Friday, July 24, 2009

Ellecubed Check-In and Book Proposals

This week has been filled with a fury of writing. I have been doing my morning pages every morning and I have found that they really ground me and get my creative juices going. I have also been working really hard on getting posts ready for my blog. I am excited to begin posting on it this weekend. I am very happy about the above two but my biggest accomplishment this week has been completing my book proposal.

A few people ask me for some tips and resources on book proposals and so I wanted to provide them. Here are the three books that I felt very helpful in writing the proposal:
I have also taken a few workshops on proposal writing and grant writing. Here the five main tips that I have picked up from these workshops:
  • Make sure your book proposal is infused with your personality. You want the publisher to get a good idea of who you are and what you are about from reading the proposal. Make sure to highlight why you are the best person to write your book.
  • Show off your books uniqueness. Highlight what sets your book apart from the others that are already in a similar market.
  • Know your niche. Make sure that you highlight which niche market you are writing for and how you can contribute to the market. How will your book fit in and stand out in your particular niche? Why will readers in your niche market care about your book?
  • Provide a hook. The hook should be one to two sentences that provides a snapshot of your book. It should be compelling and to the point.
  • Answer important questions about your book: Why should your book be published? What in particular about your book makes it special or important?


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3 comments:

  1. ViennaJuly 25, 2009 at 6:15 AM

    Hi Lexi

    Congratulations on achieving this week's goals! I liked to hear about the 'fury of writing' in your week. I love the expression.
    Thank you for the books and the tips. They seem very interesting and you are pointing out an aspect of writing which hasn't been mentioned at all in SWIM. I have a few questions about proposals:
    It seems that you write a proposal to a publisher when your book hasn't been finalised. Would a publisher be really interested in a book which doesn't exist yet from a non(yet)-published writer? Or maybe the proposal path applies only to already-published writers? Is this one your first proposal of have you written more before? I would love to hear more about your 'proposal' experiences. Thanks for bringing this issue up!
    Have a great weekend.
    V.

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  2. KKJuly 26, 2009 at 12:15 PM

    First of all, congratulations on getting the proposal out! That's HUGE!!! I hope you enjoyed your reward for that accomplishment.

    Thank you for posting the top tips you've gleaned about writing a book proposal. This is incredibly useful, especially in combination with Lauren's posting about freelance writing.

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  3. LucyJuly 29, 2009 at 12:41 PM

    Yay for submitting the proposal AND launching your blog!!

    Last week was HUGE for you.

    I'm loving your blog, especially the explanation behind Ellecubed and the fact that all the posts are shaped like cubes. Tres cool!

    Hope you're having a productive writing week so far!!

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