Susan Magee Book Proposals - 5 Biggest Book Proposal Mistakes

Getting discouraged because there are lots of books on their topic out there already. Don’t give up if you go on Amazon.com and find 75 books on your topic. First of all, Amazon practically lists every title ever written, even books that are hard to get and haven’t been in the bookstores for years. Second, this is a good sign because it shows there’s a big market for this kind of book. Can there be too many good cookbooks? Parenting books? Inspirational books? No—there’s always room for another good one. Your challenge is to find your real competition—what’s currently available—and then differentiate yourself. You need to find out what these books have done and then do what they haven’t. You need to find the stone that has been left unturned. This may mean you have to change your original idea. Be open. Be flexible.
Boring. Dull. Not catchy. One of the biggest problems with book proposals is they’re too dull! If a 10-page proposal can’t hold my interest, how can a 200 page book? The answer is it can’t. Be bold. Be exciting. Don’t be afraid to make a fool out of yourself. You probably won’t be, you just feel vulnerable. You need to be passionate and enthusiastic about your subject. I don’t care if it’s gardening or parenting—be excited. Enthusiasm is infectious.
Becoming overwhelmed when trying to figure out all the chapters outlines. The chapter outlines are one of the hardest pieces of the proposal to do. It is difficult to imagine what’s going to be in a book before you write it. Here’s the good news—you can change it later. As you write a book your whole outline may change. Editors understand that this happens. You start writing and it’s a process of discovery. Suddenly, chapter 8 is out the window and you go off in a new direction. So, when you’re writing your proposal, remember that you’re not writing this is in blood or permanent ink. It’s okay to just put a stake in the ground and guess. You can even just make stuff up--as long as it seems credible and fits in--for the time being. For example, you can write, "This chapter explains the seven most important rules for getting ahead at work and offers guidelines for dealing with the most common pitfalls..." You may not yet have worked out the seven rules and you don't really know what all the guidelines are going to be. That's okay. By the time you write the chapter, you'll either know or will be figuring it out.
Quitting your day job. Don’t quit your day job—especially not to write a book proposal. You will have so much time on your hands you’ll squander it and never get it done. Too much time is the kiss of death for books. Even if you sell your book your advance will probably be between $5,000 and $10,000. (It’s only the Stephen Kings who get the million dollar advances.) This is not a lot of money. Use the advance to take time off from work or to hire a babysitter. My friend Tanya wrote her novel by taking a cut in pay and taking Fridays off. She went to the library and stayed there from 10-4. She also worked on it weekends. It may take a long time to see further royalties. Any money your book makes first goes to repaying your advance. Unless you hit it big and get a bestseller, you will probably make a few thousand dollars a year on your book. But the work is done, so in a way, it’s like bonus money. I make my living as a writer—I write books and I do business writing. I do the business writing to make a living.
Not feeling credentialed enough. My motto is, “You’re an expert if you believe you’re an expert.” You don’t have to have a Ph.D. in anything in order to be taken seriously. If you have one, great, if you don’t, that’s fine too. You don’t have to write that you worked on your high school’s paper or that you got an A on all your papers in college. Your book proposal will speak for itself (which is why it needs to be very well written). In your bio/about the author section (don’t attach a resume) list your professional and educational background with any experience directly related to your subject listed first. Talk about how long you’ve been interested in your subject. This is not a resume so it’s okay to get a little more personal. Again, I think conveying your love for the subject goes along way in making you an expert.