An overview is not an overview of the content of the book. The table of contents and chapter descriptions will cover that. The overview is 1500 to 2500 words that provides an overview of why this book should be published or all of the reasons an editor and publisher should take a risk on publishing it. It should cover:
Hit those highlights and do your best to steer clear of the following common mistakes.
Top 5 Nonfiction Book Proposal Overview Mistakes
#1 It’s too long.
Keep it tight. It’s an overview, remember? To keep your reader’s attention, I encourage you to get rid of the fat. If you find your overview drifting over 3000 words, you’re likely telling too much and selling too little. Which brings us to #2.
#2 Too many words are spent on describing the content of the book.
A sure way to lose your reader’s interest is to treat the overview like a book report and extensively recount the content of the book. Instead of detailing what’s in the book, focus on why it matters. The overview needs to read like advertising copy: sell it! Be sure to:
#3 It doesn’t have an elevator pitch.
Don’t make an agent or editor have to figure out exactly what’s selling about you and your book. Take control of your messaging and make it easy for your reader to say “yes” by coming up with a 1 to 2 line elevator pitch, also known as the hook, key selling point, or sell line. It can open the proposal (why bury the whole point of the proposal?) or it could close it out, but it must be present and easily spotted (bolding it works well).
Look at a book’s entry page on any online retailer and you’ll see some bolded text at the very top. That’s the elevator pitch. It’s also usually the bolded text on the inside jacket flap or back book cover. It pins down in a few words exactly why the author is the best person for the book and what the book delivers. A good template is:
From [x amazing author], [the promise of this incredible book]
For example: From award-winning businessman Michael Scott, a revolutionary plan to double profits in 30 days.
Taking this template to the next level yields:
Think Like a Monk: Jay Shetty, social media superstar and host of the #1 podcast On Purpose, distills the timeless wisdom he learned as a monk into practical steps anyone can take every day to live a less anxious, more meaningful life.
Speak: From Tunde Oyeneyin, the massively popular Peloton instructor, fitness star, and founder of SPEAK, comes an empowering, inspiring book that shows how she transformed grief, setbacks, and flaws into growth, self-confidence, and triumph—for fans of Brene Brown and Glennon Doyle.
Unfu*k Yourself: Joining the ranks of The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, You Are a Badas*, and F*ck Feelings comes this refreshing, BS-free, self-empowerment guide that offers an honest, no-nonsense, tough-love approach to help you move past self-imposed limitations.
#4 It doesn’t address “why now.”
To be clear “why now” refers to why a book publisher should publish this book now and the answer is usually because we’ve identified an audience hungry for the information this book can provide. It can also be because we’ve identified a problem that needs to be solved and this book offers the solution but this answer has to keep the target reader audience in mind, not the general public. What is the specific problem the target audience has and how does this book speak to it?
Also “now” can refer to why now is the right time in your career: For example, it’s the right time because you’ve established an audience eager for your content. Are there specific opportunities to promote the book? Are you expecting a lot of attention around a particular anniversary or other event that the book launch could tie into?
#5 It’s hard to identify the key takeaways.
Look, even publishing people have short attention spans. Don’t make them wade through a lot of words to figure out what they should be paying attention to in your proposal. Being coy is not a virtue here. Make it easy for them by strategically using bullet points, bolded text, and/or subheadings to visually highlight key takeaways. There is absolutely nothing wrong (and very right!) about being clear and direct with a heading in your overview like “Why I Am the Best Author To Write This Book.”
Avoid these mistakes and your proposal is well on its way to being good to go. If you are working on a proposal, be sure to check out my other articles on how to avoid common book proposal and book title and subtitle mistakes. In future articles, I’ll take a closer look at the rest of the main elements of a book proposal, including the marketing and publicity and competitive titles, and help you avoid more of the mistakes that get book proposals tossed in the reject pile.
Good to Go Nonfiction Book Proposal Overview Checklist
__ Under 3000 words (ideally 1500 to 2500)
__ Sells the content
__ Includes an elevator pitch
__ Addresses “why now”
__ Takeaways are easy to spot
- Why the book is necessary. What’s the problem it’s solving or the need it’s going to fill? Maybe there are millions of people struggling with a particular health challenge, the societal impact of a scientific development has gone unrecognized, an aspect of the human condition has been silenced, or a pivotal moment in history has been underexplored. No matter what kind of nonfiction book you are writing, there is a problem or need your book is aiming to fill. Articulate it and back it up with evidence.
- How the book solves the problem or fills the need you’ve identified. Highlight the content of the book—what the reader will find inside—while making sure to emphasize what’s new and noteworthy about it. Don’t just tell it; sell it.
- Evidence of a book-buying audience. The emphasis is intentional. Sure, there are millions of people who love to eat ice cream but does that mean that those millions of people will pay money for a gorgeously illustrated cookbook on how to make it? No. Make the case that there is an identifiable and quantifiable audience of people looking for books on your topic (next tier: written content on this topic) or are likely to pay for your content.
- Why you are the best author to write this book. This is an opportunity to sell yourself in your own words without the constraints of a standard bio. Is there a good story around how you came to realize that there is an audience of people eager for this book and you are perfectly positioned to write and sell it? Tell it! And don’t forget to hit all of the key componets of your platform.
Hit those highlights and do your best to steer clear of the following common mistakes.
Top 5 Nonfiction Book Proposal Overview Mistakes
#1 It’s too long.
Keep it tight. It’s an overview, remember? To keep your reader’s attention, I encourage you to get rid of the fat. If you find your overview drifting over 3000 words, you’re likely telling too much and selling too little. Which brings us to #2.
#2 Too many words are spent on describing the content of the book.
A sure way to lose your reader’s interest is to treat the overview like a book report and extensively recount the content of the book. Instead of detailing what’s in the book, focus on why it matters. The overview needs to read like advertising copy: sell it! Be sure to:
- Use bullets to highlight the key selling points of the book, such as how the content is so innovative and unique or the strategies the reader will learn.
- Include what’s unique about your approach and how we know it works. Position your approach among the others out there and explain what yours offers that the others don’t. Why exactly is it unique? Effective? (And how do you know it’s effective?)
- Describe the voice, tone, and approach you take. Is the book groundbreaking, accessible, compassionate, light-hearted, candid, optimistic, measured, thoughtful, informative? Does it use real-world examples, cutting-edge research, client success stories, never-before-published photographs, first-time interviews? Are there journal prompts, exercises, practices, meditations, questions to consider, quizzes (or other diagnostics) that will be included? Try to describe how you convey the material and what the experience of reading the book will be. You can also use other authors and books (think popular bestsellers) to help describe your approach: combining the X quality of Y book with the A quality of B book, this book offers….
#3 It doesn’t have an elevator pitch.
Don’t make an agent or editor have to figure out exactly what’s selling about you and your book. Take control of your messaging and make it easy for your reader to say “yes” by coming up with a 1 to 2 line elevator pitch, also known as the hook, key selling point, or sell line. It can open the proposal (why bury the whole point of the proposal?) or it could close it out, but it must be present and easily spotted (bolding it works well).
Look at a book’s entry page on any online retailer and you’ll see some bolded text at the very top. That’s the elevator pitch. It’s also usually the bolded text on the inside jacket flap or back book cover. It pins down in a few words exactly why the author is the best person for the book and what the book delivers. A good template is:
From [x amazing author], [the promise of this incredible book]
For example: From award-winning businessman Michael Scott, a revolutionary plan to double profits in 30 days.
Taking this template to the next level yields:
Think Like a Monk: Jay Shetty, social media superstar and host of the #1 podcast On Purpose, distills the timeless wisdom he learned as a monk into practical steps anyone can take every day to live a less anxious, more meaningful life.
Speak: From Tunde Oyeneyin, the massively popular Peloton instructor, fitness star, and founder of SPEAK, comes an empowering, inspiring book that shows how she transformed grief, setbacks, and flaws into growth, self-confidence, and triumph—for fans of Brene Brown and Glennon Doyle.
Unfu*k Yourself: Joining the ranks of The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, You Are a Badas*, and F*ck Feelings comes this refreshing, BS-free, self-empowerment guide that offers an honest, no-nonsense, tough-love approach to help you move past self-imposed limitations.
#4 It doesn’t address “why now.”
To be clear “why now” refers to why a book publisher should publish this book now and the answer is usually because we’ve identified an audience hungry for the information this book can provide. It can also be because we’ve identified a problem that needs to be solved and this book offers the solution but this answer has to keep the target reader audience in mind, not the general public. What is the specific problem the target audience has and how does this book speak to it?
Also “now” can refer to why now is the right time in your career: For example, it’s the right time because you’ve established an audience eager for your content. Are there specific opportunities to promote the book? Are you expecting a lot of attention around a particular anniversary or other event that the book launch could tie into?
#5 It’s hard to identify the key takeaways.
Look, even publishing people have short attention spans. Don’t make them wade through a lot of words to figure out what they should be paying attention to in your proposal. Being coy is not a virtue here. Make it easy for them by strategically using bullet points, bolded text, and/or subheadings to visually highlight key takeaways. There is absolutely nothing wrong (and very right!) about being clear and direct with a heading in your overview like “Why I Am the Best Author To Write This Book.”
Avoid these mistakes and your proposal is well on its way to being good to go. If you are working on a proposal, be sure to check out my other articles on how to avoid common book proposal and book title and subtitle mistakes. In future articles, I’ll take a closer look at the rest of the main elements of a book proposal, including the marketing and publicity and competitive titles, and help you avoid more of the mistakes that get book proposals tossed in the reject pile.
Good to Go Nonfiction Book Proposal Overview Checklist
__ Under 3000 words (ideally 1500 to 2500)
__ Sells the content
__ Includes an elevator pitch
__ Addresses “why now”
__ Takeaways are easy to spot