Why a Book Proposal?

Editors are traditionally myopic, and work in offices cluttered with manuscripts. There are meetings and book fairs and sales conferences to attend, authors to entertain, and serious editing to be done. There is a lot of pressure, and time is in short supply.

Editors read manuscripts from their favourite agents first. Then they read manuscripts from other agents. Last, they wearily attack what is known as 'the slush pile'. This stack of unsolicited manuscripts is, presumably, so called because, like unwanted snow, it piles up and turns dirty and yellow with age. Some publishing houses will not even allow a slush pile to accumulate - they simply return unsolicited manuscripts unopened.

How to avoid sinking into the slush pile? It's human nature for an editor facing a large slush pile to read short submissions first. EVEN IF YOU HAVE A COMPLETED MANUSCRIPT, SUBMIT A BOOK PROPOSAL FIRST.

What is a book proposal?

Your book proposal should be typed on white paper. Sample chapters should be double-spaced and all other material single spaced, with double spacing between paragraphs. Send a simple covering letter identifying your submission as a proposal for the publishing house's consideration.

On your first page give the title, your full name or the name under which you want to publish, the approximate word count you project as the length of the finished manuscript, the estimated time of manuscript completion (here you can note if the manuscript is complete already), and the genre (for example: general fiction, thriller, mystery, fantasy, sci-fi, woman-in-jeopardy, romance, historic romance, Regency Romance, western, or historical novel).

Send literary fiction as general fiction. Please note that category fiction only sells if proposals get seen by editors. If you can categorize your manuscript, it will be given to an editor with knowledge of that category. Category or genre fiction does not mean formula fiction. In all cases, originality counts. However, books in each category may have certain common elements. For example, resistance, or the inability of the main characters to get together right away, is a standard element of romance fiction.

What else goes in a book proposal?

Follow this information with a page on you, the author. In a few paragraphs, give the pertinent details of your life, work, and travels. Include titles of other books and publications if you've published before.

Provide a brief synopsis (2 pages maximum) of the entire plot of your book. Use upbeat sales talk. Write as if this is the blurb that's to go on the dust jacket.

Include 3 chapters, not necessarily the first 3 or any consecutive 3, and follow them with a detailed 15 to 20 page plot synopsis that includes bits of dialogue.

How long is a book proposal?

In total, your fiction proposal should not be longer than 100 pages nor shorter than 50 for a full-length novel (400 pages typewritten). The rule of thumb is that the proposal should be about one quarter as long as the manuscript itself.

Anything else?

Yes. If you want your synopsis and your sample chapters back, or even if you want a reply of any kind, be sure to ask in your covering letter, and to included an SASE (a stamped, self-addressed envelope) big enough, and with enough postage, to accommodate your proposal. If you are sending your proposal to a publisher outside Canada, do not put Canadian stamps on your SASE. Instead, include an IRC (International Reply Coupon, available from any post office) in the value of the stamps needed.

Copyright 1999 Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia. All rights reserved. These documents may only be reproduced for personal or non-commercial use, in their entirety, with this copyright notice attached.