I Think I Made a Boo-boo

Are book proposals even used for fiction manuscripts anymore? Is this something that's outdated? Because the more research I do for literary agencies, the more I find book proposals are only requested for non-fiction books.

Or is it possible book proposals are utterly useless for fiction books and simply used by literary agencies as an extra hoop to jump through so they can avoid getting too many bad manuscripts from less than serious authors?

It would explain why numerous fiction authors find book proposals so difficult. I tried writing one for Eden Fell and it was a disaster. For my next novel, I actually found it fun and a useful writing exercise.

Oh well. I don't regret writing the proposal. If nothing else, it made the story clearer in mind. I guess only time will tell whether book proposals are useful for fiction...

Book Proposal - Part 2

Well, I finished it. I know, I'm shocked, too. It really wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. This goes back to my hypothesis and I just might be right about this one. The degree of diffuculty writing a book proposal is measured by the level of accessibility of the story. Seriously, the story is quite accessible and the book proposal was *gasp* fun! Go figure.

So, at the risk of sounding arrogant, which I'm really not, I'm feeling pretty good about this book. And, you know, hoping against hope I won't be rejected a bajillion times. But I'll take it all as it comes.

While I continue editing and poilishing up the manuscript and book propsal, I'm searching for literary agents. Yes, oh my god, I'm going there. It's just time and it feels right for me. Especially for this book.

Here's my plan:

1) Finish polishing the manuscript and the book proposal.

2) Find at least 10 names of agents. (Starting with ten names is standard).

3) Write and send out at least 10 query letters.

4) Chew my nails

5) Get at least one positive response then treat myself to a manicure.

From here this can go two ways.

A) Get an agent and celebrate with a bottle of champagne.

B) Get rejected a bajillion times and rather than give up, seek out e-publishers. I already have 2 companies in mind as a back up plan. Hence, why this is point B.

So! This means, at the same time as editing, I'm now collecting agent names and writing query letters which are personalized for each individual agent.

I'm so neck deep in the nitty gritty and have no way of predicting outcomes... I'm blank...

Book Proposals

I've tried learning how to write book proposals before, but never finished one. I've also never needed to have a finished book proposal. Now that I've finished the manuscript for my next novel, I've decided to try my hand at writing a book proposal again. Even if I don't need it for this book, I do believe it will come in handy.

So far (I'm about halfway done), I've learned several important things.

1, writing a book proposal helps me understand the story I've written more, and makes it more clear in my mind. This is a very good thing since it will enable me to cleary talk about the story to potential agents and/or publishers. (Still undecided on that front, one thing at a time).

2, summarizing the story and individual chapters have helped me realize tiny inconsistency errors and clean up the manuscript even more. I'm elated about this one. It's very hard to be objective as the author of the story, so having this tool at my disposal to provide objectivty is wonderful.

3, book proposals aren't as hard as they seem if you've got a good story. And I don't just mean a story that's original enough or anything like that. It's the accessibility of this story that allows me to actually enjoy writing a book proposal. I strongly feel this is my best work yet, and if I find it easy to summarize and explain, and even enjoy it (!), hopefully this means others will as well and I won't encounter too many problems getting the book published. Of course, I might be getting a bit ahead of myself with the one. Regardless, I'm feeling pretty good about this book. Which makes me wonder if the difficulty of book proposals is measured by the level of accesiblity of the story. Hmm, food for thought.

So, I'm going back to writing the proposal and continue editing the manuscript. Hopefully I'll be able to make it as polished as possible.

My conclusion is if I'm downright loving writing this proposal, I must be on to something good. Only time will tell...