The Art of the Book Proposal
If you're in the process of writing a nonfiction book, you know how crucial it can be to develop a really stellar book proposal. Even if you're writing the book at the same time you're shopping the proposal around, you can get valuable feedback on the process from even some of the rejections you might get. Additionally, putting together the right kind of book proposal, using the right method should help clarify your thinking about what you book is about, and more even more importantly what your book does not need to cover.Enter The Art of the Book Proposal. There are at least a couple dozen nonfiction book proposal books in print right now and all of them have certain strengths and weaknesses. They aren't interchangeable but they are quite similar in fairly substantive ways. What makes Eric Maisel's Art of the Book Proposal stand out; however, is the the level of handholding it provides. Maisel calls himself a writing and book proposal coach and it shows in his writing. Each step of the process is explained not only in detail, but in logical progression and the thinking behind taking each step is explained as well. For example, Maiser describes the importance of carefully crafting a book proposal in this way “like wearing a back brace that causes you to sit up straight, the process of writing proposal demands that you think about what your book is about and why another person would want to read it.”
The book includes sections on what to do after the book proposal is finished, eg submission processes and query letters, which is more comprehensive that similar features found in similar books. An additional sample proposal would have improved this book a bit, but the strength of the way the material is presented makes it more useful than other books that have this feature.