How to write a book proposal 6 – what type of book are you writing

How to write a book proposal 6

What type of book are you writing?

I spent about an hour in a bookshop recently with a client who has started to write a book.  We were looking for…

some inspiration on how her book would look when it was finished and where in the book shop it would sit.  It’s always time well spent looking at the market segment your book fits into.

And as I’ve said before publishers will begin with that.  It’s almost like Tesco taking on a new product and deciding what part of the shop it goes into.  If you’re selling a new type of yogurt then it wouldn’t be much use putting it with the wines.  It might be found there but it wouldn’t sit well in that section.

And taking the yogurt example further, whenever you look at that section it’s crammed with everything from plain(several varieties and styles of plain) to yogurt with extra elements attached to it.

So is your book of the plain yogurt variety, a black and white book with basic layout with down to earth text, maybe a how to guide.  Or is it a yogurt to attract the young, sassy market who pick out things as much for the design on the pot as for the contents?

For sure it can’t be both.  Trying to please all segments of the market can generally be doomed to failure.  There’s always an exception.  But it’s best not to count on yours being that exception.

To go along with that is the treatment of your topic.  Is it that down to earth book aimed at beginners.  Or a more advanced approach catching in some of those with experience.

All the blog entries I’m writing for this thread are pushing you towards the same thing.  Clarity and focus about what you’re writing.  The more you can present a coherent approach to a publisher in your proposal, the more likely they are to accept it.

Next week.  How to work out your contents list when you haven’t written your book.