Agent Katharine Sands On Book Proposals
So I finished a book proposal in December and passed it on to my agent. Just a few days later, when talking to Katharine Sands (superagent extraordinaire), she mentioned that…
So I finished a book proposal in December and passed it on to my agent. Just a few days later, when talking to Katharine Sands (superagent extraordinaire), she mentioned that she would look it over for me as a favor to try and ID any weaknesses, etc .She came back with one major note, and I wanted to share it with you because it was so good.
The book is a humor (gift) book. Her critique was this: She wanted to know, "What is the benefit to the reader? What have they gained by reading your book? What are they now that they weren't before?"
Great tip. I'm used to saying "This is what the book is." She's saying not to forget including "This is what the book will provide for readers." Considering this was a gift/humor proposal, that didn't occur to me too much. Luckily, the revision will only take a few sentences here and there.
Chuck Sambuchino is a former editor with the Writer's Digest writing community and author of several books, including How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack and Create Your Writer Platform.
