Non-fiction Proposal Guidance 

 

We accept submissions of non-fiction as full manuscripts and as proposals. A proposal should set out clearly what the book is you want to write and answer the following questions:

 

• What is the book about?

 

• What is the book’s thesis or argument, and what’s new about it?

 

• Why are you the right person to write the book?

 

• Why is now the right time to publish the book?

 

• Who makes up the core audience for the proposed book, and why will they find it appealing?

 

How to structure your proposal:

 

A proposal can be up to 30 pages long and should include:

 

• An introductory pitch: written in the style of the book (similar to an introduction) and which gets across the core idea of the book and why it is important/original/controversial and timely

 

• A biography: highlighting your personal and professional background and how this makes you best placed to write this book

 

• A section on market and competition: who might buy this book and what other books it could be compared to 

 

• Publishing details: wordcount (an average general nonfiction book contains 70,000–90,000 words) and how long you realistically need to write the whole  manuscript 

 

• One or two sample chapters: most commonly the early chapters of the book, but not the introduction

 

• Chapter outlines: usually a sizeable chunk of text (up to a page) written in the style of the book, for each chapter of the book, giving a good idea of what each chapter is about. 

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