Michael Larsen

How to Choose Sample Chapters for a Book Proposal

June 15, 2020 by Lisa Tener

book proposal coach lisa reading from right — Your Book Proposal Coach

This is an updated version of my earlier post on how to choose your book proposal sample chapters. I’ve updated it to share some excellent new questions that came in from a book proposal client today.

How Many Sample Chapters?

If you’re interested in being published by a traditional publisher, you probably know you need a book proposal to interest literary agents and publishers in your book. That includes enclosing 1-2 sample chapters. How do you choose and how many?

Many agents are happy with one chapter to start but they often request the second (or more) before you actually sign the deal. You may want to give them two to start with. On the other hand, if you’re in a hurry, one will usually suffice–you can always e-mail the agent and ask their preference.

[bctt tweet=”But how to choose which chapter or chapters to include in your book proposal?” username=”LisaTener”]

A case can be made for sending your first chapter–after all, it makes the case for your book and should entice readers to buy it, devour it in one sitting and put your wisdom and tips into action in their lives. At the same time, if your first chapter sounds too similar to your book proposal, pass on it and go with a later chapter that provides more depth.

You want everything agents and publishers read in your proposal to sound fresh (a good reason to ensure differences in your query letter and the opening of your proposal as well). You also want to be sure that if you submit a chapter than can stand on its own. If your chapter includes medical jargon that is addressed in an earlier chapter, you’ll–at the very least–need to include a note that tells us what information readers will already have.

[bctt tweet=”Questions to Ask Yourself in Choosing Sample Chapter(s) for Your Book Proposal ” username=”LisaTener”]

Given the above caveats, I’d use these questions for deciding on your book proposal sample chapters for a how-to or self-help book:

Which chapters offer the most ground-breaking information?
Which chapters have particularly compelling anecdotes, examples, statistics or stories?
How about the best written chapter(s)? (if you’ve already written the book)
What chapter(s) will be easiest to write? (if you haven’t written any yet)
Which chapters answer my audience’s most pressing and common questions and help them the most?

Choosing Sample Chapters for a Memoir

If you’re writing a memoir, find the chapters that are most compelling, dramatic or suspenseful. What makes your memoir different? Any quirkiness or unique hooks? Definitely include chapters that capitalize on this. Note: with a memoir, you’ll need 50 pages as a sample and many agents/editors will want to see the whole book after that–so make sure you are ready.

In How to Write a Book Proposal (4th edition), Michael Larsen answers the question of which chapter(s) with “send one that best blends freshness and excitement.” He also suggests asking yourself, “how you want editors to feel about your writing and your book when they finish reading your chapter: Use the chapter that will most effectively make them feel that way.”

I also advise authors to use sample chapters that explore the range of the book. If there’s a how to portion of the book that follows a specific structure which follows another section of the book that is more about the problem the book will solve, you may want to showcase both aspects, rather than have the book appear more repetitive with two how-to chapters.

[bctt tweet=”Does the Book Proposal Sample Chapter Need to be Completely Polished?” username=”LisaTener”]

Today, a client asked:

“Are they called sample chapters because they are not necessarily perfect at this stage but well beyond the draft stage?
I’m not talking about typos of misspelled words, of course that would not be in a sample chapter.
But are they called samples chapters because the agent might want to make changes before going forward to a publisher?
Or are they to be perfectly written, organized, and compete?
The reason I’m asking is I have been aiming for perfection which is why it’s taking so long.
But now I’m wondering if I’m making this a grand piano and maybe it doesn’t need to be, at least not right now.”

I’m so glad he asked. Now, this author is an excellent writer and a perfectionist. However, here’s a case where perfectionism is a good thing!

Here’s what I told him:

“The book proposal sample chapters should be super polished – your best writing. They are called “sample chapters” because they are representative of the book. Strive for perfectly written, organized, and complete, but yes, your agent or acquisitions editor (publisher) may want to change some things. Everyone likes to have input and they may have some good ideas we didn’t think of.”

Of course, one can overdo perfectionism. Send your sample chapter to an editor, get feedback, incorporate it, and when your editor says it’s ready, go for it!

Looking for more tips for writing a successful book proposal? This article details step-by-step how to write a book proposal as well as links to articles on writing various book proposal sections.

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!

San Francisco Writers Conference 2018: How to Tap Into The Magic!

January 22, 2018 by Lisa Tener

San Francisco Writers Conference 2018 Guest Post by Cathy Turney

“Ingenuity, plus courage, plus work, equals miracles.”
—Bob Richards, Olympic pole vaulter and decathlete

Magic happens when you try to do the thing you didn’t think you could do. At any age.

It certainly did for a technophobic baby boomer who began writing in her “mature” adult years and ended up publishing three books and speaking at the San Francisco Writers Conference—about Twitter (Twitter!). Yes, that would be me.

Get Thee to The San Francisco Writers Conference!

If you’ve ever thought about writing, you need to go to writers conferences. There is no better way to get the total publishing picture, from both sides (traditional and self-publishing), for all genres, for promotion on all relevant social media. Attending conference presentations and one-on-ones with industry gurus not only sets you on the path to your goal but forms connections: instructors will likely remember you and possibly mentor you after everyone goes home. The best of the best is the 2018 San Francisco Writers Conference from February 15 to 18, and there’s still a wee window of time to enroll.

Many writers are introverts, which is not a bad thing (as confirmed by the book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking). But you get so much more out of conferences if you just talk to people. As author and motivational speaker Brian Tracy suggests, “Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.”

How to Start a Conversation at a Writers Conference

So how do you overcome shyness at a conference and start a conversation?

The first step is to choose a target—another bashful person. How do you know someone’s bashful, or at least reticent? Because he or she is standing in line for registration, coffee, session sign-up, not talking. You will rescue that person, who will believe that you are one heckuva confident guy or gal because you had the nerve to break the ice. Just turn around, smile and say, “Hi. What’s your genre?” (Don’t use that line at the bar.)

If your target is wearing a name tag and does not have exposed cleavage, look at it and say, “Oh, you’re from Fresno.” S/he’ll respond with something that might then direct the conversation, at which point you can ask what brought that person to the conference.

And then let the person talk.

Congrats! You just began a conversation. Others will turn around and look on with awe and you can bring them into the chat, too.

Other questions you can ask: Are you going traditional or indie? Who’s been your favorite speaker so far? Have you read Cathy Turney’s book on Twitter? And if you fear you misspoke in some way (which you didn’t, because if nothing else other people will think how kind you were to reach out), remember: there’s nothing shorter than the public’s memory.

When you run into a speaker whose presentation you loved (wearing a name tag signals that speaker is approachable—unless s/he’s sprinting to the next session), say “Hi!” and venture a quick question. The presenters are friendly. They would not be at the conference if they didn’t want to meet potential clients such as yourself. If you have a business card, give it to them because when you approach them after the conference they’ll be more likely to remember that you bonded.

Why I live for the SFWC

I live for the San Francisco Writers Conference. I come away from it each year and thank heaven I learned that, be it the latest in self-publishing and marketing, better ways to build my platform, or different writing techniques, not to mention getting to meet the authors and publishing leaders I admire from afar. Here are a few presenters I’ll be bonding with at SFWC 2018:

Rusty Shelton—marketing genius behind Chicken Soup for the Soul (and many brands), who overcame my resistance to Twitter in five minutes and started this technophobe on the path to proselytizing about it—who’d ever have thought?
Linda Lee—WordPress genius who magically tweaked my writer website into one that even millennials love.
Frances Caballo—social media interpretress who, I swear, knows everything and every program associated with the subject. And what to do with it.
Here’s a photo of Lisa Tener with Jody Rein at the San Francisco Writers Conference in 2014 (where I met them both).

Jody Rein—literary agent supreme, who shares gold nuggets of advice from her years of putting authors on the New York Times best-sellers list.
Jim Azevedo—Smashwords marketing director whose can-do attitude has launched countless writers into self-publishing. And he’s a really nice guy!
Penny Sansevieri—prolific author and disseminator of “Red Hot” marketing, media and publicity tips for writers.
Barbara Santos—marketing maven and author whose aloha spirit is felt in every aspect of the conference, along with her husband, Rich, who keeps SFWC’s website, email and every other “technicality” working.
Laurie McLean—conference co-director and founder of Fuse Literary, which has published numerous best-sellers.
And, of course, Michael Larsen and Elizabeth Pomada—founders of SFWC, literary agents, and icons of the publishing world who bring us, their disciples, up to speed on the make-or-break information we need to succeed as authors.

(to name a few.)

Twitter Tips for Conference Goers

Most conferences use hashtags to communicate with others at the conference, during the conference. It’s a great way to make new connections and develop online relationships, supporting each other in your respective work. You can quote a conference speaker in a tweet and the hashtag (#SFWC18) will help people at the conference find your tweet.

Hashtags aggregate conversations so that the tweeter can channel her post into streams where it will get the most interest. Or where people looking for a particular topic can go to view posts about it. An analogy would be a party, where clusters of attendees are discussing different topics and each chat cluster has a bubble with a hashtag and word in in it denoting their topic. For instance: a group chatting about food would be #food, one talking about kids would be #kids, and so forth.

San Francisco Writers Conference’s hashtag is #SFWC18. Once the conference begins it will become a raging river. Attendees will use it to arrange meet-ups, to share conference information with others who aren’t attending, to post photos and shout-outs to their favorite speakers, the possibilities are endless.

Quote your favorite speakers and tag your tweets with #SFWC18. In addition, see if you can locate the speaker on Twitter and tag them with the @ symbol. For instance, to quote Frances Caballo, include “via @CaballoFrances” in your tweet, as well.

For the San Francisco Writers Conference, remember to end your tweets with #SFWC18.

Before flying off, I’d like to say don’t let Twitter intimidate you. There is so much about it that you don’t even need to know about. Relax. Focus. You can quickly build platform and share your product or service with thousands instantly. And if you attend the San Francisco Writers Conference please attend my session, “Twitter—Why? Why? Why?” I’ll follow you everywhere!

Join me at the San Francisco Writers Conference—I promise there will be magic.

The Book That Made My Career…and the Perfect Gift for an Aspiring Author

December 2, 2017 by Lisa Tener

Here I am with Mike Larsen at Book Expo America in 2012, thanking him in person for his profound impact on my career.

The Greatest Resource of My Career

Of any book I’ve read, How to Write a Book Proposal has had the greatest impact in helping me create my career as a book writing and book proposal coach. The book gave me the information I needed to make my clients successful and, in turn, experience my own success.

If you’ve been reading this blog for some time, I’m sure you’ve seen me write about–or heard me recommend–Michael Larsen‘s bestseller How to Write a Book Proposal. It’s the book that literary agent Rita Rosenkranz recommended to me way back when I was working on my first book proposal with my co-author, Peaco Todd. And the book that helped us land a book deal.

Since then, I’ve recommended How to Write a Book Proposal to all my clients who want to land a traditional publisher and a book deal. I’ve seen the book through four of its five editions and it keeps getting better.

What’s New in the 5th Edition of How to Write a Book Proposal?

This year’s edition is particularly exciting because my colleague, literary agent Jody Rein, joined Mike in revising the book significantly to address massive changes in the publishing landscape, including the many opportunities now available to authors to develop a tribe and reach readers.

Mike and Jody have completely restructured the book to provide a streamlined, logical, step-by-step approach.

They have also added new subject-specific proposal instructions for thirteen different types of books, from memoir to business books to cookbooks. In the past couple of years, two of my clients wrote books on diets with recipes–a new genre for me! Fortunately a colleague from Harvard Medical School’s CME publishing course gave me valuable advice on the idiosyncracies of this type of book and both proposals led to publishing deals. But how can newbies find such info? Look no further than How to Write a Book Proposal: 5th Edition .

As a professional in the field, I found new information and ideas which I plan to implement in guiding clients and editing their proposals.

Jody Rein and Lisa Tener — Here I am with Jody Rein at the San Francisco Writer’s Conference in 2014 (where we met).

Other exciting additions to How to Write a Book Proposal include:

Customized instructions in every chapter for prose-driven books and platform-driven books
New material based on interviews with scores of current publishing professionals
Examples from more than 30 big-ticket proposals, most of which are only in this edition
Advice for:
- Writing and selling proposals in the digital age (things aren’t the same!)
- Selling your self-published book with a proposal
- Turning your proposal into a business plan for your self-published book
- Adding eye-catching “pizzazz” to your proposal
Top Ten Proposal Killers
Voice in proposals
New proposal structures for narrative nonfiction and memoir
How to set up your office for success
A new proposal-writing order to enhance your productivity

Special Savings!

Wow. Are you as excited as I am? There’s more to be excited about. I just discovered the book is on sale for $8 with free shipping at Writer’s Digest. I just ordered 11 copies for gifts! If you read this after the price goes up, you can still get a 30% discount December 13-14 with this code: SEASON30 and 20% off until the end of the year with this code: BOOKP20 .

Get Your Copy on Sale at Writer’s Digest Today!

How I Ended Up Guest Posting on a High Profile Blog for SEO Gurus

June 1, 2016 by Lisa Tener

On Tuesday, my guest post on Grammar Mistakes, Fixes, and Writing Tips for the Excellence-Minded Blogger went live on AHREFS blog.

It was exciting because, for me, this post was a stretch beyond my comfort zone.

Why did this particular blog intimidate me? For one thing, the length and depth of the posts on AHREFS were more than I am used to. In addition, they do in-depth research on keywords before posting. Plus, they use lots of internal and external links (links to other posts on their blog and to data and research that supports the strategies they offer).

And, of course, the writing is always high quality. These guys take their blogging very seriously.

So, I wondered, could I do all that? I’m not a research wiz and I don’t know as much about keywords as I’d like. And could I come up with all those examples by end of month?

How I Came to Guest Posting

Guest posting is a great strategy for reaching new people with your message and also can benefit your search engine rankings.

Guest blogging also invites you to stretch your metaphoric muscles. It can stretch you as a writer—as it did me—to write to a specific audience and write to the style and guidelines of the blog where you are posting.

However, I wasn’t trying to be strategic (and land a guest post) at the time.

Instead, I was wandering the Twitterverse looking at interesting content to share and found a blog post on The 2 Best Online Marketing Strategies for Businesses on a Tight Budget by Jacob McMillen. It was an impressive post—as are all the posts on AHREFS. [2022 note: I’ve taken out the article links as the blog is updated and these links no longer work]

I happened to notice a typo and I know I like to hear from my readers so I can correct any typos on my blog. I figured they might be of like mind.

So I wrote them.

And they wrote me back. Next thing, their blog editor, David McSweeney, invited me to write a guest post on grammar and writing tips for bloggers.

I felt so excited to be invited, because AHREFS has high standards. Their posts are full of excellent content—fresh ideas and strategies that are tested and work, excellent examples, quality links, research…

I took up David’s invitation.

Writing My Guest Post—Step by Step

I looked up their guest blogging guidelines. Uh oh. They didn’t seem to have any.

I emailed David who responded with, “We actually took them down as we are being very selective about guest posts at the moment. We’re more inviting people than looking for unsolicited pitches. The main guideline is that posts should be detailed and actionable.”

Now, the pressure was on.

As I browsed the site, the pressure mounted—each post seemed more well-researched and meaty than the last. And many posts had all these fancy screen captures to take readers step-by-step through their strategies. I had no clue how to do those screen capture thingies.

Plus examples for every strategy suggested.

How was I going to pull this off?

I have to admit. I spent more time writing the AHREFS post than I spend on most of my own posts, which tend to be much shorter and don’t have much research associated with the majority of them. Don’t get me wrong—I’m proud of my blog posts. They’re just a different style from AHREFS and a lot more informal.

Of course, about half of that extensive time I took to write my guest post was in researching their posts and then worrying about whether I possessed the chops.

I incorporated many of the strategies they suggested and modelled: headlines to break up text, lots of white space, internal and external links, including colleagues in the post.

I did not incorporate everything. I didn’t link to lots of research–but I did ask the folks at Grammarly for expert input (a quote) and any research they had on grammar and reader perceptions.

I didn’t do extensive keyword research—it’s not my expertise. I realize that’s a bit ironic since AHREFS offers tools for keyword research and search engine optimization! However, I did include my keywords in my title and throughout the post, in a non-spammy way.

I quickly realized that if I wanted examples, the best way to do it would be to include advice from my colleagues—writers, bloggers and, specifically, grammar bloggers.

identfiying bloggers — Frances Caballo helped me identify grammar and writing bloggers to approach.

I identified colleagues I’ve known for years—Frances Caballo, Stuart Horwitz, Ginger Moran, Michael Larsen, Samantha Bennett—and, with some help from Frances Caballo, I identified colleagues I’ve recently gotten to know a bit through Twitter—Jane Friedman, Mignon Fogarty (Grammar Girl), Susanne Lakin (whom I’d guest blogged for earlier, thanks to my friends at Shelton Interactive) and the folks at Grammarly. I even heard a great tip on a teleseminar on SEO tips with Neil Patel and asked him if I could quote him (Answer? “Yes.”).

Confession: At least two weeks passed between the time I identified colleagues and the time I actually got around to asking most of them. I think I delayed because of my overall fear of writing the post. In retrospect, it would have been less stressful—and more considerate—to email colleagues as soon as I placed them on my list.

I handed in my post with more than a little trepidation.

When David responded favorably (“Wow, what a great post.”) I could finally relax.

Then he wrote back asking if I was open to a new title. Of course.

While, at times, I have a knack for book titles (The Creativity Cure comes to mind), I often struggle with titles for blog posts (and email subject lines, BTW). So, it wasn’t a total surprise when David asked about changing the title (the original white bread version being, “Grammar and Writing Tips for Bloggers”).

We brainstormed by email and David suggested modifying one of my subheads and using that as a more compelling blog title. Done.

11 Lessons I Learned Guest Blogging for AHREFS

So, here are my takeaways from the experience, as well as earlier experiences writing guest posts for Writers Digest, Live Write Thrive, Positive Writer and Inspired Living Publishing:

Don’t be afraid to reach out to people you don’t know. You never know what will come of it.
Be willing to write outside your comfort zone.
Read the submissions/style guidelines. If they are not posted, ask for any guidelines they want to share.
Be sure to look at several of the blog’s most current posts and match those posts on length, style, content and, to some extent, tone.
Link to other posts on that blog/website.
Consider including and quoting other experts as a way to spread the love, reach more people and add texture and depth to your post.
Know your weaknesses. Decide whether you need help on particular aspects that are not your forte.
Spend time on penning a compelling title. If that’s not your strong point, see tip #7.
Start as soon as possible. I should have emailed colleagues sooner for their tips and strategies.
Make it actionable. This is something they stress on the AHREFS blog.
Take a deep breath and enjoy the process. Worrying about whether you’ll do a good job just wastes time and energy.

Have you ever guest posted on a blog? What was your experience? Feel free to share any takeaways and a link to your post. And if you invite guest bloggers, please share any additional tips or takeaways to share with our community?