As a speaker at Blissdom Canada, I had promised to share, here on Parent Club, some of the information in my “Blog to Book” session. From how to write a book proposal to some valuable Canadian author resource links – I hope this is a starting point for your writing journey. As someone who sent an unsolicited, non-agent-ed, book proposal and got a book deal (I am the true “Blog to Book” story!) these are some tidbits of author information which I think are the most valuable to share.
How to write a book proposal
- Title page (you want your name, contact info., title)
- Overview (1 paragrahp of what the book is about. Include a “book hook” – 1 sentence to hook the reader)
- About the author (bio, blog, blog stats, social media reach, ambassadorships, brand partnerships, awards)
- Promotion & platform (blog tours, twitter chats, school visits, press releases)
- Market analysis (3 popular books in your field – and what sets your book apart from them)
- Testimonials (from other authors, brands you have worked with, editors)
- outline (chapter break down with a sentence describing each chapter)
- Three sample chapters (not your introduction nor 1st chapter)
- SASE (self addressed stamped envelope)
- No staples, paper clip or hole punches! (many agents and editors use binding tools to differentiate the proposals they don’t want.)
Canadian Writer Resources
•Association of Canadian Publishers http://publishers.ca/
•The Canadian Children’s Book Centre http://www.bookcentre.ca/
•Query Shark (http://queryshark.blogspot.ca/)
•Query Tracker (http://www.querytracker.net/)
•Professional Writer’s Association of Canada (http://www.pwac.ca/)
•Canadian Author’s Association http://www.canauthors.org/
•The Writer’s Union of Canada http://www.writersunion.ca/
•CANSCAIP http://www.canscaip.org/
•BC Arts Council http://www.bcartscouncil.ca/
•Saskatchewan Writer’s Guilde http://www.skwriter.com/
•Ontario Art’s Council http://www.arts.on.ca/page119.aspx
•Union des écrivaines et écrivains québécois http://www.uneq.qc.ca/
•Atlantic Books http://www.atlanticbooks.ca/books/
•Travel Media Association of Canada http://www.travelmedia.ca/
•Try NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month November) http://nanowrimo.org/
Thanks very much for this. I’ve thought of writing a book about my life for many years, in fact I had written about 300 pages at one time and then I gave up. I can’t remember why I gave up, but I did.
& of course, congrats to you for your writing success story! Very cool!
“Make. It. Happen.” my best advice for writing a book. You have to make it happen. Don’t give up.
Some time ago I sent an enquiry to a Toronto Star columnist. That action apparently got me on her mailing list because I recently received notification of her new book. Can I similarly expect to be notified when your book is available?
Looking forward to reading more of your great ideas.
Thank you for the tips and resources. I’ve been writing for years (100% for my own use and emotional/mental decompression) and was recently asked to share it with others after allowing a few close friends to read it. Thanks again!
Amazing to be asked to share with others – keep writing and sharing!
Thank you so much for sharing! I’ve been working on a book for a while now but I’ve been having difficulties finding detailed information (how to put together my pitch, etc.) for Canadian publishers that may be interested in my type of book. I really appreciate your advice and I’ll be checking out your books soon!
Great information I will use when I make out my book proposal