Write a nonfiction book proposal for agents and editors
A complete nonfiction proposal: overview, author platform, comparable titles, marketing plan, chapter summaries, and sample chapter guidance.
The prompt
Help me write a nonfiction book proposal to send to literary agents or editors.
Working title and one-line premise: [DETAILS]
What the book argues or teaches: [THE BIG IDEA, and the reader's payoff]
Who it is for: [THE READER, and what shelf it sits on - e.g. business, memoir, popular science]
Why me: [credentials, lived experience, access, research]
My platform: [newsletter subscribers, social following, speaking, media appearances, organizations - real numbers only]
Comparable titles I know of: [TITLES, AUTHORS, YEARS]
Chapter ideas: [ROUGH LIST]
Expected length and delivery time: [WORD COUNT, months to finish]
Draft these sections:
1. Overview: a hook, the big idea, why now, and what the reader gains (2-3 pages' worth).
2. Target audience: who buys this and how big that readership is.
3. Author bio focused on why I am the person to write it.
4. Platform and marketing plan: specific things I will do, not wishes.
5. Comparable titles: 4-6 recent books, each with how mine is similar and different. Prefer books from the last five years and avoid blockbusters as comps.
6. Chapter-by-chapter outline: a paragraph per chapter showing the arc.
7. Book specs: length, illustrations, delivery date.
Then tell me which section is weakest and which chapter would make the strongest sample chapter.
Do not invent comparable titles, sales figures, or platform numbers. Suggest comps only as [VERIFY - CHECK PUBLICATION DETAILS], and mark gaps [ADD].
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Writing & Editing prompts
What to fill in
- DETAILS
- THE BIG IDEA, and the reader's payoff
- credentials, lived experience, access, research
- TITLES, AUTHORS, YEARS
- ROUGH LIST
- WORD COUNT, months to finish
- VERIFY - CHECK PUBLICATION DETAILS
- ADD
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the RTF structure (Role, Task, Format). RTF tells the model who to be, what to do and what shape the answer should take. It is the quickest structure that still gives noticeably better results than a bare request.
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