Some media professionals have estimated that a million manuscripts and proposals are in circulation in the publishing world. These stacks of paper sit on desks and in mail room and inside computers. I’ve been inside some of the top literary agencies and publishers in the country. While you may be getting silence or rejection letters from these places, I know they are reading their mail and email. Each of them is asking me, “Where is the next bestseller?” Each of them is actively looking for the diamond in the rough.
In addition to competing with other authors for attention, another reality is the editor, or agent will read a limited amount of your work and make a yeah or nay decision in a short period (even seconds). In this article, I want to give you four ways to stand out from other submissions. Each of these actions may be simple to read but will take work and craft for excellent execution.
Send A Complete Proposal
First your obligation is to make every detail in the proposal perfect. The grammar and spelling must be exact and correct. The editor’s name must be spelled right. If those details aren’t right you will land almost immediately in the rejection pile. Of the thousands of proposals that I’ve reviewed from would-be authors, you’d be surprised how many of them fall down and fail in this area of the simple details. If these details are not right, then it makes the editor or agent to question how you will handle the details of your book manuscript. Will you be someone who turns in a manuscript which is riddled with spelling errors? You don’t even want the editor to have this thought. The spelling and grammar and editor’s name are basics.
The hardest element to find is something not there. In a matter of minutes, I can often spot the missing elements. I encourage you to get my free book proposal checklist and doublecheck your submission before you send it.
Add An Innovative Marketing Plan
Whether you publish traditionally, interpedently or self-publish, the bulk of the marketing will fall on your shoulders. Your editor or literary agent needs to see that you have connections to your readers and a solid execution for it. The more specific details you can add into your proposal, the better.
If you include a practical and achievable marketing plan with your proposal, you will cover the third way to make your proposal stand out from the other submissions. Why? Many authors assume the publisher will do all of the marketing for their book—and that is a completely false assumption. Yes, your publisher will have a keen interest in the success of your book. But they will also have other books which release at exactly the same time and be concerned about the successful launch of those books. In addition, understand that you are the person with the greatest passion for your book and your subject matter. Literary agents and editors are looking for writers who will passionately pour their energy into telling other people about their book. They are looking for authors who have a newsletter with a large mailing list or a large established database of connections with book reviewers and journalists. Take the time and energy to develop a practical plan of specific actions you can execute to tell other people about your book and why they need to purchase it. If you include such a practical and realistic plan in your book proposal, it will distinguish your proposal from anything else the editor or agent have under consideration.
There isn’t a single way to make your proposal stand out. First, let me encourage you that every editor and agent is actively looking for excellent projects. Yes, they may like to act like their “list is full” or they “aren’t taking on any new clients.” The reality is, each one is looking for the “right” idea or the “right” author and because of the subjective nature of this business that “right” idea will be different for each agent and each publishing house.
W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in California. 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. Get a free copy of his proposal book (follow the link). 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.
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