BOOK PROPOSAL OVERVIEW by William Cane

Don’t you just hate long boring introductions? In today’s world, we don’t have time for long-winded opening sections to books, movies, or book proposals. Instead, the contemporary audience wants a quick overview and then let’s get right to the heart of the story.

This is good advice for anyone putting together a book proposal.

THE BOOK PROPOSAL OVERVIEW

The introduction to a book proposal is often called the overview. The function of the overview is not to introduce your reader to your book topic, but instead to introduce the reader to your book. Of course, if the topic is exotic or relatively unknown, a few words about it is appropriate. But the key to writing a good overview is to write about the book not about the topic.

THE THREE PARTS OF THE OVERVIEW

There are three parts to the overview.

1. The introduction. Yes, the overview itself has an introduction! This is typically one paragraph. It should be catchy. Read a few newspaper articles to see how to hook reader attention. This is also known as the hook because it’s supposed to catch reader interest. An example of a hook would be something like this: “More Americans are running than ever before. In fact, statistics show that the average town of 100,000 has 43,000 runners. And yet there are no books on running aimed at the average reader.” This gives you an idea of how to hook reader interest into your book.

2. The next section is usually only one paragraph also, and it tells about your book. An example would be: “RUN FOR THE FUN OF IT is the first book to look at running from the average layman’s perspective. The book will contain twelve chapters, each aimed at the average reader. The book will begin with the reasons for running and include chapters on running gear, where to run, how to run, and how to recover from running injuries.” This is a short version of what the book section contains. Notice that the first sentence includes the phrase “the first book to...” which is a typical phrase included in most book proposals. It’s there for a reason, and it should be in your book proposal too. What it says is that your book is unique, and book publishers like to hear that because it helps them dream about the sales they can rack up once your unique title is published. If a book is a first or is unique in some way, it’s more likely to sell.

3. The third section of the book proposal is the paragraph in which you tell about the length of the book, and when you can have the manuscript ready. A typical section would read: “The book will be 55,000 words and contain an index and bibliography. It will also contain four photographs and three charts. The manuscript will be completed six months after receipt of the advance.”

The overview nicely introduces, describes, and quantifies your book. After reading it, an editor should want to read more. If you write a good overview, the rest of your book proposal will flow almost naturally from it.