Writing A Book? Read This
Part Six: What Exactly Is A Proposal? It Depends.
Recently I have encountered authors, generally like me, demographically venerable, who have endured baffling and demeaning experiences when contemplating doing a book.
And lest this be considered something of a whine; because I have creditable experience in the field myself, I’m regularly consulted pro bono, not just by would-be or first-time authors but some who are established, with reputations and even bestsellers to their credit.
The situations vary, and out of respect to all concerned, I’m not going to use names. (I have described the related process of Cormac McCarthy’s ascent from obscurity as a novelist) There are, however, enough similarities in these stories to suggest a trend, perhaps not altogether new but certainly increasingly the case.
The trouble seems to start with the book proposal, which agents need to pitch the project to prospective publishers, more often than not with the goal of setting up an auction for the rights. But even “exclusive” submissions – in which a single publisher is offered first dibs – seems to require something extensive to prove the bona fides of writer and subject.
The definition of proposal according to Merriam-Webster is: “a stating or putting forward something for consideration.” So, the purpose is to present at the outset a plan, a vision for what the book will be.
As an acquiring editor of nonfiction for decades, my preference was for a concise description and a meeting with the author at which, on the basis of a dialogue and instinct, I was prepared to make an offer. I considered a proposal as an opening concept to be shaped as the writing went on, often becomeing something quite different.
When the idea for a book was mine, I was the one making the proposal to a writer. (Fiction acquisition almost always requires that enough of the book already be written to forecast its future.)
But today the proposal – a full-fledged brief on behalf of the book – has become the norm. The proposal is shown by the editor to the rest of the team, the publisher, the sales and marketing people, and the publicists to determine whether and at what level the author may pull off the prospective vision of the project.
Unless the editor is so persuasive and/or so formidable in stature, the book tends to be turned down, usually because a meeting consensus is that its potential in the marketplace is, in one way or another, limited. The uncomfortable truth is that most book proposals are rejected, or in the less derisive term, “a pass.”
What then is a proposal in today’s definition?
Here, as I have heard of them, are some of the requirements for a proposal of impact:
An overview of the subject, expected to be about the length and in the style of a book introduction.
A detailed chapter outline, sometime accompanied by a sample chapter.
A list of comparable books to the one being offered. And those need to be recent, in the past three years or so, to demonstrate sales potential.
A summary of the author’s notable contacts for publicity purposes and blurbs. As well as a record of publicity for past books.
(You can be sure that the “track” – the sales record of previous books – will be researched. And, as in a resume, padding the reality is a disqualifier.)
If there is going to be news in the book, a summary of what that will be is expected.
In effect, the author is told to write the proposal as though the book is essentially ready to be sold, when usually it is barely started and may take years to complete.
Two other points of relevance. Writing a proposal of this magnitude is a genre of its own. Agents will sometimes hire someone else for thousands of dollars to write it for the author to meet the specifications.
And, after all this is done, a friend told me that an agent said that only then would he agree to representation, a definite diss.
Why does this happen? Here are my views:
The agent’s mission is to sell the project at the best possible price, something that will satisfy the author and provide the commission, which is, after all, what the agent receives as compensation. That may not be the highest amount offered – but usuallyis.
Leading agents have reputations in the field connected to the advances they secure. Their known success is what the editors calculate when a submission is received.
“This agent (or this author) will be looking for six- or seven-figure numbers…” tends to be what the editor tells others who read the proposal. In fact, many authors, for one reason or another, would be willing to write the book for much less. Understandably, agents prefer higher numbers.
It can be as hard and time-consuming to sell a book for ten dollars, they say, as it is for hundreds of thousands.
At most of the larger publishers, the people who review proposals (aside from the editor) by background, age, and interests may not know the topic well enough to gauge its prospects. Hence the heft of the material required to enable their decision. The proposal is designed to influence people whose attitude is shaped by potential of a project’s success more than its eventual contents.
Staff at smaller publishers can make choices with less ambitious financial parameters – which is why agents are far less likely to submit their prime projects to these houses.
Naturally, the more prominent the editor, the more confidence others will have in his or her judgment. In today’s corporate publishing, where every book also carries a share of the company overhead, stature is often not enough to succeed against others in an auction when the advances are high.
Here is my compensating – and upbeat – insight.
A visit to the spacious McNally-Jackson bookstore in New York’s South Street Seaport, one of the city’s best independents, where new titles are displayed along with the backlist and classics, demonstrates that for all the obstacles, books of all kinds are being published. My sense is that the majority of them have endured the agent / proposal / auction marathon.
Which leads to my conclusion in this piece as in others.
Writing a book?
Don’t take it on unless the urge is real, and persistence and patience with the process is necessary. I empathize with my venerable cohort being treated with skepticism when they conjure a book. It is not personal.
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