Why Your Memoir Should Have a Book Proposal (Even if It Does Not Technically “Need” One)

When most of us think of memoir, we think of “straight,” narrative memoir. Think: “it reads like fiction.” Fiction does not require a book proposal to be pitched to agents or publishers. The query and the writing speak for themselves. Sometimes agents want to see a few sample chapters first, but eventually, if they are interested, they will request the full manuscript. With narrative memoir, you’ll want to complete the full manuscript before pitching.

What differentiates memoir and fiction from nonfiction during the pitch process is the necessity of the book proposal. The proposal is a set of materials required for pitching a nonfiction book that shows an agent or publisher why you are the best person to write your book, who your audience is, why your book will sell, and how you will sell it. Can you see already why this can be helpful to any writer trying to get published, regardless of genre?

For those who are unfamiliar with book proposals, the industry standard is ten sections: a title page, table of contents, manuscript specifications (word count, graphics, etc.), overview, author bio, audience analysis, competitive titles, annotated table of contents, marketing plan, and sample chapters. I’m not going to dive too deep into the details of each section here, as there are plenty of free online resources available for writers who are unfamiliar with standard proposal requirements. However, I would like to highlight some of the specific sections and discuss how they are particularly relevant to memoir writers when pitching their work, and how having one, regardless of whether or not it is required, can be a great way to stand out from the thousands of memoirs in agents’ inboxes.

In general, including a book proposal in your memoir pitch (or having one on-hand) shows agents and editors that you, the writer, have an advanced understanding of your market. Your author bio gives you the opportunity to introduce yourself on a higher level than the query letter; you can demonstrate what makes you interesting and especially qualified to tell your story beyond the fact that it is, of course, your story. What experience, connections, or accreditations do you have that might make the reader care about your story?

Your audience analysis section especially is the place to stand out from other memoir queries because it allows you to very, very specifically identify your reader. I discussed how to do this in more detail in a post a few weeks ago. But defining this person is incredibly important to show potential agents that you have given extensive thought to the real people who will pick your book off of the shelf and purchase it. By painting a clear picture of this person, you’re making the agent’s job just a little bit easier in that they don’t have to ask themselves: “who will buy this?”

This is not intended to sound insensitive. We would all like to believe our book will be a bestseller and that people will care about our story. But the fact is that agents see far too many queries in a day to pay attention to something they cannot sell. If we do just a little bit of the work for them as the writer, it gets the wheels turning and gives us brownie points for showing the agent that we understand our book’s positioning in the market.

Another place to make our memoir proposals shine (and stand out from other memoir queries) is the marketing plan. When you develop a marketing plan, you are showing the agent (or editor) all of the places you have already strategized to meet your ideal reader exactly where they are. You are demonstrating that you put deep thought into how you can discuss your book through various types of media (guest posts, speaking events, interviews, etc.). This is critical because it shows agents and editors that you are not only talking the talk, but walking the walk; you are prepared to put in the work needed to sell your book. You understand the complexities of the market, can sell your book, and have a detailed, step-by-step plan to do so.

Are you perhaps writing a memoir with prescriptive, self-help elements, or a memoir that is more of a hybrid with nonfiction elements? A book proposal would be a nonnegotiable in either of those instances. The better you can pinpoint your subject matter in the marketplace, the better.

The bottom line here is that when you want to stand out from the thousands of submissions literary agents see every day, it’s not about special fonts, famous friends (I mean, maybe…), or garnering sympathy. It’s about the strength of your voice, the impact of your story, and your grasp of the market. The memoir publishing landscape is unfortunately one of the most difficult to sell in. So, we have to do whatever we can to get noticed.

If you’re ready to start working on your memoir (or nonfiction) proposal today, feel free to contact me and I am happy to help with whatever you need.

To better hone in on your marketing plan, grab my free Memoir Marketing Workbook now.

Featured photo by RDNE Stock project.