I’m teaching my Book Proposal course for free. We just finished class number five out of eight. And boy are the students getting a lot out of the classes. The comments and the gratitude coming from them is heartwarming. Those who are keeping up are making great strides in their book proposals and in the development of their projects.
Some of these authors will seek agent representation. Some have publishers in mind for their projects. And others just want to maintain control of their projects and self-publish. But everyone is discovering how important a book proposal is to the author. These authors are learning volumes about their projects—things that didn’t even occur to them when they decided to write their books—things that will assure them greater success no matter which publishing option they choose.
I’m not teaching these things as much as they are discovering them through the process of writing the book proposal. For example, one student emailed me yesterday and said, “Writing the Market Analysis accomplished a couple of things: It helped me refocus on my title. The new one better represents what the book is about. Next, seeing what is out there helped me to expand what I’ll include (in my book). All in all this assignment was insightful and very helpful. I feel stronger about and more committed to my book. Also, it was fun!”
Another student said this about the lesson on targeting your audience, “This was tough, but I now understand the value of knowing who I am targeting with my book. Thank you for teaching this great course.”
One student was having trouble defining her book—she was struggling with her synopsis until I asked her (and the rest of the students) to write a one or two sentence description. She struggled with that, too—just couldn’t come up with a succinct one or two liner describing her book. That’s when she realized that she hadn’t actually defined the scope and focus of her book in her mind. And she knew she could not approach a publisher until she had. She was resistant, at first, to my suggestions that she do more research into what’s out there and what she could offer. But she’s glad she did. She was finally able to write a fairly good synopsis (or overview) of her book. It just needs a bit of tweaking and it will be good to go. In the meantime, she says, “Thank you. I had no idea I was so off base with my book. You really helped me to find my focus.”
I teach 6 different on-demand, online courses. On-demand means that you can sign up at any time and choose which day of the week you’d like to receive your lecture and assignment throughout the 6 or 8 week course. These courses are an incredible value because you also get my personal feedback with each lesson.
Do you need help with your book proposal? Are you struggling to promote your book? Would you like to start a freelance article-writing business? Do you want to self-publish your book—establish your own publishing company? Learn more about the courses we offer at http://www.matilijapress.com/courses.htm Questions? PLFry620@yahoo.com