample chapters, Marketing Plan, and finally Terms and conditions.
How long is a typical book proposal?
An average book proposal is between 15 and 30 pages. But you can always check with the publisher you're submitting your idea to. They could have specific submission guidelines about the page length of the proposal.
What is the purpose of a book proposal?
Using a book proposal, you can persuade a publisher that your story or idea will be profitable for their publishing business. It must persuade its audience that your concept has sufficient commercial potential for the publisher to take the chance of investing time and money into your book.
