The Difference Between a Fiction or Nonfiction proposal

Possibly you are an author who writes nonfiction and fiction. Because I’ve worked in both areas of the market—fiction and nonfiction—it’s valuable to clarify the distinction. In simple terms, nonfiction is factual whereas fiction is a created story. Sometimes new authors get confused about what they need to market their fiction or nonfiction materials to a publisher.

Two of my published author friends referred someone to me. Often it takes several email exchanges to figure out why I am corresponding with a person and what they need. In this situation, the individual had a proposal for a publisher. If it’s a fiction project, then I want to correspond with the person using my publisher email address and because of my position with the publisher. On the other hand, if the proposal is a nonfiction project, then I will probably correspond with them through my personal email address. On a rare occasion, I help people get their nonfiction proposals into shape to show a publisher. On other occasions, I will co-author a project with someone and other types of combinations. It takes some exploration to determine what a person needs and if I can help this person.

I began to exchange emails with this unpublished writer who had received a sample book proposal from my published author friends. The writer followed their example and submitted it to a major publishing house which rejected it. This person wondered whether or not he needed my help with the proposal creation. To sort out what needed to be done, I asked the writer to send both proposals to me—the one from the published author friend and the unpublished proposal. I received them within a short period of time.

First, I looked at the proposal from my published author friends. I was a bit surprised at the simplicity and lack of completeness of this book proposal. As an editor, I’ve seen many book proposals and can quickly evaluate them. Some published authors, after achieving a particular level of book sales and market success, don’t have to produce a complete book proposal to get a publishing contract. Because of their track record of book sales or the ready-made audience and market for their writings, their submission process is much more simplified than the unpublished author.

Next I looked at the unpublished author’s proposal to see if it needed to be reworked before he sent it out to other publishers. At a glance I could see the problem. This author used a nonfiction proposal format for a fiction proposal project. He was wasting his time, and energy to market the wrong project in the wrong format. No wonder the publisher rejected his submission.

When I wrote and asked him about it, he quickly responded, “Is the proposal for a fiction proposal different from a nonfiction proposal?”

I told this potential author that the forms were radically different. You are doomed if you follow a nonfiction book proposal format for a fiction submission. I assumed this author was a first time novelist. In general, publishers require these authors to have completed the entire 80,000 to 100,000 word manuscript. It takes a great deal of time and energy to write 100,000 words (typically about a 300-page novel). Usually driven from the need to tell the story, these writers work long hours at their computer to complete the manuscript. For the book to be published, these pages need to be polished, fast-paced and generally excellent. If the novel requires a great deal of work, then it’s almost certain to be rejected. Many authors have heard the story of Max Perkins, the editor for Thomas Wolfe. Perkins would pull a little of this and a little of that and from his editorial skills create a classic novel. Those editors are long gone in this business. Instead, the publisher expects the novelist to complete the entire work on speculation—without any certainty of a publishing contract. Why?

I’ve heard numerous horror stories from long-time editors who contracted a novel because of a dynamic chapter or a terrific plot. Often fiction will change as the story is written. An inexperienced novelist writes their plot into a place where they are stuck and they don’t know how to complete the story. This type of situation becomes ugly for both the author and the publisher. From these experiences, publishers have learned to ask for the entire manuscript from first time fiction writers. In addition to the completed manuscript, first time fiction authors need a dynamic synopsis, combined with an outstanding marketing plan, to explain how you are going to personally sell your book. Finally you need to tell the editor a bit about yourself in a short personal bio. Novelists will send out shorter pieces, such as a couple of well-done sample chapters, synopsis, marketing plan and bio, and then ask if the editor wants to see the entire manuscript. An excellent book on this process for fiction authors is Your Novel Proposal From Creation to Contract by Blythe Camenson and Marshall J. Cook.

The story for nonfiction is totally different. You can write a nonfiction book proposal and get a publishing contract. From my experience an excellent proposal is critical for nonfiction and fiction. Several years ago, literary agent Jennifer Rudolph-Walsh was interviewed in a writers’ newsletter. Over ten years earlier Rudolph-Walsh was an agent with the Virginia Barber Literary Agency and pulled in a $400,000 advance for Ethan Hawke’s first novel. She said, “A well thought out proposal with an outline and a table of contents and maybe one to three sample chapters is enough. A friend of mine had a whole nonfiction manuscript and couldn’t sell it.” Rudolph-Walsh had the author chop off the first three chapters, then she sent it out and got $550,000 for something that couldn’t be sold for any price only four months earlier.

What counts in a nonfiction proposal is the promise of what’s to come with the finished manuscript and the editor’s potential to push the manuscript slightly in one direction or another. My experience says that the editor doesn’t push it much in the process, but because a proposal is in more of an “outline” format, it has the illusion of the editor pushing it. Normally I’ve written each of my nonfiction books exactly like I wrote them in the proposal—chapter by chapter.

Keep these statistics in mind as you think about your nonfiction book proposal. At any given time, 500,000 proposals and manuscripts circulate across the United States. With good writing skills and using the secrets in this book, you can beat these odds and get a contract. One major publisher received over 6,000 unsolicited manuscripts and proposals in a year, yet didn’t accept a single one. These thousands of proposals weren’t written well and didn’t include the necessary elements of a proposal, nor were they appropriate for this particular publisher. The writer has to fulfill every expectation in order to stand out from the other submissions.

Book Proposals That Sell can save you hours of effort and potential heartache. As you write, keep in mind this important statistic: nine out of ten nonfiction books are sold from a nonfiction book proposal.

W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in Colorado. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham. To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. Check out his free Ebook, Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com. Connect with Terry on Twitter, Facebook, his blog and LinkedIn.

Check out his free Ebook, Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com. Connect with Terry on Twitter, Facebook, his blog and LinkedIn.