Demystifying the Nonfiction Book Proposal: Promotion

The fourth section in the first part of the proposal, the Introduction, is the Promotion section. This part of the proposal can make or break your chance to get your book published by a traditional publisher.

The Promotion section constitutes a huge part of any book proposal. The Promotion section of your proposal equates to your strategy for selling your book. Although a traditional publisher will do a small bit of promotion for your newly published book, the majority of the work will fall to you. The publisher and sales and marketing team will want to see your promotion plan to know if you are a good business partner.

This plan will include promotion in cyberspace, such as in social networks, via blogging, with guest blog posts and blog tours, and through involvement in on-line forums, as well as with promotion in traditional areas, such as radio, television and print media. You will also want to consider speaking.  A promotion plan includes all the things you promise to do to help sell your book, including sending out press releases to the media, publishing articles on your book’s topic, setting up speaking engagements, workshops and teleseminars, publishing a monthly newsletter, using e-zine article marketing techniques, blogging, and making radio and television appearances, hiring a publicist, taking out advertising of some sort, or even starting a radio show of your own.

Plus, you promotion plan should include creation of a website that offers features that attract visitors and readers. It can have a media kit or author’s page to help you get media attention and speaking engagements.

When it comes to promotion, think and act outside the box. Your promotion plan will become the publishing house’s promotion plan. A publisher will add to your plan a bit, but primarily they will rely on you to promote your own book in your own way.

Don’t skimp on the Promotion section. As I said, this is one of the most important sections of your proposal. Consider how much money you can spend on promotion…Your whole advance? More than your advance? If you don’t make back your advance, you can be sure you won’t get a second book deal from your publisher. Selling books is what it’s all about, and promotion sells books.
Please note that I do have two products that will help you compile the information necessary for a proposal and write a proposal. They can be found here and here.

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