Writing a proposal sounds easy enough. I recently sent out queries for my second novel and received a request for a complete proposal. No problem. At least that’s what I thought. I’ve sent out proposals before and I had all the information saved. All I had to do was cut and paste.

Well, I got that one wrong. Something to keep in mind, different agents have different requirements. One agent’s idea of a proposal is completely different from another’s idea. Read their submission requirements before you respond.

This is not the time to be cute. If they are asking for a complete proposal, you piqued their interest. You don’t want to blow that by ignoring their request and providing what you think will give you the best shot. Your proposal idea will more than likely end up in the trash. You just proved to that literary agent/publisher, that you either can’t follow instructions or are going to be difficult to work with. Give them what they want!

So, what did my literary agent request in the proposal?

The Hook – 50 words or less. It was to include a concise summary and why a reader should buy the book. 50 words!

Synopsis – A summary of the story 1-2 pages long with a clear presentation of the plot outline and action. That was an easy one. A definite cut and paste 🙂

Market – Who will buy the book? How can you contribute beyond your circle of friends? Do you have a blog or website where you can post a teaser chapter? This is where the platform comes in. Most of us have a twitter or Facebook account, which is good, but be prepared to explain how far your reach is. Start that blog and work on building your platform.

Uniqueness – What makes your book different from other novels out there? Name 3-4 similar titles. Easy enough, you just need to be prepared to explain.

Author Creds. – What qualifies you to write this novel? Education, Journalism, or Writer training? Research? Reading patterns? A short biography about yourself in relation to your work.

Characters – A list of the key characters with brief descriptions. Probably the easiest question of them all to answer. You wrote the book. You know your characters, so just spit it out 🙂

Expanded Table of Contents – I definitely didn’t see this one coming, and it was probably the hardest for me to complete. What the agent wanted was a two to three sentence summary of each chapter. Well, I have 26 chapters in this novel and if that isn’t bad enough, I had no idea how I would break a chapter into 2-3 sentences when there was so much going on.

Why do literary agents need all of this information? If they accept you as a client and are presenting your work to a publisher, they need to be able to pitch your premise and support its marketability.

Something to think about.

-Jan R