Writing a Book Proposal: The Panic is Real

By Jocelyn Jane Cox

The initial draft of my memoir Motion Dazzle went swimmingly. I got deep into a flow state with ethereal music while munching on unsalted almonds and non-GMO kale chips. I was buzzing off my undeniable literary genius. Sometimes I’d even pat myself on the back while yelling “I’m doing it!”

Of course, when I read through that first draft, I realized there was still a lot of work to do, so I tore the manuscript apart then tinkered with it for at least another ten drafts. But I enjoyed that too.

I did not, however, love the idea of writing a book proposal. I avoided that odious document by querying only agents and presses that did not require one. Once I realized I needed a proposal in order to increase my submission opportunities, I kicked and screamed like a toddler forced to wear socks and complained ad nauseam. My apologies to everyone who had to endure me during that difficult time.

I’m not the only one who hates the book proposal stage, certainly. If writing a proposal also feels daunting to you, here are a few (semi-)useful tips.

1. First, take 425 classes on how to write a proposal and read 370 articles that contradict each other. This is not procrastination: it’s research. Follow this up with a deep clean of your entire house and watch every television show ever produced. After you’ve banged your head against exactly 42 different walls and bitten off every fingernail, you’re ready to get started. If, instead, you’d prefer to skip all the anxiety and distractions, I suppose that’s also a valid approach.

2. Use colorful fonts! And photos! And exclamations after every sentence to make it seem fun! Then: Find-and-replace all exclamations except, maybe leave one, if it makes sense for you. Pretty much all the advice I found suggested that you use your style and voice in the proposal, and (especially for memoirs) match it to the voice in your book. If that happens to include lots of asides (who me?) or overly-emphatic punctuation, then, to thine own voice be true. 

3. Fuel thyself: I suggest lots of carbs. Perhaps one donut per sentence or…word. Because I could not bear to sully my home – my sanctuary – with this unsavory undertaking, I slogged through my entire proposal hunched into a booth at a local Panera. I could not even open my laptop without first ordering something called [shameless product placement] a Pecan Braid. 54 stars out of 10. If the proposal is also challenging for you, or even painful, acknowledge this, and give yourself whatever treats, breaks, and trophies you need along the way. 

4. Organize your document into sections with meaningful titles. Instead of calling them, as I did, I Hate This or The Book Was So Much Easier Than This, try to be more positive. How about: Trust Me – My Book is Good and I Swear I Can Sell It or Trust Me – I’m Pretty Amazing. No matter what you call them, go ahead and tackle one section at a time. Think Anne Lamott with her birds. There are many free resources out there, like Jane Friedman’s excellent template.  If working in chronological order isn’t your thing, bounce around that outline frenetically, all hopped up on anger and refills of hazelnut coffee. Just move through this crisis however you can.

5. Pretend you are someone else. Role-play. Wear a hat and a hoodie. Perhaps a superhero cape and dress shoes. Remember that no matter how much you are trying to harness your authentic voice and how much of yourself you have to pour into this process, you are not your writing, you are not your book, and you are definitely not your book proposal. Underneath that handsome chicken suit and all those sparkling words, you are YOU. And struggling with the proposal doesn’t mean you are an incompetent writer, it probably just means you don’t have a background in marketing. If you need to write one of these things, chances are pretty high that you can figure out how to do it. After all, I somehow managed to. 

Note that I received offers of publication on my book from two independent presses and neither press saw my proposal. My book, as I had always wanted, was ultimately assessed on the writing, not on my promotional prowess or lack thereof. If you think I’m livid that I lost four precious months of my life to this endeavor, given that I didn’t end up “needing” it, you’d be (mostly) wrong. As painstaking as this project was, I am glad I pushed myself through it. As a result, I now have a more solid plan for how to market my book and I know how to write one if I need to in the future, as long as the wonderful people in my life…let me. 
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Jocelyn Jane Cox’s book, Motion Dazzle: A Memoir of Motherhood, Loss, and Skating on Thin Ice, will be released by Vine Leaves Press in September, 2025. Her nonfiction has appeared or is forthcoming from The Offing, HAD, Slate, Five Minute Lit, LEON Literary Review, Oldster, The New York Times, and the Awakenings anthology from ELJ Editions. Her humor has appeared in Belladonna Comedy, Slackjaw, and Greener Pastures. She lives in the Hudson Valley of New York with her husband and son.