The Non-Fiction Book Proposal that Sells

If you have a great non-fiction book idea and you do your homework, with the right book proposal you can convince an editor that your book is worthy of a good advance and highly publishable. Unlike fiction, non-fiction books often receive advances before the book is written.

But first you need a concept; an idea that hasn't been done before or that you are going to write in a way that stands out from the competition. Your concept should be a document in itself and be no more than a one page description of why your book is unique.

Next comes the market; you need to do your research and be able to tell the editor who will want to buy your book and why they will buy it. Include the demographics of your potential readers and how many there are of them. This is almost as intensive as writing the actual book itself, for the projections you make are crucial to whether your proposal will make it past the editor and to a committee. The optimum thing to do is to quote statistics; for instance, senior citizens are living longer than ever and healthier, with X number of seniors living longer-hard facts that back up your claim. You get the idea; whatever statistics are relative to your subject matter.

Then there is the competition. What books have been published that are similar to yours and have come out in the last year or will be coming out soon? Your research into the market will teach you about the already published books. You should go to the and read them. To learn about soon-to-be published books, check out Amazon.Com and use keywords concerning your topic. List in your proposal the both the books that have already been published and those that are coming out; include the title, author, and ISBN number, along with a brief description of each book. The trick is to explain why your book will be better or why it addresses issues that your competition doesn't. Don't worry, all books have competitors. It is rare to find a subject that hasn't already been written about or isn't in the process of being published. But if you do your job well and your book really IS different, you have a good chance of landing a
contract.