Writing a book proposal is hard.
How are you finding the process of writing a proposal? I don’t know about you, but when I started writing my book, I hadn’t even looked into the how’s and why’s of trying to find an agent and had no idea that a book proposal was a fundamental part of the process. As equally important, as the story I was telling. Memoirs, which are classified as non-fiction, are sold on the proposal, which is the key that unlocks the door, and you don’t have to have written a complete manuscript. I did it the other way round, I wrote my manuscript first, putting all my heart and soul into it, but if my book proposal fails to ignite the interest of an agent, my book won’t even get a look in. There’s a lot of pressure standing on the shoulders of this 10,000 word proposal and I have felt it.
Time and process.
2.5 months down the line and working on the redraft, has been a challenging process. At the start of this year, I was unfocused and lazy and my proposal meandered along accordingly. It was hard for me to grasp the story I was now supposed to be telling, because I’d started my writing journey with something very specific in my mind, but after working with The Book Edit, it became more than that. If I was confused, then so would the agent, so I needed time to slowly work through the fog, until the mist cleared.
Through time and as information from my research stored up in my mind, ideas started forming as to how I would structure all the information, in a hopefully compelling way that would show the marketability of my book, and me as the author. I tried to make my redraft as specific and targeted as possible, without any writer flourishes. Having spent two years and 90,000 words writing a certain way, it was really difficult for me to get out of that habit for the proposal. But that had been the task I was given, so I tried to rise to the challenge. I will be interested to hear what Emily and Penny from The Book Edit think, when I share for feedback.
Synopsis and the controlling idea.
Writing the synopsis can also be challenging, because our natural instinct is to put everything in it. But just because it’s important to you, doesn’t mean it’s important for the story and to the agent. Everything in the synopsis and across the whole document, has to work against the key controlling idea. The controlling idea, fundamentally expresses the change for the main character(s) from the beginning of the story to the end, along with how and why that change happens. Anything outside of it, as pretty as the sentence you have written is, has to go. It takes a single-minded focus to write a synopsis in 350 words from a 90,000 word manuscript. I’ve finally whittled mine down to 450 words and that alone took me a month. Edit, edit, edit had become the mantra, to get the synopsis down into the necessary bare bones of what I needed to say. I’ll let The Book Edit tell me, if I’ve hit the mark or not.
The marketing stuff.
By the time I got to this part of the proposal, I was in flow but without The Book Edit’s guidance, I would have flapped around ineffectively. Their developmental editing feedback was so helpful, with firm guidance on exactly what I needed to do, with a constant reminder to keep the agent, front and centre of my mind. They see thousands of manuscripts and proposals a year, so we can’t expect them to do the heavy lifting. You need to show them, that there is an audience for your book, you have to show them through research and a marketing plan, the ways in which your book can be marketed and why its your voice, over others, that matters. Why it’s only your voice that can tell this particular story.
This one was hard for me, as I’m not used to talking about myself in this way. I’m used to hiding behind my work persona as an Account Director at an ad agency, but the person I am being on this journey, is very different. I want this to be my future. I want to be a writer, I want to share my story so I can serve others who may connect with me. I have goals that extend far beyond anything I’ve dared to imagine before, and I’m on a journey to reinvent myself and jump outside of the box I’ve kept myself in, to see what I can do. So I need to start using my voice with confidence, because I do have something to say.
Building an audience.
However, there is one thing that I know agents and publishers are interested in, which if I think about it too long, just serves to make me feel anxious. They want a writer to bring with them, a ready-made audience and I don’t have one. I am working on building one, but right now I’d be happy if I had 10 of you wonderful people, following my blog. I’ve never been comfortable with promoting myself, but I’m going to need to get comfortable very soon because otherwise, I won’t be going anywhere fast. In the meantime, my proposal will just have include my action plan of how I’m planning to drive audiences to my website and I hope that’s enough. Let’s see!
Now, I think I’m finally ready to start tackling my chapter outlines, rewriting, removing and adding to it. I’m really excited about this part. I now have a better story in my mind, that I think has more tension, more surprise, more emotion and I’m excited to see if I can translate what’s in my mind, onto the page. I’ll let you know how I get on. If you need help and guidance on how to write your best proposal, I would recommend How To Write A Book Proposal for non-fiction by author Michael Larsen.
In the meantime, I would love to know how your proposal is going, what you’ve struggled with, what has flowed for you?
Till next time.
X
