A non-fiction book is usually sold before it is written. That surprises almost every first-time author. They finish a manuscript, send it out, and then wonder why the silence stretches on. Meanwhile, plenty of the books that do get commissioned are little more than a well-argued proposal and one polished chapter. The proposal is the pitch, the plan and the proof that you can deliver, all in one document. Get it right and you are not asking a publisher for a favour. You are offering them a book they can already picture on a shelf.
What a Proposal Is Really For
A proposal is a sales document. It is not a summary of your ideas and it is not an essay about how long you have wanted to write. Whoever reads it — a literary agent, or a commissioning editor — is quietly asking three questions: what is this book, who will buy it, and can this person write it and help sell it? Every page should answer at least one of those.
Most non-fiction proposals run to somewhere between twenty and forty pages, though specialist and academic presses often ask for much less. A standard structure looks like this:
- An overview of the book, usually one to two pages
- A short biography and a section on your platform
- A market analysis with comparable titles
- A chapter-by-chapter outline
- Sample material, usually one or two chapters
- Your thoughts on how you would help promote the book
- A contents list and an honest total word count
The order can shift. What matters is that the whole thing reads as one argument rather than a pile of separate documents.
Know the Shelf Before You Write a Word
Market research is the part authors skip, and it is the part that decides whether you get a reply. Start by finding six or eight books published in the last few years that a reader would find on the same shelf as yours. Read at least three of them properly. Notice their length, their tone, how they are structured, what their descriptions promise. You are looking for two things: the conventions you should respect, and the gap your book fills.
Then write that down. Two or three tight paragraphs saying: these books do X well, they stop short of Y, and mine goes there because of Z. Resist the urge to claim a market of millions. Describe your reader precisely instead — what they do, what worries them, where they gather — and be realistic about how many of them there plausibly are. An editor would far rather see a modest, accurate audience than an inflated one they can spot in a minute.
Building the Core Sections
The overview
Keep it to two pages at most. Open with the idea in one sentence a stranger could repeat. Then say what the book promises the reader, why it is worth doing now, and why you are the person to do it. No throat-clearing, no autobiography. If you cannot make the book sound compelling in two pages, no amount of extra pages will fix it.
The chapter outline
One paragraph per chapter, written in the present tense, each doing the same job: what the reader knows or can do by the end of it. “This chapter shows how to price a job when the client refuses to give a budget” tells an editor a great deal. “This chapter explores pricing” tells them nothing. If a chapter cannot be summarised in four or five lines, it is probably two chapters — or a chapter without a purpose.
The sample chapter
Choose the chapter that best represents the finished voice. Often that is the introduction and first chapter, but if chapter nine is where your argument sings, send that and say why. Edit it to the standard you would want in print. It is the only hard evidence most editors will have that you can actually write.
Platform Without the Puffery
Platform is the most misunderstood word in publishing. It does not mean fame. It means the routes you already have to readers: a newsletter, a course you teach, a professional body you speak at, a podcast, a membership group, a regular column, a conference you help run. Anything that puts your name in front of the people who might buy the book counts.
If your platform is thin, say so honestly and describe what you are building — a newsletter you launched this year, articles you are pitching, a workshop series starting in the spring. Editors know first books come from first-time authors. What they dislike is a claim they can check in thirty seconds and find wanting.
A Practical Order of Work
- Write a one-page version of the whole argument. If it does not hold together there, it will not hold together over ten chapters.
- Build the chapter outline from that page, giving every chapter a job.
- Gather your comparable titles and write the market section while the reading is fresh.
- Draft the overview, then return to it at the end and sharpen the opening sentence.
- Write the sample chapter properly, as if it were going to print tomorrow.
- Assemble everything into one document with a contents page and accurate word counts.
- Ask two readers: one who knows the subject, one who knows nothing about it. Watch where the second one gets lost.
Submitting in the UK: The Details That Matter
Most trade non-fiction is placed through a literary agent. Specialist, academic and some independent publishers will consider proposals sent directly, so check each publisher’s submission guidelines before you send anything. Simultaneous submissions to agents are usually acceptable if you say clearly that you are approaching others; if someone asks for an exclusive look for a stated period, honour it.
Follow the format they ask for — usually a single Word document or PDF — and state your word count accurately rather than optimistically. Your covering letter needs three short paragraphs: the book in a sentence or two, who you are, and what is attached. British spelling and punctuation throughout for UK publishers, and be consistent. Never send a full manuscript unasked, and keep a simple record of who has what, and when.
Before You Press Send
Read the whole proposal aloud. Cut every sentence that is there to impress rather than inform. Check that your claims about the market are ones you could defend in conversation. Then prepare for a wait, and for rejections. Most of them will be about fit, timing and list, not about the quality of your writing, so keep a short list of other suitable publishers and agents and work through it steadily. If a contract does follow, read it carefully and take proper advice before signing anything.
Photo: un-perfekt / Pixabay
