Honestly, I’m in favor of the absolute truth in nearly all things. However, when it comes to a book proposal that you send to publishers and agents, you are describing a book that likely doesn’t yet exist. (You didn’t make the rookie mistake of writing the whole book before pitching it, did you?) You are…
How many chapters should there be in a nonfiction book? And how long should they be? Let’s break it down. Unless you have a heavily graphical book, the best way to measure chapters is by word count. Pages will vary based on the tools you’re using to write, fonts, line spacing, margins, and page layout,…
When I help authors, I often start with a brainstorm to identify a great title and subtitle. But perversely, my brain recently coughed up some titles unconnected to actual book projects. Since there are no books yet, I offer them to you. Steal my title and write the book. All I ask is that you…
The marketing section of your book proposal is crucial to getting picked up by a mainstream publisher. If you’re part of a company you’ve lined up help from the company’s public relations and promotions department, you have a huge advantage. Here’s how to describe that asset in the proposal. Making the most of a corporate…
The estimable Maggie Langrick, founder and CEO at the publisher Wonderwell, spent an hour interviewing me about everything about books. We talked about how to plan, how to write, how to promote, and basically, how to succeed as an author. It’s long. But it’s full of goodies, because Maggie knows just what to ask. Enjoy.
You’ve just sent the manuscript of your first book off to the publisher. Your brain is bursting with endorphins — and more ideas. What should you do now? Get started on the next book? No, no, no! You’re forgetting something. Your book is not done, and it is certainly not popular. You need to be…
More than anything else, I work with authors on books. It is endlessly fascinating, deeply rewarding, and occasionally frustrating, but always, always worth it. I have always loved reading. I have always wanted to write books. When I was 48, I said to myself, “If I don’t write a book by the time I am…
Everyone has writing habits. Some of them are even endearing. But when repeated, they draw attention to themselves, and that’s a distraction from whatever you’re trying to communicate. Every manuscript I edit has a problem like this. They’re all different. But they all need fixing. They’re often invisible to the writer, even if when they’re…
You did it, didn’t you. You wrote a nonfiction book (or most of one). Now you have 50,000, 70,000, maybe 100,000 words. And it’s a mess. You’re feeling desperate. You can’t start over — but how can you turn this mass of goop into something useful? Don’t despair. It’s not as bad as you think….