book proposal course

Book Title, Audience and How Niche is Nice

March 25, 2020 by Lisa Tener

Do you have questions about your book title, the audience for your book, and how niche or broad to go?

Last December, in the bonus call for my Fast Track Your Book Proposal course, participants got to ask their questions of Michael Larsen, co-author of How to Write a Book Proposal (now in its 5th edition).

The highlight of the call was when Mike gave specific advice to each person on the call. He had some great ideas for book titles and gave a good reminder that, when coming up with a title, “Don’t sell the problem. Sell the solution.”

Mike reminded us all that every talk, blog post and podcast is “an opportunity to test your book title with your market.”

One conversation centered on the question of how niche or broad to go with the book’s concept, audience and, therefore, title. If you go too broad, you risk the potential of losing your core audience. Yet, a bigger market can mean more sales—IF you are able to reach the larger market and not dilute the message or confuse readers about who and what the book is for.

It reminds me of a client who wrote a terrific book about a system that worked for depression, anxiety and addiction. When we approached his dream publisher, a mid-sized and somewhat niche house for psychology books, the acquisitions editor who bought the book said, “Pick one. In our experience we have trouble selling a book that has too many problems it solves. We do best with books that solve one problem.” He pointed out that a big five publishing house might be able to swing the more diverse audience but their audience would do best with the more niche book.

The author picked the problem the acquisitions editor was most excited about and the book was published successfully. Of course, it’s always important to listen to your intuition. At the same time, do be open to expert advice. I find, in general, that the authors who are flexible and listen to their book coach, literary agent and acquisitions editor, then check in with their gut, are the most successful and fulfilled in their book writing and publishing journeys.

Are you struggling with audience, title or both? Ask questions or share insights below!

8 Top Nonfiction Book Proposal Mistakes (& How to Fix Them)

September 18, 2019 by Lisa Tener

Look what recently arrived in the mail! Congrats Carla Naumburg

Nonfiction book proposal mistakes can get your proposal tossed into the circular file before the agent or publisher even gets past page one. Agents and acquisitions editors are some of the busiest people I know. They’re looking for reasons to move on, as much as they are looking for the next book they want to represent or publish.

Your job in writing a book proposal is twofold: a) hook agents and publishers with exactly what they want to see and b) avoid the red flags that would make them move on.

8 Top Nonfiction Book Proposal Mistakes I See

miracle of writing a book — The opposite of a tired title! This title makes a promise!

A Tired Title

Nonfiction Book Proposal Mistake 1: Your title doesn’t sell the book. Granted, your publisher may well change your title. Still, you can’t afford to lead with a tired, confusing, misleading or otherwise not-amazing title. Your title should be catchy. It should sound fresh and relevant. For prescriptive nonfiction, your title needs to make it clear what problem you’re solving, who the book’s for and what results or benefits readers can expect. Generally, negative doesn’t sell. While there are exceptions, it’s almost always best to lead with an inspiring title when it comes to prescriptive nonfiction.

Blah Blah Blah

Nonfiction Book Proposal Mistake 2: Starting with generalities: “People are so stressed nowadays”: Begin with something captivating: a shocking statistic that demonstrates market size and desperation for what your book offers, a counterintuitive statement that makes the reader curious and attentive, an especially powerful story, or something that indicates the huge numbers of people (in your target market) you reach in a year.

Here’s what I told one author who had begun his Overview with a series of questions: “Given the power of your case studies, maybe the most compelling way to start the Overview would be with a story.” Do you have a good story to tell? Groundbreaking research to share? A fresh voice? Start with your strongest suit(s).

A to Z (Don’t Teach in a Nonfiction Book Proposal)

book cover become your childs sleep coach — This author kept her system simple in the proposal. She didn’t try to teach all the details in the proposal.

Nonfiction Book Proposal Mistake 3: Trying to teach your system to the agent/acquisitions editor/acquisitions board member who is reading your proposal. Yes, agents and acquisitions editors need to understand you have a system, but don’t lose them in the details.

Here’s what I told that same author in example 2: “Trying to explain the techniques in such detail and give so much information about the book’s format has us too much in the details and not enough with the big picture experience of the power of the tools/system and the emotional connection to what’s possible, and the sense of what makes the work fresh. A powerful story draws us in and demonstrates the dramatic promise of this book, what it can do for readers.”

Buried Treasure (Don’t Hide Your Platform)

Nonfiction Book Proposal Mistake 4: Minimizing the importance of platform: I once heard an agent say that if the author’s platform wasn’t highlighted in the first paragraph, she lost interest! While this may sound extreme, for a prescriptive (self-help, how-to or business) book, platform is almost always key to getting a book deal; often even more important than the content of the book.

Get your platform in place before querying agents or publishers. Are there shortcuts? There are some strategies that can help you build a case for selling large numbers of books, yes. I’ll be sharing them in my upcoming book proposal class that starts in October.

Format Fumbles

Nonfiction Book Proposal Mistake 5: Make yourself familiar with the format that publishers want to see. Double space your book proposal in twelve point font. Use normal margins. Indent the first line of each paragraph by 5. Do not add extra spacing between paragraphs. Using the correct format shows publishers that you will be easy to work with. You follow directions. You’re looking to make their job easy. It’s one of the very first things publishers will notice.

Have you made any of these 8 mistakes in your nonfiction book proposal? Here’s how to fix them! [bctt tweet=”Have you made any of these 8 mistakes in your nonfiction book proposal? Here’s how to fix them!” username=”LisaTener”]

Number Anemia

While this author had a very short, one page, markets section, his markets were to the point and included research data and census data to back up claims and prove market size.

Nonfiction Book Proposal Mistake 6: Omitting sizes of primary and secondary markets. It’s not enough to include your primary and secondary markets. Be sure to include their size. How do you find those numbers? This is another area we’ll explore in my upcoming book proposal course.

A Focus on Pedigree

Nonfiction Book Proposal Mistake 7: Sure, mention you graduated from MIT and got your MD at Yale. But don’t go crazy listing every place you studied, interned, etc. Start out with what you’re known for and is related to the book’s subject. You’re an internationally recognized expert on x. Quickly back that up with your creds as a thought leader: where do you get invited to speak? Where have you been interviewed? Focus on platform because platform sells books; credentials does not, on its own, sell books. You can circle back to more about your credentials but keep them focused on those that relate to the book (or to marketing and selling a book).

Old Comps

Nonfiction Book Proposal Mistake 8: Old books as comps. I made this mistake myself. Publishers want you to compare your book to books that are on the market now. Not a classic from 20 years ago!

What to focus on in your Nonfiction Book Proposal, to Avoid Additional Mistakes

Your turn to write a successful nonfiction book proposal!

Your goal of the proposal is for the agent/publisher/acquisitions editor and acquisitions board to represent/publish the book. You want them to read the proposal and be convinced:

a) This is compelling and powerful, something people will buy. It fills a need in the marketplace.

b) This is fresh.

c) You have the platform to sell tens of thousands of books (for a large publisher) or at least quite a few thousand for a small, niche publisher.

How to Write a Book Proposal

Interested in writing the best book you possibly can? Consider joining Fast Track Your Book Proposal. I offer this program once a year.

You will learn how to write a book proposal, receive the accountability and support needed to get it done, and get my input on your book concept and other aspects of your book. In addition, the silver and gold plans include my feedback and editing on your entire book proposal.

Email me to explore whether your book idea is a good fit for this book proposal course before signing up, or fill out an application here.

Working on a Book Proposal this Summer 2019

June 17, 2019 by Lisa Tener

I’m excited to be working on a book this summer (and my book proposal for it) and can’t wait to share my inspiration with you when the time comes.

So, am I disappearing? No, but if you are interested in working on a book or proposal with me this fall, now is the time to let me know.

I’ll be offering my Fast Track Your Book Proposal program in October and now is a great time to start working on your book concept, book structure and platform building (growing your reach) in preparation for developing a standout, compelling proposal.

[bctt tweet=”How You Can Start Writing a Book or Book Proposal” username=”LisaTener”]

If that’s of interest, I recommending starting with:

The self-study program, Quick Start to Kick Start Your Book ($97 for the download version and $116 for the spiral bound notebook plus emails). This will help you develop your book concept: vision, goals, audience, features, tone, content and structure.
A book concept consultation with me ($375 to $575) where we can further refine that concept and find your “sweet spot” that captures your vision, what your market wants/needs and your passion and creativity. We’ll end with a “Meet Your Muse” guided visualization to check in with your inner guidance and creative source for confirmation, clarification and inspiration.
You can sign up for the book proposal class any time and I will credit you for Quick Start or the consultation. Once you sign up for the class, you’ll have access to all the course materials, including a workbook and more. Plus, anyone who signs up in June will receive a free copy of Mike Larsen and Jody Rein’s How to Write a Book Proposal.

Begin Early!

Fast Track Your Book Proposal officially begins in October, but now is the perfect time to start working on a book concept and structure and to work on your platform (or reach) so that by October you can make a compelling case to agents and publishers, who want to know you reach your audience and they are likely to buy from you!
Email me if you want to explore.

Tips for Writing Regularly

In a recent post, I shared some of my most recent successful writing habits, many of them learned from Eric Maisel’s Deep Writing Workshop. They truly transformed my writing practice into a regular thing that catapulted my writing to new levels of productivity and inspiration.

As a reminder, here are a few tips to fuel your writing and productivity:

Manage anxiety to get over resistance or blocks: Tell yourself a new message, if self-doubt creeps in, for example.
Write every morning first thing for 30 minutes: This is my go-to now. I often end up writing more. You can also use this time to edit if you’re at that phase, whatever moves you forward.
Identify anything that might set you back: For me it was banning novels from my bedroom so I wouldn’t end up staying up too late reading. Now I’m reading a terrific self-help book by Gay Hendricks, The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level. This book is super-inspiring, with great information, but a little goes a long way. I can read a bit and mull it over, absorbing it as I sleep. It’s doesn’t have the suspense of a novel, that pushes me to turn the page and turn the page deep into the night. Perfect.
Get in the right head space for writing by breathing, moving, time in nature or whatever works for you to support an altered state of flow.

Read more about my breakthrough and have your own writing breakthrough in your writing routine, commitment and productivity.