I received a complementary copy of this e-book for review purposes. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.
In the past year and a half I have learned much about the publishing business as I work on writing a non-fiction book. Recently I read Brooke Warner’s e-book, How to Sell Your Memoir: 12 Steps to a Perfect Book Proposal. At a $3.49 price through Amazon, it is the best “bang for your buck” guide to writing a book proposal that I have seen.
Early on Warner emphasizes the importance of the book proposal. If you are a new author like me, working on a first book, the prospect of writing a proposal may seem like an unnecessary burden. “Why not just write the book and put it out there?” I have thought. Warner quickly dispels that notion from her own experience as an acquiring editor at two different publishing houses, and with this quote from Maria Gagliano, Senior Editor at Portfolio/Penguin: “I would not consider a full-length work without a proposal. The quality of the proposal is crucial when trying to get my ed board to sign on a project. It shows that the author is able to write well, and with authority, about their subject.” How to Sell Your Memoir convinced me to write a book proposal for my work and to shop it to agents and editors.
Warner gives a dose of reality to any new author thinking his or her material will be so good that the book will magically sell on its own. “You have to be willing and able to make some noise around your message and your book,” she writes. “This is not Field of Dreams. If you build it, they will not come. The way to make your readers come is by setting your sights on some very basic tenets of platform-building and buckling down for the long haul.”
How to Sell Your Memoir breaks down each step of the book proposal process, with clearly defined guidelines to follow. In the “Sample Chapters” section she writes: “Just as having a good title and subtitle can give your proposal an extra boost, so too can clever chapter titles. Not every memoir has to have them, but it’s worth spending some time and energy on trying to encapsulate the energy and message behind each of your chapters.” I found tips like this worthwhile, and she has more helpful tips in the book’s sections on Author Biography, Query Letter, Marketing and Publicity, and more.
Reading about the nuts and bolts of the publishing business can be disheartening to a new author wanting to get his or her message out to the World. It’s hard work. Warner concludes with an encouraging word, “Where great writing is concerned, it’s not a you-have-it-or-you-don’t kind of thing,” she says. “I believe any writer, with enough effort and tenacity, can create something that sparkles.”
How to Sell Your Memoir will be a valuable reference for me as I work on polishing my own book proposal.
