The Better Proposal
The better book proposal is a sales brochure and a blueprint.
We help you draft the proposal that gets publishers' attention and plans out the book that meets expectations.
You need a proposal that explains who will buy your book and why, reveals that you can attract readers and media, and demonstrates your ability to explain, persuade, and entertain. And after your book has been acquired, you need a proposal that, in structure and voice, is a blueprint for the book that meets everyone's expectations.
- 01 Oxford University Press
- 02 Hill & Wang
- 03 Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- 04 Harvard University Press
- 05 MIT Press
- 06 W. W. Norton
- 07 Hachette Book Group
- 08 University of Chicago Press
- 09 University of Michigan Press
- 01 Princeton University Press
- 02 Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- 03 Simon and Schuster
- 04 Yale University Press
- 05 University of North Carolina Press
- 06 Basic Books
- 07 Mariner Books
- 08 University of California Press
- 09 Harper Wave
A partial list — the houses that have published books I've worked on.
The Platonic ideal of a book proposal.
The perfect proposal pitches — it explains, clearly and entertainingly, who will buy your book and why. It positions — it makes plain why you, writing on this subject, told this way, and in this voice will draw the attention of readers and media. It persuades, with an overview that reads like jacket copy, a comparative title section a sales rep can cut-paste, an author biography a publicist can quote verbatim, and a chapter outline that invites publishers to anticipate the finished book. Lastly, it's the chapter-by-chapter plan that will help you deliver the book everyone expects on time.
Make it the proposal an editor can't pass on.
Send us your draft or your idea. We'll tell you, candidly, what it takes to get to yes.
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