As the Book Proposal Success course continues at pace, writer’s feedback is forcing me to crystalize and clarify my own thoughts on book proposals (and trust me I have many!) – today it was all about the point of a book proposal.
The point of a book proposal is simple. It is to do just one thing and that is to…
Get a request for the full manuscript.
That’s it!
The whole point of your beautifully crafted cover letter, your super synopsis and exquisite extract is for the agent/publisher to be so impressed they request the full manuscript.
You are not going to get a book deal from a book extract. The best you can hope for is another chance to impress.
So why does this matter?
It matters because it influences the way you pitch your book. The cover letter is there to show the agent/publisher that you pitching in the correct genre, that you have a readership and that you, as a writer, are not a nutter. The synopsis shows your story has depth and complexity. Whilst your extract shows you can write.
When writing your synopsis you should keep this flow in mind. You should remember that you are trying to move the agent/publisher through your document. You are trying to give them what they need, push them along and conjure them into that magic request for the full book.