After signing a contract with literary agent Jane Dystel, my first task was to rewrite my non-fiction book proposal for her. I received in the mail an example of what she was looking for and also some specific changes in the proposal that I had originally sent to her. It was a pretty extensive rewrite.
So, in a couple of iterations, I rewrote the proposal for about two months, almost as long as it had taken to write the original. Did I mention the rewrite was extensive? While I was working on it, I referred to the following books, most of which I had bought when taking the proposal writing class:
Shortest Distance Between You and a Published Book by Susan Page
How to Get Happily Published by Judith Appelbaum
How to Write a Book Proposal by Michael Larsen
Writer’s Digest Handbook of Magazine Article Writing by Jean M. Fredette
Getting Your Book Published: Inside Secrets of a Successful Author by Robert W. Bly
The Art of Creative Nonfiction: Writing and Selling the Literature of Reality (Wiley Books for Writers Series) by Lee Gutkind
In my timeline, where I had started to write the proposal in month one, the rewriting process occurred in months eight and nine. Then, in month ten, the proposal received its final blessing and I sent to Jane. You can see it here (PDF, 4.36MB). It is many, many times better than my first proposal.
Next post: Step 7. The Book Offer from Simon & Schuster
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