Most non-fiction submissions are turned down before anyone reads a word of the manuscript. The writing may be excellent. It rarely matters. What lands on a commissioning editor's desk is a proposal, and a proposal has one job: to convince a busy person that this book will sell, that you are the right person to write it, and that you can deliver it on time. Get that document right and the manuscript gets its chance.
A Proposal Is a Business Case, Not a Summary
It helps to think of the proposal as the pitch you would make in a meeting if you had five minutes and no slides. It answers four questions in order: what is this book, who will buy it, why you, and what will it look like when it's finished. Everything else is supporting detail.
Editors and agents read dozens of these a week. They are scanning for reasons to say yes quickly and reasons to stop reading. That means the strongest material goes first, and the whole document stays lean. A good non-fiction proposal is usually between 20 and 40 pages, including sample chapters. Longer is not more impressive; it is more work for someone with a full inbox.
The Overview: One Page That Does Most of the Work
The overview sits at the front and carries the most weight. It should include a working title and subtitle, the category, an estimated word count, and a delivery date. Then the substance: a hook of two or three sentences, a paragraph explaining the book's central argument, a paragraph describing the reader, a line each on how it differs from the closest comparable titles, and a short note on your credentials.
A useful test: after reading the overview alone, could a commissioning editor describe your book accurately to a colleague over coffee? If not, the idea is still buried somewhere in paragraph four. Write the overview last, when you know exactly what the book is.
Lead with the idea, not the backstory
How you came to write the book is interesting, but it is not the hook. Keep the personal context to a sentence or two, then get to the argument. Editors buy ideas and readers, not journeys of discovery.
Market Analysis: Who Is Actually Going to Buy This?
This is where most proposals fall apart. "Anyone interested in British history" is not a market. "Readers who enjoyed books about postwar housing policy and follow the subject through podcasts and local history societies" is closer to one.
Cover four things:
- The reader. Describe one or two real people. What they already read, where they buy books, what they search for, what they want to understand better.
- Comparable titles. Four to six books published in the last few years, sitting on the same shelf. For each, give the title, author, publisher and a sentence on how yours differs.
- Positioning. One clear sentence on where your book sits — between which two existing books, and why that gap matters.
- Why now. What has changed in the world, the field or the conversation that makes this book timely?
Never claim that nothing like your book exists. Editors hear it constantly, and it usually signals that the author has not researched properly. Never write off rival books as failures either. Be generous, accurate and specific, and check every detail you include.
The Chapter Outline
For each chapter, give a title and a paragraph of roughly 100 to 200 words explaining what it covers, the argument it makes, and where it leaves the reader. The outline should show an arc: a beginning that earns attention, a middle that builds, an ending that lands somewhere new. Do not open with three chapters of background. If chapter one is all setup, say so in the outline and expect to be asked to change it.
Note any special material as you go — interviews you have lined up, photographs, maps, tables, permissions you will need. Editors plan production early, so this information is genuinely useful rather than padding.
Author Platform: Why You?
Publishers need to know you can reach readers, or that you are at least willing to try. You do not need to be famous. You need to be visible, credible and honest.
- Your expertise or lived experience of the subject.
- Any existing audience: a newsletter, podcast, subscriber list, speaking engagements or a steady readership somewhere.
- Press, broadcast or byline credits, if you have them.
- Organisations, institutions or communities that would help you promote the book.
- What you will do between acceptance and publication to build all of the above.
Give real numbers. They are easy to check, and an inflated figure does more damage than a modest one. A list of 400 engaged readers who open every email is worth more than a vague claim of a large following.
Sample Material
Most UK publishers and agents ask for one or two sample chapters alongside the outline. Send chapter one, polished to publication standard — not a draft with a note promising it will be better. Unless the guidelines say otherwise, do not send the whole manuscript; the exception is memoir and some narrative non-fiction, where a complete draft is often expected.
Format cleanly: double-spaced, 12-point type, page numbers, your name and the title in the header, and one consistent style throughout. Submit exactly what the guidelines ask for, in the format they ask for.
Six Mistakes That Get Proposals Rejected
- Burying the idea beneath a long personal introduction.
- No comparable titles, or a claim that the book has no competition.
- A chapter outline that lists topics instead of describing chapters.
- Unverifiable numbers about audience or market size.
- A sample chapter that is really an introduction and never gets going.
- Submitting to a publisher whose list does not include your kind of book.
Before You Send It
Read the submission guidelines twice. Check that the publisher is currently acquiring in your area — lists change. Ask someone who does not know your subject to read the overview and explain the book back to you; anything they miss needs rewriting. Keep a simple spreadsheet of where you have sent it and when, and note any request for exclusivity, which is rarely worth granting for more than a few weeks.
If your book touches on health, money or legal matters, mention in the proposal how you will handle it, and be prepared to state clearly in the book that readers should seek professional advice. If you quote extensively from other people's work, note the permissions you will need. Then send it, and settle in: responses take weeks, sometimes months. While you wait, start writing the next chapter.
Photo: kaboompics / Pixabay
