The Parts of a Proposal

You can find many books on how to write a book proposal. Lots of information exists on the Internet as well. In my experience, the following list, which is divided into two sections—Introduction and Outline, includes the fourteen vital sections of a book proposal

Sometimes these sections are included in a different order; some books don’t include them all. Authors and agents sometimes choose to include additional sections or even attachments if necessary. Less than these fourteen sections tends to be too little; more can be too much. Most agents and publishers are happy with a proposal that contains the information you will include in these sections.

The Parts of a Proposal

Introductions

• Overview
• Markets
• Subsidiary Rights
• Spin-offs
• Promotion
• Competing Titles
• Complementary Titles
• Resources Needed to Complete the Book
• About the Author
• Mission Statement
• Author’s Platform

Outline

• List of Chapters
• Chapter Summaries
• Sample Chapters

Since we are talking about blogging a book in this blog, if you don’t plan on ever looking for a traditional publisher for your book and you don’t want to go through the whole business plan/proposal process, you can do just the minimum. This means just planning out your manuscript itself and focusing on marketability. In this case, you’ll want to complete these sections of prior to beginning to blog.

Introduction

• Overview
• Markets
• Competing Titles
• Complementary Titles

Outline

• List of Chapters
• Chapter Summaries

This will at least give you a good picture of the gist of your book and who will read it. You also will know the markets you can target with your promotion, what competition your blogged book faces and what blogs to target for joint venture projects. The outline gives you your structure: chapters and their content. You’ll break this down further into individual blog posts later.

That said, I highly recommend completing all the proposal sections. Better to be ready for the possibility of a traditional book deal should one arise. Plus, you might want to have well-written bio on your blog site, your mission statement might focus your work, a promotion plan will help you target your efforts in this area, etc.

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