This course is designed to help aspiring authors take their book ideas and turn them into A+ proposals that will stand out to both literary agents as well as publishers, and hopefully lead to a book deal. How to Write and Pitch a Book Proposal is not overly long—but it definitely has everything you need. I cannot tell you how much I believe in this course, but you don’t have to take just my word for it. We were super excited when Anuschka Rees, the author of The Curated Closet (a book we LOVE), agreed to share her story with you:
I started to look around for information about how one might go about not just writing a book, but then also about finding someone to publish it. I eventually stumbled across Lindsay’s course on A Beautiful Mess, read the whole thing in one go–and felt very relieved because I now had a concrete roadmap for what I had to do next.
The course walks you through every component of a great book proposal, from your pitch letter to your chapter summaries. Two things surprised me initially: for one, that book proposals have a set structure that you need to stick to, and secondly, that a huge chunk of it should be dedicated to marketing. In other words: You need to present your potential publisher with a clear plan of who is going to buy your book and what you will do to promote it. Those chapters were definite wake-up calls because while I had already meticulously planned out each chapter of the book, I had pretty much ignored the entire business side of being an author. Thankfully, Lindsay does a great job explaining both the creative and the business components of the proposal in detail and gives you plenty of ideas for everything. There are also several examples from real authors, which I loved, and of course, lots of insider tips from Lindsay herself. I also found it very motivating that throughout the course, she emphasized that agents and publishers WANT to hear great pitches and are rooting for their authors. That little bit of extra encouragement made me feel like my proposal wasn’t going to end up in the slush pile—at least not if I gave it my best shot.
When I finished writing my proposal, I first sent it to the same literary agency Lindsay works at because I felt like I had already gotten to know her and her philosophy through her course. I was going to research more literary agents the next week, but guess what? I didn’t need to because Lindsay replied, we chatted on the phone, and just like that I had found my agent!
Within a couple of months, Lindsay had negotiated a book deal for me, and I could start writing my book! The Curated Closet came out in September 2016 in the US and Canada, and is due to be released in several more languages. Right now I am working on my next book. This time I already have an agent, but I am still going to use Lindsay’s course as a guide to fine-tune the overall concept of the book and make sure it’s well thought out from both a creative and a business perspective.”-Anuschka Rees
•How to know if you’re ready to pitch your book
•How to write an awesome pitch letter (sometimes called a query)
•How to draft an overview of your idea
•Crafting an attention-getting biography
•How to think about your potential audience
•Growing your platform as an author
•Drafting a great chapter outline
Lindsay has packed the course with encouragement as well as industry insider knowledge from her experiences in the publishing world over the past ten years. The course also includes three sample proposals as a bonus! Giving you even more guides to follow.
How to Write and Pitch a Book Proposal is a work-at-your-own-pace e-Course, available for $30 USD.
Credits // Author: Emma Chapman, Photography: Janae Hardy, Anuschka Rees, and Emma Chapman.
21 Comments
I’m so interested! Writing a book has always been my dream!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
I’m not personally looking to pitch a book, but what an interesting article! Thanks for sharing such a cool skill.
http://shannoninthecity.com
So cool! I would love to turn my blog into a book. This would be a great start!
http://objectsicantafford.com
Bookmarked the course – definitely something that will come in hafuture I think. Thanks ladies!
If you already purchased, you should still have access through your account on the shop site. When we add to or update courses past students still get to take advantage of that—one of the ways we work to keep adding value to our e-course program.
If you don’t see it in your account, email the customer service team for the shop site and they will get you taken care of.
🙂
-Emma
Really interesting tips!!!
Izzy | Pinch of delight
fashion and decoration. ^_^ love <3
This is something that has always been a mystery to me. Not looking to publish anything currently but may take it out of curiosity:)
That sounds amazing! Would it be relevant for pitching children’s picture books?
Oh thank you!
I’m in the finishing artwork stages of a fun Beginner Piano book and was online this morning looking for publishing advice – lo and behold, here you are!! 🙂 Thank you so much for the advice, will check out the e-Course.
Hi Ashley! The course will help with any book that you’re wanting to pitch. 🙂 -Jacki
The timing of your posts always hit the perfect places in my life! My mom just told my sister and me this weekend that she’s thinking of engaging a wider audience on some health information she’s been researching the past few years, and I bought her a seat in your Blog Life e-course. She’s so excited! She said she would consider blogging as an avenue toward writing a book, and… BOOM! By the end of the week, your book proposal e-course was re-launched! Never mind that my family was in town for my baby shower the same weekend Laura was celebrating with her friends and family. 🙂 I love life’s little coincidences, and I so appreciate your blog for being a bright spot in so many of my days. Thank you!
Is the course for only nonfiction books?
It is focused on nonfiction is that is the majority of what Lindsay represents, but there is info for fiction/novel writers as well. She’s also included a little on self publishing. But the course is def geared mostly toward nonfiction.
I would love to learn more about pitching articles and photography to magazine since that is something I’ve been thinking about recently. (Just in case you need any new course ideas.!)
My husband wrote a story about his career . I don’t want to sell it just need advise how to publish it for family members. Does your course teach that?
Hi! Is this course applicable to children’s books? I see that you said non-fiction in an earlier question but know this doesn’t necessarily include children’s books! Thank you in advance!
Hi Tiffany! The course is great for any kind of book 🙂
Hi– I have a question for Lindsay. If I buy this course, does she represent any publishers that publish children’s books? I have a unique children’s book idea with a very targeted –but very large–market. Since I do facebook marketing for a living, my original plan was to self-publish, run an effective PR campaign and market directly on facebook, but I’m curious about the book proposal route but wondering how much control I would be giving away. I certainly wouldn’t be interested in the typical 2% to 10% that authors get. But with the right publisher, I’d be willing to work something out.
Thank you in advance for any suggestions or recommendations!
Hi Norman! Feel free to contact Lindsay with any questions at ledgecombe AT lgrliterary DOT com
My concept has vibe similar to Human’s of New York. Would this course be appropriate? The project is truly in its infancy , but I’m wanting to plot my next steps. Thanks!