Authors often ask me about the “Resources Needed to Complete the Book” section of the book proposal. My thinking has always been that there’s no reason to include it.  An author’s advance will reflect the publisher’s estimate of how many books they think they can sell and how much competition there is from other publishing companies.

After going on instinct for the past few years, I decided to ask an agent and make sure I was on track; maybe I was wrong. I asked New York literary agent Rita Rosenkranz for her take on the issue. Should you include resources needed to complete the book?

Rita said, “I discourage authors from including this in a proposal because, if an author needs only $2,000, for instance, the publisher might low ball the author’s advance. It’s obvious from some proposals that it will be expensive for the author if a lot of travel is necessary, let’s say, and a publisher might factor that in when deciding on the work no matter what the author’s stated needs.”

When you send your book proposal to an agent, this section is unlikely to be on their radar screen. And when your agent sends your book proposal to publishers, you want to rely on your agent’s selling savvy to get you the best advance possible. It just isn’t to your advantage to put expense numbers into the mind of the person reading your book proposal.

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Have a book proposal question? Ask away or read this article which includes several links for other posts on tips to write specific sections of a book proposal: How to Write a Book Proposal.