Book Proposal Resource

Oops… I slept in a bit longer this morning.  Maybe that’s because we had to turn the heat on since South Florida temps dropped into the 40 degree range last night.  That’s pretty chilly for us.

Okay, so I’ve decided to use this morning’s blog to discuss what I consider is Phase Two of the publishing process.  Before I do that though, I need to let you in on a little secret.  See… during the three and a half years it took me to write my book, I consciously chose to ignore anything dealing with what lay beyond the creative content phase.  I think I was afraid that I might find it uninspiring, and since writing is heavily dependent on inspiration, I thought it best to separate the two phases into two different mountains I needed to scale.  Looking back, I’m happy I did so.  Although I’m an avid and enthusiastic multi-tasker, remaining focused on the immediate task of completing my book protected me from my own expectations with the future.  That’s not to say I didn’t frequently imagine what lay ahead, I just didn’t allow myself to get bogged down in the minutia that would come with it.

At any rate once I completed my book and took time to revel in the fact that I had done so, the next thing I invested in was The Great Courses video series, “How to Publish Your Book” by Jane Friedman.  This series also came with a handy course guidebook.  If any of you on this blog aren’t familiar with The Great Courses, I’m sure you’ll be amazed at their educational quality and affordability.  Their website is www.thegreatcourses.com .   Ms. Friedman’s website is:  www.janefriedman.com

I learned a great deal from this video series and from Jane Friedman.  I think one of the more important takeaways was that my next step as an author of prescriptive non-fiction was to produce a book proposal.  (This is the publishing industry’s term for business plan.)  The book proposal explains the purpose of your book (i.e. product), why your book is necessary, the markets it will serve, and how you plan to use or develop your own platform to appeal to those markets.  That’s a whole LOT to think about, and although throughout the writing phase I would ponder many of these eventualities, it still rang truer to me to remain focused on the meaning behind the message I wanted to share.

But now it was time to take the next step.  So I followed Jane Friedman’s recommended format and prepared my proposal.  Although it was a rather daunting task that took me approximately two weeks to complete, it was a very useful one.  Not only did it allow me a medium to explain my book, but it cemented for me why and for whom I had written it.  And perhaps most importantly, it strengthened my resolve to get it published, and to bring my message to you.

Perhaps this is good stopping point for today to thank-you for your support in helping me move my book into publication.  Please continue to spread the word.  🙂