Nonfiction Book Proposal - Online Course Syllabus

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Nonfiction Book Proposal - Online Course Syllabus

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Each week a lecture is posted, and an editor fields questions on the content. The topics covered in this course include:

Focusing Your Idea – Defining your book. What is a book proposal? Catalogue copy—angle, credentials, excitement. Catalogue copy analyzed. Titles.

Anatomy of a Proposal – Analysis of the parts of a book proposal: Overview, Market, Competition, Promotion, Author, Details, Chapter Outline, Sample Chapters. (Four complete book proposals are given to students.)

Creating Your Proposal – Advice on handling the parts of a book proposal: Overview, Market, Competition, Promotion, Author, Details, Chapter Outline, Sample Chapters.

The Submission Process – The steps from idea to publication. Understanding publishing houses, editors, and agents. Should you approach agents or editors first? Researching the right agents and editors for your book. What to send, how to send it. Query letters. Response. Rejection. Contracts. Self-publishing.

Each student will write and revise “catalogue copy” for their book, with the assistance of the instructor. The catalogue copy serves as a springboard to an actual proposal.

Note: Content may vary slightly among individual classes.