Writing Wednesday: Book Proposals

I remember before I got published, how frustrated I was that most agents and editors only ever saw a couple of pages, a synopsis, and a query letter. I felt like if only they read the rest of my book, they would see how great it was. It wasn't fair. They weren't giving me a chance.

And then something happened, the year I got published. I reached a point where I didn't want to send around a full manuscript to everyone. It was too expensive for me (this was back in 1999, when everything was still on paper). So I sent out a serious proposal instead of a full manuscript, even to those who asked for a full to begin with. I figured they could still ask for a full later if they really wanted it.

I really focused on that proposal package. I tried to make it as true to the story as I possibly could. I didn't want to grab attention by pretending that a certain part of the story was more than it really was. The Monster In Me is a quiet book, about a girl's stay with a foster family after her mother is sent to rehab for drug abuse. It's a story about her relationships with the foster family and with her mother.

I looked carefully at the book and the first chapter in particular. Was that the best first chapter? Not, was it going to grab people immediately, but was the language in it the best it could be? I rewrote that first chapter again and again. I don't mean to overemphasize the importance of a first chapter. It isn't everything. But since I planned that it was going to be the only thing people saw, I wanted it to be the best it could be. I also wanted it to be true to the rest of the story. I wanted the voice to be true.

I admit, that book has a prologue. But I made it as short as possible, and I made sure that every word in the prologue was necessary.

I sat down to write a synopsis and I wrote the first draft really, really quickly. I didn't think about how good it needed to be then. I just thought about getting the plot down in some way that would make sense. Then I let it sit for a while, and went back to it more carefully. I didn't put nearly as much effort into the synopsis as I did the first chapter. I tried to remember that mostly, a synopsis shows that you're not going to end the novel with "and then everyone died" or worse, "and then she woke up from her dream." I tried not to sweat it. It needed to read clean. I think the synopsis was a couple pages long. That was it.

My query letter was a professional, business letter, explaining what the novel was (contemporary YA of 60,000 words) and in one paragraph, explaining who the main character was, what her conflict was, and what the setting was. I didn't go on and on. Just kept it simple. Then I wrote a couple of sentences about a handful of writing contests I had won in the last couple of years that I felt were pertinent. This only mattered to me to try to make sure that it looked like I had done a little more work than the average beginner. I didn't want to try to make it look like I was pretending to be a professional already. I was a first time author, no shame in that.

In the end, I think that book proposals make sense. There are a lot of publishers who can't take your book because it simply isn't going to fit on their list. It means nothing when they reject you. The others will look at the book seriously and a book proposal will tell them everything they need to know. It will tell them that you are a rational human being (not insane--you'd be surprised how many crazy people think they are writers). It will tell them that you have done some work at improving your craft. It will tell them the kind of story you are telling, and give them enough of a taste of your voice to see if it might be something that they would connect to. That's all it is supposed to do.

I was asked to send in a full manuscript three times. Once that happened, I ended up with an offer from a small publisher (Holiday House). A one in three chance is pretty good, in my view. I think a lot of writers make the mistake of believing that they want to grab attention in a query letter. You don't want to grab attention. You certainly don't want to pretend that your book is something it isn't. You don't want to pretend you are something other than you are. Don't go on and on about who likes your book or how good you think it is. Just offer it, say if you've published something else or have won a contest. That's all. Your pages will do the rest.

And don't take rejection personally. It just means that wasn't the right person and you need to find the right one. Agents and editors who ask for book proposals instead of fulls are smart, not annoying. Don't freak out about every word. But don't send in sloppy work, either. Be a professional in the way you treat your writing and you will soon be a professional in truth.