Non-Fiction 101
Our most basic non-fiction service will get you on your way. Give us a brief idea of your book idea (over the phone or via e-mail) and we can tell you whether we think it works. We’ll briefly research what’s already out there that pertains to your idea. We’ll give you a list of people you should contact who write in areas pertaining to your book idea, a list of some books/blogs/web-sites that should be a good reference for you, and list of books and web-sites that can help you with your book proposal.
Book Proposal Writing Coaching
Have an idea for a non-fiction book? Writing a book proposal might seem daunting, but we’re here to walk you through it. We’ll take you from start to finish in the book proposal process, helping you define your idea, researching the market and competition, making it clear that you are the best person to write your book, and helping you identify what chapters need to be written for the chapter outline. We’ll help you develop a tone that’s convincing and matches the style of the book. When it’s done, we’ll edit the whole proposal and sample chapter.
Book Proposal Editing
Before we edit your proposal and/or sample chapter, we’ll discuss your needs. We can line-edit for grammar, spelling, and punctuation to assure that agents and acquisitions editors will see your words, not your typos; we can do our editing on a printed manuscript or in Microsoft Word. Or, we can read your book proposal, making sure it’s in proper format and assessing your argument and the project’s marketability. We’d then write you a two-page edit letter telling you what we think you could improve upon before sending it to agents.
Query Letter 101 and Query Letter Editing
After reading your book proposal, we’ll sit down with you (or schedule a phone call) and help you write and edit the best query letter possible. We’ll walk you through what you should highlight in your query letter, and once you write it (after all, you want your voice to come through), we’ll help you edit it so it sparkles.
Agent Selection
Finding an agent is tough: who should you pitch? Should you call them? Should you e-mail them? What do you do if you mail them a query and never hear back? Who is accepting new clients? Should you send a query letter for the slush pile in the hopes that agents at William Morris and Creative Artists Agency will be dazzled by it? Or should you bypass the agents and go right to the editors themselves?
We’ll sit down with you and your manuscript and discuss your project, and give you the advice that we think will land your book proposal with the right person. We will compile a list of agents and editors who have pursued projects like yours, so all you’ll have to do is lick your envelopes closed (or click your e-mail’s “send” button). We’ll keep a dialog going with you as you hear back from agents, and help you turn the rejections into future acceptances.
If you’ve already written a proposal and a sample chapter and just need another set of eyes for it, we’re happy to read it, edit it very lightly for grammar and style, and tell you whether we think it’s ready.