Book Proposal

I am currently working on a book proposal for this project. What is a book proposal, you ask?

According to Jane Friedman's website, a book proposal is "essentially...a business plan for your book".  After I finish the proposal, I will send it to agents, who will hopefully send it to publishers. The goal of the proposal is to convince the powers that be that my book should exist, and that I am the right person to write it.

A proposal consists of several parts:

-A general overview of the entire proposal

-the "target market" for the book. In this section, I have identified my target market as people affected by bipolar disorder and their loved ones. I have explained why these people would be interested in reading this book, especially in the weeks and months following diagnosis.

-Competitive Analysis: Here I discuss other books and websites on the topic of bipolar disorder, explaining the need for a book like Conversations Concerning our Condition.

-Author Biography: I talk about my credentials here, why I should be the one to write this book. I discuss my educational background and touch on my personal experience with bipolar disorder.

-Marketing and Promotional Plan: Here I discuss what I will do to help the book sell if it is published. I talk about this blog. I also describe my plan to donate copies of the book to mental health professionals, who can then recommend it to their bipolar patients.

-Chapter Outline: In this section, I discuss what each chapter will contain. As of right now, I plan to have ten chapters.

-Sample Chapters: I will include both the chapter on the onset of bipolar disorder and either the chapter on mania or depression with the proposal. These included chapters should give agents and publishers a better idea of this project and my writing style.

So that is the book proposal! It still needs a lot of work, but it is nice to have a plan.