Writing Information

Writing a Book Proposal That Gets You an Agent

First of all, yes. You need an agent. You may not think you do, you may get riled at the thought of giving 15% of what you earn to someone else, but get over it. You need an agent. I’ve worked with several in my career and in 30 seconds I can give you a laundry list of reasons why a great agent is worth his or her weight in Johnny Walker Blue Label: • Your agent will get you more money, enough to make up for the 15%. • Your agent will negotiate all those rights you don’t know anything about. • Your agent will be the bad guy with your editor, so you can go on having a good relationship. • Your agent will send your book to specialty publishers you’ve never heard of. • Your agent will work with you to make your book better before he or she ever shops it. That took me about a minute. You need an agent for one reason above all others: most major publishers, like HarperCollins and Random House, won’t even look at submissions that don’t come from agents. So quit whining about agents. THE PROPOSAL To get an agent for your book, you need to create a great book proposal. A proposal consists of six parts: 1. A detailed chapter outline of your book. And I mean details of each chapter the major points covered, people you will interview, and so on. Maybe even a few chapter excerpts. 2. 3 sample chapters. Some agents ask for only 2, but overkill is better. Write your Introduction or Chapter 1, a middle chapter and a late chapter. 3. A marketing plan. Tell the agent (and by association, would-be publishers) how you will support and sell your book. Talk about speaking, websites, PR, e-mail, events, bulk sales to companies, etc. 4. A competitive analysis. You’re not trying to prove you’re better than books that are similar to yours; you’re trying to use them as proof that there’s interest in your topic. Find 10 books similar in subject matter to yours and cite when they were published, who published them, and if possible, how they sold. 5. A one-page “pitch” for your book, kind of an executive summary. This is your “sell” copy, your story, your reason the book exists, who your audience is, and so on. It should be smart, sharp, entertaining and passionate. It should also feature a short bio of you and any ghostwriter. 6. A cover letter. The hardest part will of course be writing the chapters, because if you’re looking for a publisher, you probably haven’t written your book yet. Why write the book until you have a publishing deal? Now, if you have written your book already, the chapters and outline are easy. Focus on a great marketing plan and pitch. SENDING IT OFF Print your proposal in hard copy form and bind it at Kinko’s into a spiral bound form with tabs for each section. That way, it’s easy to navigate. At the same time, convert the whole thing into a PDF for sending via e-mail. Then call, write or e-mail your first group of agent prospects. I recommend sending to no more than 10 agents at a time. If you have a personal relationship with any agents, contact them first and submit to them before you submit to anyone else. Ask, simply, “Would you like to see the proposal for my new book [TITLE], about [SUBJECT]?” If the agent responds positively, then send the proposal in the manner he or she asks—hard copy or e-mail. Some agents will ask just to see part of the proposal at first; always respect this. VERY important: make sure you state in your cover letter that you are sending your proposal to more than one agent. It’s a professional courtesy. Once you’ve sent your proposals out, wait. If the agent is interested, you’ll know it. Good luck in finding your perfect agent. Tim Vandehey is a published author, ghostwriter and co-founder of Book Surgeon. He can be reached at tim@booksurgeon.com.