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The opening is what hooks readers. Editors and
agents want to know you can do that.
By the way, the part of your proposal that usually
read fi rst is page one of your sample chapters. Why? Because
it saves time. If you can’t write, the reader doesn’t have
to bother with the rest of the package.
Good ROE for the reader.
What about a chapter-by-chapter outline? Submit
that only if it is specifi cally requested. Otherwise, don’t
bother. There is no way to make an outline of chapters
read well. Some novelists look at a book on proposal
writing and mistakenly believe that the requirements
of a fi ction proposal are the same as a nonfi ction book.
Not so. Outlines are essential to the nonfi ction proposal.
They are fi ne in that context because they are giving hard
information about the sections of the book.
But fi ction is about story, and chapter outlines do
not make for compelling narrative.
That’s it. Letter, synopsis, sample chapters.
Now all you have to do is make each of them like
Elizabeth Taylor in A Place in the Sun—irresistible. That is
up to you and your material, of course. The concept and
content of every story remains unique to the author.
But how you present you material in the proposal is
key. If you’ll keep it simple and follow the suggestions in
the next few pages, presentation will never be a problem.
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