Glen and Karen Bledsoe --> articles --> Submissions --> Writing the query, synopsis, and nonfiction proposal
Articles Index: Site Index: "Send query first." "Send first three chapters and synopsis." "Send nonfiction proposal and sample chapters." You'd like to meet these requirements given in the
Writer's Market listings, but maybe you don't know
exactly what a synopsis is, or how to write a query, or
which chapters to send. Fortunately, there's lots of
information out there to help you. Here is some to get
your started. Query letters Think of a query letter as a sales pitch. The main
point of the query letter is to ask, "Would you like to
see my manuscript." If you want a "yes" answer, then your
query must sell the editor on your idea, yet not
oversell. Editors aren't impressed with grandiosity, but
they are impressed with good writing. The main points to include in a query are: The best way to learn to write great query letters is
to read lots and lots of great query letters, with an
analysis of what makes them great. The Writer's Market
usually has some good and awful examples. Here are some
websites that have plenty of examples for you to
study: Summary vs. Synopsis What is a synopsis vs. a summary? A summary is a short
explanation of what your book is about. Think of a
summary as your "elevator speech" -- suppose you're at a
conference step into an elevator and standing next to you
is the well-known editor that you've been thinking of
sending your book to. "I see you're a writer," the editor
says, reading your name tag. "What have you written
lately?" Quick! You have between now and the 18th floor
to tell the editor all about your book! That's what a
summary is: your sales pitch. The summary is often a part
of a query letter or proposal package. A synopsis, which is used when selling novels to
editors, is essentially a longer version of a summary,
but unlike the sales blurb on the back of a book, the
synopsis doesn't leave the reader in suspense. The
synopsis tells all. A good synopsis is a running
narrative of the book's major events, told in the third
person, present tense. A synopsis should capture the
flavor of the book, including its tone and language. A
summary of a hard-boiled detective story, for example,
shouldn't sound like an abbreviated article from the
Encyclopedia Britannica. Your synopsis should introduce your main characters,
their goals, and the main conflicts of the story. A
"who... wants... but... so" format, useful for kids when
writing book reports, also applies here. Who are
your main characters? What do they want?
But... what gets in their way? So... what
do they do about it? Some writers find that writing a synopsis is a painful
process. How do you condense your entire story down to
three or so short pages? That's a problem if you write
the synopsis after you've written the story. However,
some writers get around this problem by writing the
synopsis first, as a kind of an outline, then altering it
if the story changes as they write. This allows the
writer to see the "bigger picture," the entire novel at
once, and is a good composing device, as it helps keep
your plot on track as you work. As with the query letter, writers often find it useful
to read well-written synopses before tackling their own.
Here are some examples, and some helpful articles: Nonfiction Proposal When pitching nonfiction work, you may be asked to
submit an outline and sample chapters, or a complete
proposal. It's not a bad idea to have a proposal ready;
in fact, it's not a bad idea to write the proposal before
writing the book! Writing the proposal helps you organize
the ideas and helps you determine the marketability of
the book. Sometimes your book can be sold on the weight
of a proposal alone -- though as a new author, it's best
to have a complete manuscript ready, since editors will
usually ask for one if they're not familiar with your
work already. While you'll see different formats for book proposals,
most of them have these vital elements in common: Title Page Besides a good title, your title page should bear your
name, address, telephone number, email, and website if
you have one. Write "Proposal for:" right above the
title. Summary (Concept Statement) Overview (About the Book) At this point you may be thinking, "Problems? My book
doesn't solve any problems. It's just a nice little book
about skyscrapers, written for young children!" Well,
what led you to write a book about skyscrapers? Was it
your own child's question about what holds them up, or
how the elevators work? Were you yourself curious about
the inner workings? Was it hard to find answers to these
questions? There's your problem, and your book solves
it. As you write your overview, remember to sell, sell,
sell. Every paragraph should be chosen to present
problems, solutions, or benefits. Be sure that each
paragraph has a transition into the next, and that the
whole overview flows smoothly. Your enthusiasm should be
evident, though not overwhelming. Promotion So you're a shy writer living in Minot, North Dakota.
"Promotion?" you say, in a tone edging on panic.
"Marketing? What do I know about selling books?" Consider what you do know already. Who do you know?
Especially, who do you know in connection with books? Is
there a bookstore you frequent? Is there a children's
museum in town, preferably one with a gift shop that
might carry your book? Do you participate in online
writer's boards? Is there a small, local newspaper that
is hungry for material, and could you write about your
book or offer to give an interview? Good. You have some
connections already. If your book is accepted and published, your local
bookstore owners will probably be delighted to know that
there is a real, live author in their midst and may be
happy to set up a book signing for you. While very few
sales are made at signings, you can at least get all your
friends to come and to invite their friends, and you get
to practice meeting people. Children's museums may also
welcome authors, especially if you can give a talk or
teach a class. If your local schools have book fairs, you
can offer to do a book signing to help promote the fair.
Many online writer's boards will allow you to promote
your book in your signature, or to announce the
publication of your book. As part of your promotion section, mention any of
these opportunities that apply, and how you plan to use
them to help sell your book. About the Author Market Analysis Competition Not necessarily. Talk to the librarian. You may find that there are
lots of books on elephants at the library because lots of
children like elephants, and the library needs many
titles to support the numbers of elephant books that are
checked out. Take a look at the other titles. How are they like
yours? How are they different? Maybe several of them
describe Indian elephants being used as beasts of burden,
but none of the books is entirely about working
elephants, and yours has details and anecdotes that the
others do not. What you've just done is an analysis of the
competition. Include those details in your proposal. If
there are no books on your topic, you'll have to explain
why there needs to be one. If there are several books on
the topic, discuss why yours is different, and why
publishing yours will help fill a niche. Annotated Table of Contents Sample Chapters If you're looking for more information on writing book
proposals, here are a few sources: How
to Write Attention-Grabbing Query & Cover Letters
How
to Write Irresistible Query
Letters Nonfiction
Book Proposals Anybody Can
Write The
Sell Your Novel Toolkit Write
the Perfect Book Proposal: 10 That Sold and
Why
Prepare a title page with a snappy title that describes
what your book is about. This may seem obvious, but
editors often come across manuscripts all the time that
have vague, undescriptive, perhaps "artistic" titles.
Elizabeth Lyon, in her book, Nonfiction Proposals that
Anyone can Write, tells about a manuscript submitted
with the title, Don't Even Try! The title left the
editor asking the obvious: "Don't even try what?"
The manuscript, despite its vague title, was a
well-written book on dealing with manipulative people,
and was later accepted and retitled, Earn Your Verbal
Black Belt.
This is your "elevator speech," your short sales pitch,
in which you tell the editor what your book is about.
Your summary should be short, and should convey your
enthusiasm for the topic. As with the query letter, you
can end with a short description of your credentials so
that the editor knows that you are qualified to write the
book. The summary is often the hardest piece of the
proposal to write, so you may want to set it aside until
you have written the overview and the sections on
marketing and competition. It's helpful to study the copy
on the backs and jacket flaps of nonfiction books similar
to yours. How does the copy help sell the book? What is
included? What is not?
The overview is a longer version of the summary, running
two, perhaps three pages. Like a novel synopsis, the
overview tells all, so that the editor is not left in
suspense. Consider these questions as you prepare to
write your overview:
In this section, you describe what you plan to do in
order to promote your own book. With shrinking marketing
budgets, publishers can only put so much money into
marketing, and tend to concentrate their efforts on books
that they know will sell well. Hence authors may be left
to do a good deal of their own marketing.
Just as you use the overview to sell the book, you use
the "About the Author" section to sell yourself, or more
specifically, your credentials. Here is where you make
the case that you are qualified to write this book. Just
the ability to put pen to paper doesn't suffice. A
factory worker who writes a book on dieting won't be
taken nearly a seriously as a doctor or a nutritionist --
unless that factory worker once weighed 400 pounds and is
co-writing with the nutritionist who helped him shed half
that weight. Even if you're not an expert in the topic,
don't lose hope. Instead, sell the editor on your ability
to write and to carry out thorough research and
fact-checking. List any similar books or articles that
you've published already, trips you've taken, research
you've done, etc.
In this section, you describe the demographic that you're
selling the book to. What age of child will read your
book? What interests would this child have? Where do you
find children with these interests? If you know that
books like yours sell well, discuss that fact. Add sales
figures if you can get them to show how large your market
will be. Also discuss how your target market can be
reached. Traditional bookstores are the obvious place,
but also consider school book fairs, book clubs,
children's museums, gift shops, and other suitable
venues.
So you want to write a book about elephants in India that
are trained to do work, and as you research your idea,
you browse the children's section of your library find
lots of books about elephants. That's bad, right?
This is exactly what it sounds like: a table of contents
with short descriptions of what is in each chapter.
Whether your descriptions are short annotations or longer
summaries depends on the complexity of the book, but in
either case, they should lead the reader to want to turn
to the chapter.
Finally, the meat of the proposal, the sample chapters.
Most editors will ask for three sample chapters. Send
them exactly that: chapters one through three. If there
is an introduction, include that as well, but do not
count it as a chapter. Be sure that these chapters are as
polished as they can be, because here is where you prove
to the editor that you can deliver what you've
promised.
John Wood
Writer's Digest Books, 1996
The definitive text on writing query and cover letters, with
detailed examples. This one belongs on every writer's
bookshelf.
Lisa Collier Cool
Writer's Digest Books, 2002
Pump up the "Wow!" factor in your query letters.
Elizabeth Lyon
Perigree Books, 2002
If you're writing nonfiction, you need this step-by-step
guide to writing your proposal. You might find it helpful to
write the proposal before writing the book, as this book
gives you plenty to think about in terms of
marketability.
Elizabeth Lyon
Perigree, 2002
A step-by-step guide to writing a novel proposal designed to
get your novel read.
Jeff Herman, Deborah Levine Herman
Wiley, 2001
With detailed examples, the authors demonstrate how to put
together an effective proposal.
Glen and Karen Bledsoe --> articles --> Submissions --> Writing the query, synopsis, and nonfiction proposal
