Book Proposal Promotion Section – What To Write To Sell Your Book
Did you ever hear of Edgar Cayce? How about P.T. Barnum? Or Charles Dickens? If you’re like most people, you’ve heard of all three, or at least one or two of these names. If you’re going to write a book, publishers will be asking: “Did you ever hear of [fill in your name here]?”
This article will tell you how to ease a publisher’s fears that no one knows your name. It will also tell you how, in the “promotion section” of your book proposal, you can assure a publisher that you will get your name out there in front of the public.
THE PROMOTION SECTION OF THE BOOK PROPOSAL
The promotion section of a book proposal is, in my opinion, the easiest section to write. Keep reading and you’ll probably agree with me by the time you finish this article.
As you know, publishers need to sell your book in order to make money. In the past, publishers were looking for good ideas and worthwhile material. Today they may still be looking for that, but the number one thing they’re seeking is material that will sell. In order to convince them that your book will sell, you’ve got to state in your book proposal that you will do certain things to help the book get publicity. Everything you’ll do to help the publisher get publicity, and everything you think the publisher should do, goes into the promotion section of your book proposal.
YOUR PLATFORM
Here’s an insider tip few novices know. Publishers use an old-fashioned term to describe an author’s visibility. The term is platform. To my mind, this word has unfortunate connotations. It suggests getting up on an actual platform and speaking to a crowd. Maybe that was effective a hundred years ago, but today the world of publicity has gone electronic. P.T. Barnum may have stood on a platform and Charles Dickens stood on a stage to address an audience, but you should be thinking in bigger terms. Which is why I don’t like the word platform when used in this context.
I prefer to talk about platform in modern terms. While giving lectures to a college crowd or to a corporate audience may still hep book sales, the biggest push will come from print, radio, and television. Who knows, maybe someone will even make a movie about you. At any rate, whatever you do to get your message out to the public is your platform. There’s that word again, but publishers are familiar with it, so you might as well use it in your book proposal — virtually everybody else does.
HOW TO GET ATTENTION
Come on, admit it. You like attention, don’t you? You wouldn’t mind if The Los Angeles Times called you and asked for an interview about your new book, would you? You wouldn’t object if a national radio station asked you to be a guest, would you? How about if you were contacted by a producer from The Tonight Show with Jay Leno? You might be a little nervous about appearing in front of a national television audience, but I bet you’d seize the opportunity and make the most of it.
That’s all it takes — that attitude of enthusiasm — to put together a winning promotion section for your book proposal. You simply state, in the promotion section, things like, “I will send press releases to national and local newspapers and magazines, informing them of my work and inviting them to interview me.” Then talk about how you’ll get on radio. Say something like this: “I know a local radio deejay and he has offered to interview me on his show when my book comes out.” If you don’t know anyone personally, simply say that you’ll make yourself available to local and national radio and television shows for book interviews.
HOW TO GET ON TV
In order to make your predicion about media coverage sound more realistic, especially if you’ve never been on television before, tell the publisher, in the promotion section, that your book topic is of keen interest to the media. As proof of this, mention a few TV shows that have covered your topic in the past. To find these shows, just use google.
A publisher wants to believe that your book will succeed. Your job, in the promotion section of your book proposal, is to make them confident that you’ll get the message out to the public.
J.D. SALINGER AND THE SHYNESS FACTOR
Whatever you do, don’t say you’re shy. Maybe you’re another J.D. Salinger, but don’t say it in your book proposal or in any communications with your literary agent or editor. Salinger had an aversion to publicity. In fact, after The Catcher in the Rye was published he moved as far away from New York City as he could get, instructed his publisher to remove his photo and author bio from his books, and refused to give newspaper or television interviews to reporters interested in his work.
Publishers don’t want that kind of attitude. Try to be more like P.T. Barnum in your promotion section. Say that you’ll do whatever you can to make your book a success.
If you actually are shy, as many writers are, you should still say that you’ll make yourself available to national print, radio, and television outlets. This is because a publisher wants to dream of success for your book, and telling them you might be on radio and TV will fire their imagination. And who knows, you might get over your shyness. Many authors started out shy but became more outgoing when they saw how easy it was to answer a reporter’s questions.
The bottom line is that you’ll want to write a promotion section for your book proposal that will give a publisher confidence that you’ll help promote your book. If you sound enthusiastic and optimistic, you’re much more likely to land that publishing contract.
Plus all your speculation may actually pay off, and you may actually get to be Oprah’s next author guest. And from what I’ve heard, she’s really easy to talk to.
Copyright © 2007 William Cane
William Cane is the author of The Art of Kissing, translated into 19 languages. He taught English at Boston College for fourteen years and today is a widely sought-after speaker at colleges and universities nationwide. His Web site contains more insider writing advice for those wishing to get published: http://www.hiwrite.com/
