A Publisher's Conversations with Authors: How Standardized Proposals Are Generally a Waste of Time

 (photo by Frank Perez

It is Tuesday. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side.

Today's topic is about an important understanding that many new authors do not have and that can make a huge difference in whether or not their book gets accepted--the proposal. Knowing what to put into a proposal is very important. Taking the time to write a targeted proposal will pay off in dividends. Using a one-size-fits-all proposal will not impress most acquisitions editors, even if that proposal is prepared by a consultant or specialist or sold to you by some company purporting to be very successful at getting proposals accepted by publishers. A standardized proposal will generally work against you; a targeted proposal will generally work for you.

Here is the difference between a standardized and a targeted proposal.

- Standardized proposals, no matter how polished, cone across as standardized. They tell about tour book but do not show your book fits with the publisher's publishing lines. Every publisher has lines that will fit your book -- or not. If the publisher does not publish books similar to yours, your book is not very likely to get a nod. Know what the publisher has published. Read some of the works published by the publisher. Then, you can speak knowledgably and convincingly about why the publisher should give you a contract.

- Standardized proposals may or may not respond to the questions that are most important to any given editor. Your proposal, to be successful, should respond 100% to the questions that are important to the editor you are approaching, Almost all publishers have either a template or guidelines as to what they want to see in a proposal. Taking the time to answer those questions insightfully will go a long way to getting your book being seriously considered. 

- Standardized proposals typically imply multiple submissions. While many publishers accept multiple submissions because they know that authors lose a lot of time in approaching publishers, some aspects of multiple submissions do nonetheless work against a book being accepted by a publisher. (We will address that topic in another conversation.)

As important as knowing who your target reading audience is, it is equally important to know what your target publishing house is. Who do you want to publish your book? Just like applying for college, start with your #1 hope and work your way down (and yes, you can do it all at the same time like you do with college applications, but vary your proposal to the publishing audience the same way you individualize your college application).

Lesson for today's Tuesday talk: Tailor Your Talk!
Study the publishing house, in each case, to which you will be sending a proposal. Be able to address the editor with knowledge of the the house's interests and publications--and take the time to read books they have published that are similar to your and make the connection for them. Publishers, like everyone else, are always impressed when they get a proposal that is clearly addressed to them and not to some general audience.

Read more posts about publishing HERE.

The Tuesday talks reflect real discussions between the management of MSI Press LLC and our own authors or those would-be authors who come through our doors but don't make the cut--yet. If you have a topic you would like addressed, leave the question in the comment section. Chances are, in our 17 years of publishing first-time and experiences authors, we have had a conversation with one of our authors that we can share with you.