A nonfiction step-by-step guide to, well, writing a book proposal. Since there seems to be some confusion over this: a book proposal is a lengthy pitch (not uncommonly 50+ pages) used to sell nonfiction books to agents and/or publishers. Fiction mostly does not use proposals, or, at most, uses extremely short and simplified ones; instead, fiction is primarily sold via a complete manuscript. Nonfiction writers can get away with having written only one or two chapters of the proposed book and still have it picked up on the basis of the idea. As a result, How to Write a Book Proposal has almost no advice for fiction writers, simply because they're not a relevant audience.

How to Write a Book Proposal divides potential nonfiction writers into two groups: those who write what they dub "promotion-driven books" (things like inspirational books, cookbooks, business books, celebrity books; books where a great deal of the sales are going to come from the platform the author already has) and those who write "prose-driven books" (memoirs, historical narrative, literary journalism, science writing; books where the drive is less the author's name and more the power of the story itself). Although both groups need to write a proposal to sell their books, the proposals for each differ slightly, and Rein and Larsen go into plenty of detail on how to adjust an ideal proposal to your book's specific strengths.

How to Write a Book Proposal is organized around the potential proposal itself, with chapters going in-depth to each particular part of a proposal (author bio, comps, detailed table of contents, etc) and how to write it, what to include, how long it should be, and any other information a writer could possibly need. Rein and Larsen even offer advice on what order to work on the proposal – different from the order in which it should ultimately be assembled! – to provide the most efficient use of research, planning, and writing. It's wonderfully up-to-date (particularly compared to another proposal advice book I'm currently reading, in which emailing agents is a new concept), with plenty of links to websites for agent contact information, or further advice, or additional sample proposals. There are dozens of examples of actual proposals included in this book itself, which I loved; sometimes it's just so much easier to see something than to have it explained.

One drawback, for me, was that I felt How to Write a Book Proposal is slightly more geared towards promotion-driven books, whereas I was most interested in advice for prose-driven books. Though I suppose this is fair enough, since promotion-driven books require a more complicated proposal (prose-driven books, being a bit closer to fiction in appeal, lean harder on the sample chapters – which is also a bit like selling fiction).

Overall I would highly recommend this to anyone looking into writing a book proposal.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2998775358

I enjoyed reading this book. The book is based upon writing a book proposal before you have a completed manuscript, and there's only a brief section on academic publishing. I assume there are many books that delve into the specific niches within publishing. This one seems helpful on the mechanics of proposal writing.

The sample proposals for a range of different books are invaluable. I felt this was a good how-to book filled with practical tips and real-life advice.

Writing a book proposal is an integral part of the publishing process, for any non-fiction title. This book will teach you everything you need to do, in order to nail this first step in obtaining your dream publishing deal. This covered a host of areas and could be an asset to both the novice, by covering the basics of what a book proposal must contain, and the experienced writer, by showing how to fine-tune these basics into the perfect proposal.

I found the writing to be clear, concise, and detailed. This provided any possible queries the reader could pose and answered them in an easily understood yet heavily detailed style. The physicality of the book also helped in this ease of understanding, as it provided images, text boxes, and a whole host of other devices to allow all types of readers able to obtain the information imparted. It kept the eye focused and the brain able to process.

Whilst everything is to be commended in this text I could not rate it higher for how personally suitable the bones of it were. I plan to write a fiction title and only two of the over three-hundred pages of this focused primarily on fiction. This is understandable as book proposals are, as detailed inside, rarely requested for fiction submissions. Due to having no prior knowledge of this a lot of the information was not needed and, apart from understanding exactly what a book proposal entailed for my own interest, I won't be able to use any of the information. Still a fascinating read and I would highly recommend to ALL non-fiction writers.

Helpful information is found throughout this book. Anything you need to write a book proposal is here. Learn what you need within these pages -- GOOD LUCK!!

Upbeat, knowledgeable, organised helpfully, this gives a blueprint for putting together a book proposal. I would say it's aimed at an American market so while it's still immensely useful elsewhere, those of us in the British market might choose to tone things down a little. That said. ideas like 'book hooks' are brilliant.

This assumes that you're writing a proposal before you have a completed manuscript, and there's only a brief section on academic publishing (where we're accustomed to submitting a complete ms.) but there are dedicated books which cover that field though they're not as helpful as this one on the mechanics of proposal writing.

The sample proposals for a range of different books are invaluable. Altogether a gutsy, how-to filled with practical tips and real-life advice.