Title

Yes, you need one and it needs to be good. Look at the bestseller list for inspiration. Numbers work well for how-to and inspiration books, like The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Use positive action words like The Power of…The Art of…The Joy of…Invite your friends over for poker night and then tell them you need to think of the title for a book you’re thinking about writing. You need a great title but don’t too attached to it. Publishers have final say on titles, not writers.

You need a reading line to go with your title. A reading line follows the title after a colon. The title is usually in all caps and the reading line is upper and lower case. It offers a little more information about what’s in the book and what a reader will get out of it. FREE AT LAST: 101 Ways to Make Money and Achieve Job

Overview (approximately 2-4 pages long)

Your book proposal has to be great. It has to start off with a bang. Your opening should really be entertaining, attention-getting, surprising and/or bold. You can start with a statistic or an unexpected fact or just be daring. For a book about her experience with infertility, which was to be irreverent and humorous, I advised a woman to start with: “Infertility sucks.” For a memoir about his boxing career I advised a man to begin: “I’ve been hit in the side of my head at least 2,000 times.” (Wouldn’t you have to read the next line?) Most people are too timid about their openings. They’re shy and conservative about the whole thing and that’s a big mistake.

After your fabulous opening, you need in your overview to explain what your book is about, why it’s different and what benefits people will get from buying it. You have to think like a marketing person, a sales person. Next, you want to explain your book’s structure in a big picture fashion—will it be divided into three parts, ten chapters, will there be a repeating theme in each chapter, Q&A at the end, self-assessments in the beginning, illustrations, photographs…Use subheads to break up the text in this section.

Format

If your book has an unusual format this is where you want to mention it, i.e. if it's spiral bound or has removable pages.  Also mention if it's packaged with something.  For example, a gardening book with seeds.  Don't give a page length or specify if it's hardback or paperback (the publisher will decide these things).  Just skip this section if you don't have a special formatting issue.

Series

If the book is a potential series, list that next. Publishers like a series. That way, if your book takes off, you’ve got another one on the burner.

Market (half-page to one page)

Next, you define your market, or who will buy your book. Be sure to include any relevant “special markets,” such as specialty retailers, like a Home Depot for a woodworking book or Fantes (a gourmet kitchen store) for an upscale cookbook. List any catalogs, book clubs or associations that might be interested in your book. If you do speaking engagements or seminars and can sell your book at them, mention that.  Could your book be used in a classroom as a college or recommended text?

Publicity and Promotion (half-page to one page)

Don’t just say, “Oprah is going to love my book.,” or this book is perfect to be advertised in The New York Times Book Review. Hope is a good thing but most authors don’t get on Oprah or a paid ad in The New York Times. If you have any media contacts, here is the place to list them. If you can invite one hundred people to a bookstore signing than say that. Straight signings don’t work well for most authors unless you’re famous. So think of some fun things you could do for an in-store promotion or demonstration in a bookstore or other retail outlet. Do you travel a lot for business? If so, you can offer to do bookstore promotions in other cities as well. The publisher is looking to see what you can do for them so any contacts you have in the media are especially valuable. Don’t panic if you don’t have any. It’s just a bonus if you do.

Competition (one to two pages)

Pick out your most relevant competition—the most recent and the most popular. List them in order of year published. If there are many, just list about four and then sum up the rest. Note the publisher and year. Give a two or three sentence summation. Don’t trash or insult your competition. Instead, point out that while these are great books, none of them fills the need that your book does.

Table of Contents

List your chapter headings next. Make them snappy and fun.

Chapter Outlines (half-page each)

Some agents will ask for more, but some are happy with a half page on each chapter, so start there. If an agent/editor is interested they’ll ask you for more. As I say in the Biggest Mistakes, many people get tied up in knots over the outlines. You just have to take your best shot and guess what’s going to be in them. If your book is how-to, you need to try to get specific, as in “In this chapter, I reveal the 8 keys to retirement success. I then share the 3 biggest mistakes people make with IRAs…” It really is okay to guess; it will probably change later when you’re writing it and that’s okay.

How should your proposal look?

Simple and professional. Just regular printer paper is fine. I single space and then double space between paragraphs. I use sub-heads to break up the text in the overview. Number each page on the bottom center, but don’t go wild with footers and headers and copyrighting everything. You don’t have to put copyright marks and, in fact, it looks amateurish if you do. Your intellectual property is implied. The publishing business wouldn’t work if everyone stole everyone else’s ideas. (Make sure someone else reads it before you send it out).

Your sample chapter

Most people want to write chapter one.  It makes sense--to start at the beginning.  Unfortunately, agents/editors want to see material from deeper in the book. A lot of your chapter one is just going to be a lot of what you said in the proposal—your hard work won’t go to waste. If you want to write the first chapter because you feel it will help you get a grip on the overall book, go ahead and do that, but then write another chapter from deeper in the book.  Once I had to write three sample chapters. Another time only one. I would start by writing one chapter. If you someone wants more tell them you’ll do it as soon as you can and start typing!

What to do when it’s done

If you’re sick of your proposal and sick of your sample chapter, that’s usually a good sign. It means you’ve worked on it really, really hard. Before sending it out, get some feedback. Don’t get feedback from your mother, best friend or anyone you know is going to be soft on you. Consider hiring someone like me or an experienced editor or writer to read it for you. Find someone you know who published a book and ask them for feedback. Be open-minded. Ask, how can this be better? At least they can help you catch mistakes.

Okay, now you’re really sick of your proposal. Once your sure your proposal and your sample is a thing of beauty, get a book that lists agents and/or editors, such as The Literary Marketplace (www.literarymarketplace.com) or Writer's Market and get busy stuffing some envelopes.  I would do six at a time. I don’t know why, that’s my number for sending stuff out. Send a one-page cover letter saying who you are, what your idea is, your relevant credentials. Include the proposal itself. Attach any relevant articles about or by you.  Offer the sample chapter upon request. If you get one more than one agent interested in your project, you are lucky, and you’ll just have to pick. Most will want you to sign a contract. That’s normal. But don’t give anyone money! That’s not how it works! Some will send you back a rejection letter. Some won’t. You might up your odds if you include a self-addressed stamped envelope to return it.