Sorry I didn’t post the next part in my series on writing a nonfiction book proposal last Friday. I’m in New York for the whole month of August with my son, the dancer, and things got a bit crazy. (For the last two weeks I thought I might actually be moving to NYC for 10-11 months, and I’ve been apartment hunting.) Anyway, here we go again…
On to Complementary Books, another section in the Introduction. Complementary books are related titles someone interested in your book might purchase; these books do not represent competition per se. They may be similar but don’t fit into the same exact niche as your book. You might not find them on the same shelf (or you might). They wouldn’t offer the same information, advice or tools.
Look for complementary books in much the same way you look for competing books—in both online and physical books stores. If you look at Amazon.com, you might take notice of the books Amazon notes as other books purchased by readers of a particular title. These could well be complementary books.
List about 5-10 complementary books beginning with a sentence that reads: “Readers purchasing the following titles might also purchase [title of your book].” Include the following information for each item: Title, Subtitle, by Author (Publisher, copyright year, # pages, paperback or hardcover, $price). Conclude with a paragraph that compares your book to these books or you as an author to these authors.”
If any of this series makes you feel overwhelmed, or you still can’t picture what your proposal is supposed to look like, I’ll remind you again that I do have two products that will help you compile the information necessary for a proposal and that will help you write a proposal. They can be found here and here.
Also, consider subscribing to this blog if you don’t already do so. I offer all sorts of information pertinent to getting your book published all the time. If you subscribe you won’t miss a single post from Write Nonfiction NOW! Get them in your email box three days a week without fail!
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