#SCRIBE MEDIA TUCKER MAX HOW TO#

I’ll start with the “must haves” and then explain the “optionals.” The Must Haves: 1. It’s just not a logic that is apparent at first glance.Įvery proposal has to have a standard set of sections, and then there are some that are optional. The point of a proposal is to show them you can sell copies, and show them that you understand how the traditional book publishing processes work so that you are a “safe” author for them to publish. This means they need to know you and your book can sell copies (so they don’t lose their job). They are under intense pressure to produce results-which for them, is book sales. The thing that does matter to all editors at traditional houses is sales. At some houses, book ideas still matter a lot. I’m not saying the book idea doesn’t matter. Notice what isn’t in either of those headings? In effect, if the author can’t figure out their process-in their logic-they aren’t the right person to work with a traditional publisher. If it’s not, they know they can probably disregard the proposal, because the author doesn’t have the right social connections to have someone “in the know” teach them the “right” way to submit.

Traditional publishers can look at a proposal and know-in an instant-if the “right” format was followed. You see, by having such an unusual process, one that requires a person understand all the intricate unspoken rules of an “irrational” system, it acts as a filtering mechanism. The irrationality of a book proposal is actually a feature, not a bug. Signaling you understand traditional publishing and media They want a proposal because they want to know that YOU can do the job they can’t (I discuss this in more depth later on when we talk about marketing plans).Ģ. Traditional publishers are very good at selling books to bookstores, not to readers. For real, traditional publishers are very bad at selling books. Please don’t fall victim to thinking that publishers can sell books. This is the #1 thing that all traditional publishers want to see in a proposal-proof that you have a clear and definitive plan to move a lot of copies of your book. Reducing publishers’ risk by showing you will sell copies

Why is it this way? If you understand these two things, the book proposal format makes perfect sense:ġ. Logic doesn’t matter when talking about how people actually do things-though, in this case, there IS a logic to it, most people just can’t see it from the outside. Don’t try to use reason or logic to argue that it would be better a different way. Submitting an already written non-fiction book as a proposal is a great way to almost guarantee you will not get a book deal. In theory, it would make total sense to do that.īut in practice, it doesn’t work like that. The most common question I get from new authors is something along the lines of, “Can’t I just write it first? Don’t they just want to see the book?”

#SCRIBE MEDIA TUCKER MAX HOW TO#

I know this because I’ve written more than 20 book proposals that have sold to publishers at prices ranging from $150k on the low end to $2 million on the high end-and this blog post walks you exactly how to write your own (if it makes sense for you). And they are, quite honestly, a pain in the ass to write. What I’ll do here is walk you through what a book proposal is, the purpose they serve, and how to structure them.īook proposals are a very unusual form of writing, unlike anything else you’ll ever do in your life. If you’re one of those authors who can still get a deal and wants to pursue it, then this blog post is for you. We even work with some of those authors here at Scribe (Todd Herman, Joey Coleman, Steve Sims, etc).įor those authors who can get a traditionally published deal, they still need to write what’s called a “book proposal” before they can take their book to a traditional publisher to try for a deal. This is for many reasons it’s nearly impossible for most authors to get a deal, and if you get one, you won’t own the rights to your book, you won’t have creative control over your book, it’ll take forever to publish, and you can’t market it in ways that benefit you (these reasons are explored in depth in our post on publishing options if you want to really dive in).Īll that being said…there are some authors who can-and should-still get big deals from a traditional publisher. Most authors should skip traditional publishing and self-publish instead. You want to get your book picked up by a traditional publisher? Let me be very clear about this:

Scribe media tucker max