How To Write A Successful Non-Fiction Book Proposal
Ranked #30,344 in Education, #539,265 overall
Learn How To Get Your Book Published From A Literary Agent Responsible For Over 600 Book Deals
Writing query letters is easy! Waiting to find out if a literary agent is interested is a little like writing a Crayon note to Santa asking for a pony...in July.
Today, as a note of kindness, compassion and good humor, we'll talk about the simple mechanics of query letter writing. I'll save off telling you how many hundreds and hundreds of queries an agency sees in a week. How few of them any of us can use. How little attention we pay to ones poorly written. Or how only the lowest interns on the agency's org chart opens them first. No, I'll stuff your heads full of sugar plums and tell you clearly how to write query letters that actually get results. What you want is to get an agent or a dozen agents circling you like vultures, waiting to come and rip the book out of your hands for their own profit...and partly yours, too.
The Secret To A Successful Book Proposal
Step 1. Have a finished book proposal if you are writing non-fiction. Have done it well. Not just well. Impeccably. Be cogent, clear-headed and have on the tip of your tongue all the ways your intended project offers something New, Different, Better or More than all those competitors' books out there on the shelf.
Step 2. Get a listing of agents. There are many out there. Go to the bookstore. There are plenty of books that tell you all about us - from our favorite colors to how many books we sold last year to our hobbies. (Purple/more than I thought I would/gardening, thanks for asking!)
Step 3. Select 30 agents who meet this criteria: they HAVE sold books like yours and they are STILL SELLING books like yours. (You can tell this by reading the listings of books they have sold and the list of types of books they are looking for.) I previously sold Christian books, screenplays, fiction and juvenile. I don't touch any of those any more. Want to know why? Not enough profit in three of them, Armani sunglass-wearing scoundrels controlling sales of the other (you get to unwrap the riddle).
Step 4. Call the agencies you have selected. Ask only two questions and then hang up the phone politely. Say, "I am a potential author. May I ask you two questions?" The busy person who answered will say yes. Question 1: "Is Xavier Fontainebleu still the correct agent for books on underwater basket weaving?" (This question can be modified to reflect your subject and the agent's name if you so desire). Question 2: "Is the correct address ? The agency's preference for queries - electronic or surface mail - will usually be clearly stated in the listing in the agency book you are using. Thank them and hang up, unless they initiate asking you questions. (Rare, very rare.)
Step 5. Mail ol' Xavier a letter or an email that has been carefully crafted to get his attention. It should use his name. I often get letters addressed to agents who the writer assumes are undergoing a sex change operation very slowly. I can tell because they are addressed to Dear Sir/Madam. Worse still (those of you who have been divorced will understand - that is approximately 70% of my readers according to the Census Bureau), I sometimes still get letters addressed to me by my married name. I have not used that name in the last seven of the eight years of freedom I have enjoyed. Reminding my of my dark past is not a good way to make an impression. Xavier the agent might not be annoyed with this oversight, but his sister Madalena would be! That's why you asked for the correct name in Step 4! Use it!
Step 6. Start with WIIFM. Don't start with how many speeches you give, the fact that the book was channeled by Mother Teresa, how lucky I am to be getting the query from you, how humble you are, how you know you don't know how to write to save your own life, how Mark Victor Hansen better watch out because your book is so much better, how Grisham needs to look for work now that you're on the scene, or how your mother and several of the people in your last speaking audience told you that you really MUST write a book. WE DON'T CARE! Further, we don't believe you. Heck, we don't even know you! Start with what I, your ever-patient agent care about. How many people in the world/country need to buy this book and why? Give me facts if you can. "21 million Americans suffer with this problem"; "GNP is reduced by X% per annum because of this problem, according to Yale University..."; "One out of three people will need to make this decision at some point in their lives..." Now my literary aide will be paying attention to you, because now you are talking our language.
Step 7. If your credentials aren't impressive, don't flaunt them. The fact that you speak is not impressive of itself. My German Shepherd speaks, just ask him. The fact that you speak to 100,00 people a year, or that your column is syndicated or that your happy little voice is heard nationwide on radio every day/week/month (or even just in Cleveland) - these things make me believe you've got a prayer of helping me sell your book. If you are the leading researcher, the inventor, the first somebody to do something, the only person who has your amazing story or you trademarked something that is actually making a difference and you can prove it, then tell me that. THAT impresses me. As an agent, my job is to quickly ascertain 1) Can I sell this book? 2) To which publisher? And most importantly, 3) for how much money? Who you are helps me answer those questions fast. Fast is good. Fast is critical. Fast is what happens, because I have 399 more queries to read this week. Next!
Step 8. Toss me a steak. I'm a vegetarian with aspirations toward radical veganism, but when it comes to the content, the meat of your book idea, I want it in one cogent, crisp, luscious paragraph, delivered without any cilantro or whipped garlic mashed potatoes to distract me. Just thud! Put the content right there in the third paragraph, make it pristine so that I know exactly what you are writing about.
Step 9. Now you've hooked me with your audience, wowed me with your credentials and fed me with the brilliance of your idea. Don't ruin this by getting cute or imperious. Get out of your own way. State, "This is a multiple submission." If you insisted on mailing it instead of email, tell me a SASE is enclosed for my response. "I look forward to hearing from you promptly." Sign off and shut up. FYI, multiple submission means you are sending it to more than one agent at a time. (You must, or you won't have a book out until you're older than Methusaleh!) A SASE is an old-fashioned item, but it is a must. It is a Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope (or an IRC for our foreign readers!) It's how we respond if we're interested. No SASE, no response (unless you're really, really hot. Chances are, frankly, that you're not). You'll be left biting your nails, wondering if Fido ate the mailman and it never got delivered. With email you'll get a faster yes, but not usually any response at all if it is a no.
Step 10. Wait. Just wait. Call us and you're dead. In our agency, if you call while we have only your query, you are instantly rejected (unless we think you are going to be worth all the hassles you've just proven you're likely to be). If you send a second email on the ruse that you worry your first might have "gotten lost", you're dead. Every minute we're on the phone with authors, we're not on the phone with publishers. Guess who has the money? Do not call to follow up on a query. We won't know where it is, most likely, and if you make us hunt through the rejected, considering and about to send back piles, we will hate you. Not a good way to start. If you mailed them, give us all six weeks before you choose to follow up with any of us. Anyone who hasn't responded in that time isn't interested, is too busy to help you or is recently deceased. If you emailed them, give 72 hours. That's it. Anyone who hasn't responded probably won't.
Step 11. Wait for all the agents who agreed to see your project to respond to it. It's OK to call and politely ask how much longer it will take if it has been more than six weeks or so. If you get an offer from anyone, immediately call everyone who still has it and tell them they have a day or two to respond. NEVER sign the first contract you get offered until you know it is the ONLY contract you're going to be offered.
Step 12. Let the agent do her job (or his). You do yours: get an attorney to look over the contract if you are nervous. Make sure you hire an entertainment attorney, not a divorce attorney. (Divorce attorneys faint when they see publishing contracts, but they take your money anyway and make our lives miserable. I'll walk from any deal when the attorney doesn't know what he's talking about and the author insists I deal with him.) The contract should be fair and in English. That's about it. And not ask you for money up front, other than some small agencies that have to charge a postage fee or copying fees (never to exceed about $75).
Follow these steps and you'll soon find yourself at Barnes and Noble, with a pen in your hand and a line of eager people in front of you.
© 2007, Keller Media, Inc. Want to use this article in your publication? Reprints welcome so long as the article and by-line are reprinted intact and all links made live.
Wendy Keller is a published author, professional speaker and literary agent. She helps authors and speakers make a difference in this world and she is behind the scenes supporting their efforts every step of the way. Wendy has developed some of the best writing tools and seminars for authors available at http://www.kellermedia.com
Wendy Keller On Amazon
Wendy Keller Online
We've successfully sold more than 620 licensing agreements for intellectual properties worldwide, far more than the average agency. We represent a large number of the world's leading authorities in their subject area, including business leaders, personal transformation experts, renowned medical doctors, entertainers, financial services executives, the highest paid professional speakers, scientists, educators, celebrities, high level consultants, social engineers, political pundits, innovative entrepreneurs and leading metaphysicians.
Our authors and speakers are making a difference in this world, and we're right there behind the scenes supporting their efforts every step of the way.
We help our clients achieve their objectives in these ways:
* leveraging our decades of relationships with key decision makers
* providing useful strategy and advice based on our extensive experience in the speaking, publishing and content marketing industries
* negotiating the best possible terms for every deal
* opening up new markets, forms and formats for the content
* encouraging secondary passive revenue systems from existing content
* building effective content delivery systems
* aiding in the development of book and speaker marketing strategies
* connecting clients with proven vendors and reliable subcontractors
* providing instruction in media training
* liberating the client to focus on their content, not the details
* managing the client's success process
At a time when information overload is epidemic, we help our clients and their content rise to the top
Keller Media connects people who have a powerful, important and impactful message with the people who need to hear it most.
- Keller Media Inc.
- Keller Media, Inc. helps talented people achieve greater success as published authors and highly paid speakers.
* If you have an excellent nonfiction book or book idea, we can sell it to the best possible publisher at the best possible terms.
* If you are a dynamic, talented paid speaker (or have the capability and motivation to become one), we help you capitalize on this talent in every imaginable way. - Wendy Keller Official Website
- Powerful, proven principles for mastering adversity and activating its inner advantage.
People suffer. Companies suffer. Humans drag their work problems home and their home problems back to work. Back and forth, they wear down their quality of life, performance, competence, joy and productivity in both places. Wouldn't it be great if just one person could make it to the finish line unscathed by life's troubles and traumas? But nobody does.
Nobody gets out alive.
Stressed out people cannot function at optimal productivity. The toll on American business is enormous - sick days, workman's comp (legitimate or not), slovenly work standards, poor customer service, backbiting, astronomically more difficult management issues and more. The inability to effectively cope with adversities large and small ricochets into the divorce rate, disenfranchised youth, obesity, addictions and more. These become a cycle, impeding progress and productivity in all areas of life.
Your people need this message.
Wendy Keller's powerful customized presentations will teach and inspire YOUR people to effectively transform the way they handle adversities. This content revitalizes companies and people whether they are perturbed about "not getting that promotion" or "my boss is a jerk and they don't pay me enough" all the way to life's major issues: disaster, devastating economic downturn, layoffs and mergers, crime, loss of life and property and other huge traumas.
Here's what you get when you hire Wendy Keller:
* Higher profits - your people will have renewed enthusiasm for work and life.
* Increased employee loyalty - which translates to less turnover,less theft and fewer sick days.
* Improved customer service - less money spent on marketing to get new customers since the old ones return.
* Fewer management issues - a motivated staff takes direction better and has less bickering.
* Reduction in errors - increased professional competence from your team.
* Productivity gains - handling their own issues well makes them pay attention better at work.
* Reduction in politics -- teamwork increases when each person takes responsibility for managing themselves.
Whether your group is corporate or personal, your people will not just feel good for a few hours and forget it tomorrow. Instead, they will be prepared, encouraged and emboldened to create solutions to the challenges they face today. - Heal From Divorce
- Dealing with child support issues is often worse than the divorce itself! YOU and your children have EVERY RIGHT to a GOOD LIFE. Fathers should not be sent into poverty to support their children. Mothers should not be sent into poverty because they choose to support their children --even if they must do it alone.
Would you like to get your former spouse to play fair? To pay fair?
You just need to NEGOTIATE LIKE A PRO so you can get the results you want faster.I have been conducting successful negotiations for more than 25 years. I can teach you how to minimize the stress and time (and legal bills) as you try to get your former spouse to see your side of the important argument about child support. You deserve a fair deal, and so do your kids. You deserve to walk away with dignity, and a deal that is truly beneficial long term to everyone based on available resources. Men or women, you deserve the best deal possible. And if you're like most divorcing people, you want it easily, faster, and with a whole lot less stress.You just want it over - now. - Fame Finders
- "Are you ready for success as an acclaimed author and respected, prominent speaker?"
Do you have something important to share with the world?
Would you like to gain distinction - and a great income - by writing & speaking?
Are you searching for a highly qualified team who can help you achieve your goal?
If you answered YES to just one of these questions, Fame Finders may be the next step in your destin
Official Wendy Keller Twitter Feed
by wendykeller
Hello. I'm Wendy Keller. In 1989, as a writer myself and award-winning journalist, I decided to create a literary agency that would be based on candor,... more »
- 1 featured lens
- Winner of 2 trophies!
- Top lens » How To Become A Public Speaker
