Blend style and content into a delectable slice of your book that leaves editors hungry for more.
I once saw a T-shirt that said, “Life is one audition after another.” Your chapter is your audition for the role of author. If your overview is the sizzle, and your outline is the bones, your chapter is the steak — the meat of your proposal, a tasty sample of what's to come. It must be so substantial and enjoyable to read that editors will be convinced your book will be a movable feast.
Your writing must deliver what your introduction promises. The last part of your proposal is the only chance you have to strut your stuff, to prove you have the talent and craft to deliver what you promise. Your chapter must achieve the goals you set for it both in content and in its impact on readers. If it does, it will increase the value of your proposal by allaying editors' concerns about your ability to write the book.
An editor once said to us, “If it makes me cry, I'll buy it.” Editors long to find the same things in books you do. A humor book must make them laugh; a dramatic or inspirational book must move them. How editors feel about your book when they finish your sample chapter will determine if they try to buy it and how much passion they bring to the challenge.
A cartoon by Edward Koren in The New Yorker shows a sedan speeding away from a bank robbery with the police in pursuit, and the driver reassures a bystander, “I'm only doing this to support my writing.” If you're selling your first book, you will probably need to include a sample of your writing. The first decision you need to make is the number of chapters to prepare. This will depend on
Because you're working on spec on a proposal that may not sell, you want to minimize your time, effort, and expense. The answers to the eighteen questions in this chapter will help you understand how to prepare your chapter.
1. Can I get away with not sending a chapter? If you've already written an article or a book on the subject, your track record is strong enough, or, if your credentials are impeccable, you may not need a chapter. An outline submitted with previous work may suffice. You also may not need a sample if you've had several books published that attest to your ability to write the book you're proposing. A collection of blog posts may serve as a sample chapter, although you may want to improve them before submitting them.
Teaching, running a professional practice, or being a journalist may also be enough to prove your credentials. But, as mentioned earlier, if you don't prepare a chapter, you should write a longer outline. If you must sell your book quickly because it's about a subject in the news, editors won't expect you to take the time to write a chapter.
2. How many chapters should my book have? As you string together the pieces of information that will become your book, they will fall into natural groupings that will become your chapters. Ten to twelve chapters are common for a 200- to 250-page manuscript. The longer your book, the more chapters it will have. Take into consideration the trend toward shorter chapters and books, but adhere to the standard set by successful books on your subject.
3. How long should my chapters be? Serious books have longer chapters than books aimed at a mass audience. Your chapters are the building blocks of your book. Like the book itself, your chapters should not be one word longer than it takes to say what you want to say.
There have been a string of bestsellers that are short and have short chapters. One of the reasons one of our books, Chérie Carter-Scott's If Life Is a Game, These Are the Rules, became a #1 New York Times best-seller is that her chapters averaged two pages each.
Maintain a balance between making your chapters so thin that readers will ask, “How could he leave that out?” and so long that they say, “How much more is she going to pad this thing?” Similar books and your readers will set you straight.
Do not repeat information in your chapter that you cover in outlines for other chapters. One goal of your outline is to enable editors to understand the context of your sample chapter. If you feel they need to know something from a previous chapter to understand your sample chapter, include a comment in brackets that alludes to what you covered earlier and, if you must, explain it concisely.
4. How many chapters should I send an editor? The answer depends on how long your chapters will be and the kind of book you're writing. Except for memoirs, editors expect to see about a tenth of a book. Here are three ways for you to judge what to send.
5. How can I tell which is the best chapter to submit? The only chapter to send is the one that best blends freshness and excitement. Let it come from the heart of the book and be a shining, representative sample of what is innovative and stimulating about your subject. Balance your passion for the subject and the time and effort you're willing to expend against what it will take to get editors so revved up about the book that they'll be outbidding each other to buy it.
A cartoon by Jim Charlton in his collection Books, Books, Book shows a man standing at the counter of a bookstore about to buy a book. The clerk says to him, “You'll like this one, sir. It has a surprise ending in which the murderer turns out to be the detective.” If the surprise ending is what will most entice editors, use it. But if you're not sure which chapter to use as a sample, preparing the outline will help you decide. Certain chapters usually stand out as being easier for you to write and more impressive for editors to read. Getting feedback on your proposal will convince you that you have chosen well.
6. Is it okay to submit parts of different chapters? Editors will want to see how a complete slice of your book reads, so make your sample material a complete segment or chapter, not part of one or more chapters.
If you're doing an anthology, and you can get pieces of each part of your book but not a complete section, list the entries of your book as thoroughly as you can and then include one part of your book as complete as you can make it. Send at least 10 percent of the material from each section of your book.
7. What if my book will have short chapters? The shorter your chapters will be, the more of them editors will need to read.
8. What if I haven't had anything published? Your proposal will be all editors have to go on. The less experience you have as a writer or as an expert on the subject, the more chapters editors may need to be convinced that you can write your book. This will definitely be the case for a narrative book, the effectiveness of which depends on the writing.
Another circumstance that may require additional chapters is if your idea seems too ambitious in relation to your expertise or track record. Editors will want enough text to convince themselves and others that you are ready to tackle the project. As your in-house agent, whose job it is to stir up interest in your book, your editor needs that confidence to fight for your book.
If you were writing your first novel, most editors would expect to see the whole manuscript. Only a whole manuscript can prove you can develop character, plot, and setting for the length of a novel. If you're writing a nonfiction book that you'd like to have the impact of a novel — a dramatic story with mounting suspense about the solution of a crime or an inspirational book about someone heroically overcoming obstacles — an outline can't convey the emotional impact of your finished manuscript. If the emotional impact of your manuscript will be stronger if an editor reads the whole manuscript, be prepared to send it — or as much of it as you can.
The goals of your proposal are not to waste an editor's time and to use a minimum number of words to generate maximum excitement for your book. Therefore the criteria for deciding how much more than one chapter to send are:
9. What if my book is divided into three parts? If the three parts of your book are distinctive enough, and you think editors will need to see a sample of each, send them. They will read only far enough to reach a decision.
10. What if my book is depressing? If your subject is depressing, balance the bad news with humor or good news, if you can. Make at least the last chapter or last part of your book upbeat so editors will finish reading your proposal feeling positive about the subject, your proposal, and the prospect of working on it with you. Editors spend at least two years working on a book. They want to enjoy the time they spend working with an author. This is even more important with a book that doesn't promise to become a bestseller. However, a book's literary or social value will overcome a depressing subject.
11. Should I send the introduction? Send the chapter that will most effectively sell your book. Many readers skip introductions to get into the meat of books. Your first chapter may not be representative of your book. Also, you introduced your book in your overview, so editors don't want to read that information again. In a how-to book, an introduction may not demonstrate how you will treat the instructional material that is the reason for your book.
12. What if I've finished more of the book than I submit? You will mention at the bottom of your table of contents that you have “completed a draft of X pages/the manuscript.” If editors want to see more of it, they will ask.
13. What if I have finished the manuscript? Agents and editors are perpetually swamped and their submission guidelines indicate what to submit. They need just enough text to judge whether you can write the book. They and the other people in the house who review your proposal will read a short document faster than a long one. So even if you have more, don't send it unless an editor requests it or it's for one of the reasons mentioned above.
14. If I'm submitting more than one chapter, do the chapters have to be in sequence? Unless agent's and editors' guidelines indicate otherwise, your chapters don't have to be from the beginning of the book or in sequence, but make sure editors understand the context of the chapters you submit.
15. What if my book has no chapters? If your book doesn't break into chapters, an editor will still expect to see at least 10 percent of the manuscript.
16. What if I'm doing an illustrated book? Unless a large national audience already exists for your work, or your idea is extremely commercial, your book will need more than just illustrations. Make the project more substantial by writing the introduction for your book and providing captions and perhaps running text. Add enough text so browsers can't finish it in a bookstore. Otherwise, unless they're giving the book as a gift or feel they must own it, they may not buy it.
Editors want captions to explain illustrations. They also want a compelling reason to go to the effort and expense of producing a picture book. As for the illustrations you include in the proposal, they should be gorgeous and represent the range of illustrations in your book.
17. What if I want my book designed in a particular way? If you have a vision of how you want your book to look, and you are able to design sample pages on your computer, or you can obtain the services of an experienced book designer, include a cover design and two facing spreads — four sample pages — as examples of the design you want for the book.
These are only worth including if they are of professional quality. Even if you envision a book larger than 8fi″ × 11″ (22cm × 28cm), make your sample pages the same size as the rest of your proposal. They will be easier to prepare, reproduce, submit, and read. Your publisher will have the final say on how your book is designed. If you present a cover design or suggest a format for your book, it must be with the understanding that if the salespeople say it won't fly, you will have to compromise or seek another publisher.
18. How do you want editors to feel about your writing and your book when they finish reading your chapter? Use the chapter that will most effectively make them feel that way.
Now you know what editors expect to see in proposals. Once you start doing it, the pieces will fall into place. When you commit to writing your proposal, your sense of anticipation about your book will grow as the project develops momentum and creates a life of its own.
But before you leap into action, the next chapter will explain why the best way to write your proposal may be to write your manuscript first!