Sample Chapters

The sample chapters are the heart of a book proposal. The first chapter is probably the most important one, the one which many readers would depend on to make a decision to buy the book or not, therefore also the one a publisher wants to read most before he makes the decision to accept my manuscript or not.

Because I was the narrator in the first chapter, I decided to adopt a personal and intimate voice to lure people into the world of the first chapter.

I used many descriptions on how the character may have looked, talked, and behaved.

This method offered the strength of letting readers see what actually happens, arousing enough interest and curiosity from readers and they would feel compelled to read on.

Choosing Another Sample Chapter

I chose the other sample chapter, because both my literary agent and I thought that I wrote it with great vividness and immediacy.

It enabled me to demonstrate to a publisher that I had the ability to bring out the inherent drama in a character and in the situation he was in.

By doing so, I could make the characters and places come alive.

Clerical Errors

Proposals that are full of typos and grammatical errors do not qualify.

Double-check everything you write.

Run a spell or grammar check.

It is important to remember that if you don't care enough about your own work to check and double-check for clerical errors, the person reading your proposal may not care as well either.