What constitutes a really good proposal

Let's backtrack a bit here. You want to write a great proposal first, right? So, what are the key elements?

First, editors really don't care about formatting, font size, and spacing. Some authors seem to get all bent out of shape over this--"Do you want Times New Roman 12 point?" If your proposal is readable you should be good to go.

Editors are thinking big picture, not the details. So you need to look at the big picture too.

First, you and your agent need to have a good handle on who your customer is, and by customer I mean publisher. After all, you're selling a product. Would you try to sell blood pressure cuffs at a pool supply store? Of course you wouldn't. But you'd be surprised at how many unpublished authors waste good money sending proposals to publishers who would never in a million years publish such works. Think Horror Fiction to a publisher of science textbooks--not a good match.

Once you've found publishers who are aligned with what you want to write, you need to think about "Hook"--what will make your book stand out from all the rest? Anyone can write run of the mill--so how are you different? Stress this difference in your proposal. If you can, point out how this "angle" has worked for others in the past and yet how yours is unique from this. If you can obtain sales figures for such successes, that wouldn't be a bad idea either. Then what makes YOU the right teller of this story? And don't tell the publisher that "I've always wanted to be a writer...I wrote my first story when I was seven years old." Everyone says this. It's boring. You want to stand out.

Also in your cover letter, you'll need to boil down your story to one amazing sentence. Sound hard? It is. Editors are busy people--they need sound bites to save on time. If your premise grabs them, it might grab actual readers. So distill your story to one succint statement. Try it out on friends and see if it makes them think.

You'll also want to include a synopsis in your proposal, a chapter by chapter, play by play of what exactly will happen in the story down to the ending itself. A synopsis is the "telling" of what the book should later "show." If you're a student of writing you know these terms well. Don't make your synopsis so long as to be a book in itself. Now's the time to get rid of plot holes--this will save a lot of time in the actual writing of your story down the road.

Finally, three sample chapters. This should be your best writing, polished to a sheen. Work and rework these chapters. Start with STORY, not with interior dialogue or backstory if at all possible. Get the reader immediately involved in what's HAPPENING now. There will be time for all the details that got your character into that predicament in the first place later in the story (that is if it truly matters to the main plot; if it doesn't matter odds are it's filler anyway)--and your main characters should be in a predicament. In plot-driven fiction this predicament will be easier to define (escaping a villain, finding the Holy Grail, whatever...); in character-driven fiction it's still there but perhaps a bit more subtle (finding a sense of purpose, coming out of depression, etc...)

Your agent, if you have one, will be essential in creating a really good proposal so take every bit of advice he/she has to offer. They're your first reader, so odds are they're right. Plus you want them to sell something they believe in.

I've said enough for today. Next time we'll talk about the LONG WAIT--waiting for acceptance.

More later,
Traci