Monday’s planning tip for authors

If you’re an author preparing a book proposal for submission to John Wiley & Sons, one of the leading business book publishers, you’ll probably want to study Chris Webb’s thoughts on preparing book proposals. Chris Webb is an Associate Publisher at John Wiley and–since 1998–he’s seen the best, and the worst, of book proposals. Last year, year, on his blog, Chris wrote a series of posts outlining his recommendations for author’s best practices for book proposals.

Since good information is timeless, here, as a convenience to authors preparing book proposals, are links to Chris Webb’s various posts about book proposal do’s and don’ts. Chris’s posts and perspectives are definitely worth printing on 3-hole paper and saving for future reference in your Published & Profitable binder.

• The Book Proposal: Tips for Wrriting Winning Proposals. Perspective on what an acquisition editor wants to see in a book proposal. This post can be considered the “table of contents” to Chris’s different blog posts.
• The Sell Before the Sale: Chris Webb’s discussion of why trade publishers place as much emphasis on book proposals as they do.
• The Book Proposal: Introduction. This post contains a handy review listing the 7 elements that just about every publisher wants answered in their book proposals.
• The Problem with Book Outlines–Advice for Authors. This post is especially strong in its description of the importance of details about each chapter’s contents.
• The Book Proposal: Know Your Competition. Contains a concise list of the 5 things new authors need research online and include in their book proposal.
• The Book Proposal: Target Readership. This post suggests separately defining your book’s primary and secondary market.

Even if you’ve already purchased a book on proposal writing, it’s always useful to review the basics, especially when they’re provided for you, free of charge, by an individual who, on a daily basis, sees both the best and the worst of book proposals.

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Note: Chris invites you to contact him via a form at his blog.

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