How to write a nonfiction book proposal: A Guide

By Louisa Deasey

A nonfiction book proposal is essentially a sales pitch for your manuscript. Book proposals aren’t always necessary, but for nonfiction books like memoir, self-help, biography or any kind of nonfiction book project, the essential components of the book proposal are really important for the author to grasp, because you can’t sell any kind of nonfiction book to a major publisher without understanding what sells books!

In this guide to nonfiction book proposals, I’m going to break down the essential elements, and answer some common questions from writers and authors making their way through commercial publishing for the first time.

First, why is a book proposal necessary?

Well, it might not be. If you have a great query and a synopsis, you might just be lucky enough to get a request for full submission without a proposal. But generally, the bigger the publisher or agent, the more likely they’ll want to see a proposal. And, for nonfiction, the all-important element of the author’s platform is essential, because nonfiction books and their authors are directly connected to how the book is marketed, positioned and how well it sells.

Three things that sell nonfiction books:

Publishers, agents and sales teams assess book proposals for nonfiction books  looking for three things: Hook, cook, book.
You’re more likely to receive an offer for publication when three things are clear in your proposal:

1. The project shows a strong ‘hook’ 
2. The book proposal shows author platform and potential marketing opportunities, because this means the author is a good enough ‘cook’ to sell the book
3. The book draft material included in the book proposal is timely, relevant, cohesive and well-written.

The tricky thing for most first-time authors wanting a traditional book deal, is that they don’t know how to pull the three elements (book, hook, cook) together in the book proposal.

Resources for you to perfect your nonfiction or memoir Book Proposal:

1: You can download a free book proposal checklist here

2: Or, buy the book proposal guide with more detail for $4.97.

Here’s what you need to include in your Nonfiction Book Proposal:

• A Synopsis or Overview of the projectThis will include comparative titles and a sense of how the project fills a timely gap in the market today.
  See also: What goes into a memoir book proposal

•  Target Audience for the project
  Prescriptive nonfiction books like self-help, business, how-to or narrative nonfiction books like memoirs and biographies are unique to fiction books in that what sells nonfiction books is essentially, how and where the author’s professional experience intersects with the readership. In your book proposal, for the target audience section, you wouldn’t just say ‘readers’. You show numbers and figures and where they are. For example, if you want to sell a memoir or biography, depending on its subject and themes, you’d detail organisations and professional groups, numbers and figures relating to audience for similar projects etc.
  This is why essays and articles are so good at leading to book deals. Because it’s highly likely that if an essay or article on a particular topic was nationally syndicated, or went ‘viral’ or led to all sorts of media interest, then there’s a captive market / audience for a book on the topic.
  I found this to be true, when I used to write freelance for Reader’s Digest on health and wellbeing topics. I published a major feature on music therapy in hospitals, and was invited on various major radio stations to discuss the research.
  If I’d had the inclination (or the material prepared!) it would have been a great chance to write a book proposal for a nonfiction book exploring sound and music therapy because the captive interest (major radio, widely circulated magazines) showed the target audience was there, and that I could reach them.
  See also: memoir essays that led to book deals.
• Author Bio or Author Platform
  This is where you need to pitch yourself well, and show how your professional published work connects to the project at hand. For a literary memoir (such as A Letter From Paris), I’d only mention literary publications in my professional bio element of my book proposal. If the book proposal was for a general nonfiction book like a series of case studies or a how-to guide, I’d include mention of published work and connected media as it related to that project.
• Comparative Titles
  See this video on my You Tube channel for a little more on comp titles in a book proposal.
  The smart use of ‘comps’ illustrates how your project both aligns with what’s selling in the category AND fills a gap in the market.
  Personally, I found the comparative title part of writing book proposals for my own books to be the most informative on how to structure particular books.
• Chapter Outlines
  The purpose of the chapter outlines in your book proposal for a nonfiction book is to show you’ve thought out the project completely. If it’s a memoir or a biography, it will also show there’s a strength to the narrative. When an editor or agent reads through the chapter outlines, they’ll be checking there are no gaping holes in the narrative, that it makes sense. If it’s a general nonfiction book, the chapter outlines give a good sense of the style and where the book will fit in the market. Your outlines could be from one line to half a page. The chapter outlines I used to sell A Letter From Paris were only one or two lines, but the synopsis was strong and i had strong sample material, too. You can get away with being imperfect with your outlines and other aspects if the sample material is strong and the story is timely!

• Sample material
  For narrative nonfiction books like memoir and biography, the sample chapters are potentially the most important aspect. Many agents and publishers have told me they go straight to the sample material. If the author’s voice is strong, and so is the story, they request more material.
  For general nonfiction books, the sample material you include will show that you didn’t just get this idea in the shower this morning. You want to show hooks to any chapters you include, which is why it’s such an important aspect to selling a nonfiction book!
  For any kind of first-person narrative, a strong ‘voice’ is what will keep your reader wanting more. Find your writing voice and unlock your story inside The Art of Memoir.

• Supplementary material
  Not all book proposals for nonfiction books include supplementary material. If you’re pitching a biography, you might include links to major news stories on the subject which have come out recently. Or, if your project is a health guide, you might include an index. If your project is an astrological guide or some kind of academic text, you might include a glossary. It completely depends on how you envisage the end product.

And that’s the key to nonfiction book proposals that sell…
Starting with the end in mind. Envisaging and cohesively presenting the end result. Where it’s going to fit in the global publishing landscape, and how that connects with your personal and professional experience around the work.

Remember, a Book Proposal is a Sales Document

So while you might enjoy writing or exploring your topic in detail, you need to be able to present it in a way that someone who has never heard of you, or the book’s ideas… is 100% convinced that this is a scoop. This is why I think it’s important to write the elements of a book proposal even if all you end up sending a publisher is a synopsis, because you need to have an understanding of how the book publishing industry sells books. Your job isn’t just to write, as a nonfiction author. You’ll play an integral role in the sales and promotional aspect of moving stock off shop-shelves!
This is another reason why the platform and marketing component are so important to nonfiction book proposals. When you pick up a nonfiction book at a retailer, start to notice what you read first. Most likely, you want to know the author’s credentials.
As it relates to the topic of the book…
You may also like: what is an author’s platform?

Finally, the all-important query letter 

Lastly, it’s not an aspect of the book proposal, but to get anyone LOOKING at your proposal, you’ll need to write a short, intriguing query letter to get an agent or publisher inviting you to send across the book proposal.

The query letter is like a micro book proposal in that it needs to show HOOK, BOOK, COOK just as clearly.

Don’t spend the first precious few lines clearing your throat to get to the juice of it. Plunge the reader into the major action or question that this project addresses, so much that they forget everything else and want to keep reading.

How do you do this?

By finding a strong ‘hook’ on which to peg your book!
Now – don’t make the big mistake I see a lot which is where a potential author positions their hook as their THEME. It’s not! A ‘hook’ needs to be more personal and compelling than the theme.
See my free masterclass on the essential components for a memoir that sells right here for more on hooks that sell memoirs and narrative nonfiction books.

In summary:

A nonfiction book proposal is a sales tool and a business plan for your book. Publishers, Literary Agents and Editors all work in a retail industry, where the product is books. You need to know the market to sell a book into the market.

Because I can tell you from hard experience, that it’s not enough to like writing, if you want to sell a book to the traditional publishing market.

You’ve got to know how the commercial publishing industry works.

If you’d like the full breakdown of how nonfiction books sell and what to expect as you make your way selling your first book to a major publisher, you can get the Book Deal Bundle right here, where I walk you through the commercial publishing industry and how it works.

Because so many first-time authors think it’s about luck, hope and chance, when there’s actually a proven system and a sales strategy to it all. I’ve broken down the sales side of nonfiction book deals in my masterclass and trainings bundle so you can go into the books industry educated, empowered and informed.

Get the book deal bundle here.