Are you working on a nonfiction book? You have a dream and a vision. You have an audience in mind—in fact, you can visualize members of this audience purchasing your book. And you plan to move forward rapidly with your project so you can make it available to the people you envision need and want it.
There’s just one problem. You haven’t asked anyone from your proposed audience if they want a book like this. You haven’t done the necessary research to discover if this book is actually needed/wanted and by what percentage of people. You just assume that since this is a topic you know, others are interested in it and want to read about it. Perhaps you’ve actually talked to a few people about the book and they are encouraging you to publish it. But are they a large enough representation of your target audience? Probably not.
Before you go off in some crazy direction eager to get your book on how to properly wear your orthodontic retainer, hair ribbons for the fashion-conscious teen, the joy of keeping your trash barrel clean, how to wash a kitten’s face or tips for cleaning your DVDs published, stop, look and listen to the experts. And the experts are saying, “Write a book proposal.”
The research you will do in order to devise a meaningful nonfiction book proposal will show you whether you actually have a viable product or not. You’ll learn if you, indeed, have an audience for your book and who they are. Through the book proposal process, many an author has discovered that the book they are writing either doesn’t have much of an audience or it’s not who they thought it was. Some authors learn, through the book proposal process, that they are writing a book that has been duplicated time and time again. It doesn’t offer anything new—the material is stale. And some find out that their plan for approaching their audience isn’t going to work well—the door to bookstores, for example, is closed to most authors today.
A book proposal, for the first time author, can be a bit difficult to construct. It can take time, tax the brain and generate unpopular results. But it can be one of the most cost-effective decisions you will make with regard to your book.
When I say “unpopular results,” I mean, what author wants to backtrack and start over with their book concept? And a genuine book proposal may indicate that you should. For example, perhaps you have written a book on a popular topic and there have been a rash of new books out on that topic in recent years. If you just barrel through with your book without checking the competition, you won’t know that the market is inundated. Once you find this out, you may decide to add an aspect to your book that none of the others include, thus you’re still writing on a popular topic, but with a new twist.
During the process of writing your book proposal, you might discover some avenues of promoting your book that you hadn’t thought of before.
Write a book proposal even before you start writing your nonfiction book and you could save yourself a lot of time, trouble and expense.
If, however, you have already produced your book and you’ve discovered that it isn’t selling as well as you expected, consider writing an after publication book proposal. I may be the only one who has created a guide for an after-publication book proposal. It’s called, The Author’s Repair Kit, Heal Your Publishing Mistakes and Breathe New Life Into Your Book. It’s a 27-page ebook available only at my website and the cost is just $5.95. Order your copy now at: http://www.matilijapress.com/author_repairkit.html
Why write a book proposal after the fact? Mainly to gain a better understanding of who your true audience is and how to effectively locate and approach them.
If you haven’t done so already, order your copy of my latest book—Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. http://amzn.to/oe56Ia
You will need the ideas and information in this book once you begin the book promotion process—but I strongly urge you to begin your education about the huge, HUGE process of book promotion even before your book is a book. I’ve seen it time and time again, authors who have not prepared for the task of promoting their books before publication, often fail in the marketplace. Book promotion is not what most authors expect. Besides, there are many things you can do before publication to ensure greater success for your book and Promote Your Book will guide you through them. Order your copy at Amazon.com today. It’s in print and on Kindle.
Here’s another idea—a FREE offer for my blog followers: Visit my website and download a FREE copy of my ebooklet, 50 Reasons Why You Should Write That Book. It’s an amazing gauge for hopeful authors. I know that many of you have already downloaded it. I’d love to receive your feedback. Did it discourage you from writing a book? Did it offer valuable insight into how to prepare for the task of publishing a book? How did it help you? http://www.patriciafry.com
Great idea! Research is really helpful in setting the direction of a publication. Making a book is mostly creative as it is entrepreneurial especially those who dream to get a cut in the publishing/writing world.