Friday, January 26, 2007

Six Months Later

Second thought is a wonderful thing. Six months after I sent out my first wave of book proposals I decided to rewrite the overview. I opened the file to take yet another look before printing it out. As I read it, I cringed. It was a load of preamble that didn’t say much about the book.

An overview should say something about the content of the manuscript. Mine seemed to have missed the point. Of course I thought it was brilliant when I wrote it. It gave an idea of the area in which I was writing. I honestly thought that was good enough.

No. No it isn’t. An overview should give the acquisitions editor, more likely her assistant, more than just a hint. I think it should flat out say to expect. And it should be interesting, informative, and well written.

Anyway, I cut out about 100 words and reworked it so it says what it should. I’ll let it cool for a while, then go in and proofread it. I’m going to take my time with this batch. It’ll be a few more days before the packages are sent, but at least I’ll be sending something sensible.

4 comments:

Talia said...

good luck. Is your proposal fiction or non fiction?

Leah J. Utas said...

It's non fiction, Talia.
Thanks for the well wishes,

Anonymous said...

Good luck with your proposal! And yeah, I hear you on the benefits of letting a query percolate for a while. It helps freshen the eyes! :)

David Wisehart said...

Good luck with the proposal. Take the time to get it right.