7 Mistakes That Keep You From Getting a Great Book Deal

As the author of 6 books for publishers like Wiley, Harmony, and McGraw-Hill (who published my New York Times bestselling book The Confident Speaker), I thought I knew what it takes to get a great book deal. Now, however, I’m working on a new proposal and in developing my book concept and proposal, I’ve learned a ton about what agents and editors look for versus what lands your hard work in the recycling bin.

These ideas will also help you create a bestselling book. Here are 7 things to not do in your book proposal and sample chapters:

1. Think that your idea will sell itself. Unfortunately these days are looking for books that will sell. Even if you have the best idea in the world, it is unlikely that you’ll get a deal without a stellar marketing plan.
2. Represent yourself to the big publishing houses. If you want a publisher like Simon & Schuster or Harper to take your book, you really need to get a literary agent. They typically don’t take unrepresented manuscripts. If you don’t want to deal with an agent, do your research and find smaller publishing houses.
3. Make your book all about you. In my studies, I’ve learned that in nonfiction books, it works best to keep yourself out of it and build your stories through case studies. You can put some of your own examples but too much of this distracts your reader from your message.
4. Sound too smart. Many nonfiction authors try to build credibility with a ton of research and jargon. This is off-putting, especially for self-help books. Bestselling self help books are ones that boil complex topics down and say them simply. This is tough (hence the year of working on my current proposal). You can include key details to show your credibility and uniqueness of your concept, but overall the idea is to keep it simple.
5. Fail to differentiate your book from others. One of the primary questions an editor will ask him or herself is how your book is different. When you talk about competing books, you do want to select books in your category that sell well (otherwise it seems that there isn’t a market need) and highlight how yours is unique.
6. Try to do too much. Essentially you should be able to communicate the idea of your book in one sentence. Build your book around one premise and tell the reader what it is right away so they keep reading.
7. Write what sounds good instead of what the reader needs. I’ve seen a ton of great titles, table of contents, and chapters that sound good but it is totally unclear why the reader needs and can benefit from the information. In sales, customer is king and in books, reader is king (or queen, as I prefer to say and women do buy more books than men.)

Keep these ideas in mind as you work on your book proposal to submit to literary agents or publishers, and you are likely to see much better results than you even imagined!