Book Project Update: Outline finished…sort of…

I’ve got the basic outline for the book finished. I say “basic” because, in spite of being over 6 pages long, it will change many more times before the book is finished. Much like the US Constitution, all of my outlines are “living documents”. I will continue to expand and refine the outline throughout the writing and publishing process. At this point, however, I am comfortable enough with its basic structure that I’m ready to start work on the next stage.

The publisher I plan to approach first would like a sample chapter to go along with my proposal. This is a common practice among publishers. This particular publisher is willing to accept previously published material, rather than a sample chapter from the proposed book. I understand that in this case because this publisher’s books are put into a very specific format that requires a lot of rewriting to make a “normal” manuscript fit within their format. That might make them comfortable enough to just want to see proof that the proposed author can actually communicate using the written word.

I understand that, but personally, I can’t imagine sending in a proposal and not being willing to invest the time to write a few dozen pages so the publishers can see what they are investing in. In the 21st Century we have more options than ever to self-publish. While that has changed the publishing landscape a little bit, at this moment in time there still aren’t many really good options for self-publishing that can bring as much success as working with a traditional book publisher. Something that I didn’t realize early in my writing career was that publishers really are investors and speculators. When you propose a book, the publisher has to look at the information you provide to decide if it would be a good business decision to invest thousands of dollars into editing, illustrating, designing, printing, distributing, and promoting this book that (in most cases) doesn’t even exist yet.

I remember when I sent out proposals for my first book that I had several misconceptions about publishing. I was thrilled that my preferred publisher was immediately interested in the book. I had sent a total of 13 query letters to publishers, so it was miraculous that my first choice of publishers wanted my book. As we began to negotiate (read that as “discuss” - there wasn’t much negotiation involved), I asked about an advanced payment for my work. The response was “We don’t pay advances to unpublished authors”. I was a little disappointed, but I had unrealistic expectations throughout the publishing of my first two books. Based on the movies I’d seen, books I’d read, and stories I’d heard, I thought authors always got a fat check in advance of writing the book.

Now it’s laughable to look back on that. If a publisher offers an advance to a first-time author, they must have a truly “hot property” and I’d bet, in most cases, they put a ghost writer on the project immediately to ensure they get a marketable product for all the risk they take. That is certainly a rare event and unimaginable for a book about incense!

I’ve said all of that to say this: I want to convince any publisher who reads one of my proposals that the book will be financially successful for them. The best way I’ve found to do that is to give them precisely what they ask for. I can’t imagine trying to convince someone to invest a significant amount of money on the gamble of publishing this book by sending them something I’d written for some other purpose. Writing a sample chapter is the least I can do. As this is an “unsolicited” manuscript, meaning the publisher didn’t ask me to write it, I will be in competition with lots of other writers to get the attention of the publisher.

When your proposal is in a stack of 30 others, you don’t want to do anything that might cause the person reviewing them to toss your proposal aside. That can happen if you fail to provide something they’ve requested. It can also happen if you include a lot of material that they haven’t requested. The person reviewing your proposal might have a dozen more to review that day and won’t be willing to wade through extra material. They could easily see extraneous material and decide is wasn’t worth their time to try sort out what they need from what they don’t. Every publisher has guidelines that tell you what they want to see in a proposal and what they want to see in a finished manuscript. Sticking to those requirements can make the difference in that split-second decision when the publisher puts your proposal in a stack for further review or of it goes into the trash can.

Now the question is: which chapter in the book will give the publisher the best overview of my writing ability and knowledge of the topic? I want something that isn’t too heavily focused on a single task, like a chapter on how to roll a cone. I want something that offers a wider view of the topic and my writing style. Once I figure that out, I’ll let you know.

Stay tuned.