The six book proposals

•The first proposal we’ll be looking at today is for a sci-fi/fantasy novel that takes place in a South American jungle.  The hero is a hack novelist, whose fictional characters, including a serial killer, come to life.

•The second is an illustrated children’s story about a boy, his dog and a conductor, who make music from the noisy sounds of the their city.

•Then, we’ll take a look at another novel, a satirical parody of James Frey’s alleged memoir, A Million Little Pieces.

•The fourth proposal is for a treatise that tries to bridge academic and popular non-fiction on the subject of religion and contemporary culture, namely Harry Potter.

•Next is a novel about a professional chef and his search for love and meaning in life.

•The final proposal is for a biography of a rap musician from Peru, who is best known for his political songs.

If you’re here for the first time

For those who are here for the first time, in Proposal Critiques we wanted to provide a snapshot of how editors, agents, and publishers go through and consider book proposals:  A behind-the-scenes view of the quick and candid evaluation your proposal will receive when you send it to a literary agent or commercial book publisher.

You’ll hear me discussing a little of what works and what doesn’t in these submissions, and some suggestions for how they could be improved.  By necessity the discussion here is very brief, but the issues I address are fairly typical, so I hope that readers will find something to take away. When I work with a writer one-on-one as a developmental editor, of course, I go into great detail with specific changes, suggestions and comments throughout the entire manuscript.

Thanks for sending your book proposals

Hey, thanks to all of you who submitted proposals.  I hope the exercise was a helpful step in the process of writing and shepherding your work to publication.

This audiocast will be the last one in the series, as we now turn our attention in the blog to other aspects of writing and getting published.  And remember: All writing is rewriting!

If you haven’t heard the two earlier audiocasts of Proposal Critiques, go here for Round One, an evaluation of a novel and a children’s book series, and here for Round Two, an adventure novel, a biography and an inspirational self-help book.

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Three submissions: A novel, a biography and an inspirational self-help book

The first proposal we’ll be looking at today is for an adventure novel with an environmental mission.  The story is set in Africa, and confronts the conflict of our modern lifestyle versus the preservation and sustainability of nature and wildlife.

The second is a biography that promises to reveal the truth about the mysterious death and apparent rebirth of a now-forgotten American  “messiah,” who practiced faith-healing in the late 1800s.

And the third is an inspiring self-help book composed of a collection of stories about women and men who have received a diagnosis of terminal cancer but against all odds lived to tell the tale.

If you missed the first round

If you missed the first round, go here to listen to an evaluation of two proposals, one for a novel and the other for a children’s book series.

For those who are here for the first time, we wanted to provide a snapshot of how editors, agents, and publishers go through and consider proposals:  A behind-the-scenes view of the quick and candid evaluation your proposal will receive when you send it to a literary agent or commercial book publisher.

You’ll hear me discussing what works and what doesn’t in these submissions, and some suggestions for how they could be improved.  The issues I address are fairly typical, so I hope that many readers will find something to take away from the discussion, and that this gives a sense of how I work with writers to help develop their proposals and manuscripts.  For those who would prefer to work with me one-on-one, please check out my Services page.

Is this helpful?

Keep sending in your proposals to alan@alanrinzler.com for the next round.  Check here for instructions.

In the meantime, let us know through your comments if you have suggestions and ideas for what you’d like to see in this feature.

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Behind-the-scenes snapshot

We wanted to provide a snapshot of how editors, agents, and publishers go through and consider proposals:  A behind-the-scenes view of the quick and candid evaluation your proposal will receive when you send it to a literary agent or commercial book publisher.

You’ll hear me discussing what works and what doesn’t in these submissions, and some suggestions for how they could be improved.  The issues I address are fairly typical, so I hope that many readers will find something to take away from the discussion, and that this gives a sense of how I work with writers to help develop their proposals and manuscripts.  For those who would prefer to work with me one-on-one, please check out my Services page.

Two submissions: cosmic ambitions and scientific fairy tales

The first submission up for critique today is a proposal for an action novel about spirituality, with a large canvas and cosmic ambitions. The second is for a series of illustrated books based upon classic fairy tales to teach children about science.

Keep sending in your proposals to alan@alanrinzler.com.  We’ll be selecting another two for the next round.  In the meantime, let us know through your comments if you have suggestions and ideas for what you’d like to see in this feature.

You might also be interested in checking out the second round of critiques of proposals for an adventure novel, a biography and an inspirational self-help book.

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Consequently, when I appear at writers conferences and seminars, book proposals are often on the agenda.  I frequently offer my critiques of selected book proposals submitted in advance — in remarks I make to the whole group as a way to provide information that’s relevant to all writers.

This has proved to be a popular and helpful exercise, so we thought we’d try something similar here on The Book Deal.

We’re calling this new feature My Proposal Critiques, and it will appear periodically, depending on demand.

You’re invited to submit a proposal

You’re all invited to send in an abbreviated 15-page proposal, fiction or non-fiction, which should include the following elements:

1.  “Hook” or overview (one page)
2.  Chapter outline (three pages)
3.  Platform (one page)
4.  Writing sample consisting of the first ten pages of the book

Please take a look at an earlier post, The book proposal: Here’s what publishers want for more detail on each of these elements.  Again, please keep in mind that for the purpose of this evaluation, you’ll be submitting an abbreviated version — no more than 15 pages total.

When you’re ready, send the 15 pages as a single Word document email attachment to me at: alan@alanrinzler.com  In the email’s subject line please write: My Proposal Critique.

Grab me by the throat

For each segment of My Proposal Critiques, I’ll select a couple of representative proposals that I think will be most instructive to discuss, in terms of their strengths and weaknesses. I’ll draw certain generalities about what gets an agent’s or publisher’s attention when they receive a proposal, and will include my own recommendations for improvement.

For example, when I read the overview, do the first sentences grab me by the throat? Does it strike me as compelling, and original? Is there passion and confidence? Am I persuaded that the author is the best person to write this book?  Why? Or, why not?

Then I’ll take a look at the chapter outline and how it describes each scene in each chapter. Whether it’s fiction or nonfiction, I’ll be looking for the narrative arc, with a beginning, middle and end.

I’ll offer my take on how I think agents or editors might respond to the author’s platform and ability to market the book online, direct to readers.

And what about the writing sample itself? Does it live up to the expectations and promises of the proposal? If not, what’s wrong with it and how can it be improved?

On some occasions I may include a critique of a proposal for a book I’ve actually signed up.  We’ll take a look at what worked so well and what we can learn from it.

Listen in

My Proposal Critiques will appear here in the form of an audiocast, a new format for us. We hope it all works smoothly.

I’ll be basing my remarks on whatever you send, so if you feel the need to be anonymous about any details, for example the title or other identifying features, please make any changes before you submit. Once it reaches me, I’ll assume that you’ve given me permission to comment freely in my critique. I’ll be presenting each proposal without the author’s name, in any case, though I anticipate including details from the platform section.

The proposals will not be reprinted here, and I’ll be recording only my comments and evaluation of each selected proposal under review.

Will yours be selected?

I’ll be looking at everything that comes in, though I regret that time limitations will prevent me from responding to all submissions.  So, not every proposal can be critiqued.  But all selected for evaluation here on the blog will have relevance for how to improve your own proposal.

We’ll be looking for your feedback in comments to shape this feature according to what you’d find most useful.  So let us know if you want to see more of this or that.

OK, send in that proposal, and stay tuned.

To listen to round one, go to Proposal critiques: A novel and a children’s book series

For round two, go to Proposal critiques: An adventure novel, a biography and a self-help book

For the third and final installment, go to Proposal critiques: 3 novels, a biography, a children’s book and an academic treatise

Update: Proposal Critiques over for now

I want to thank everyone who participated, and hope these critiques continue to be useful to readers.