![]() ![]() In the case of a devotional, don’t provide a TOC. To create 30 one sentence summaries is unnecessary. That doesn’t work very well because that type of writing is already sparse and pointed. Too often I’ve seen someone try to create an annotated outline of a 30 day devotional. Any number of various projects do not fit the straightforward TOC and annotation. Please remember these are guidelines, not rules. If you are asked for a one paragraph pitch for that speech, how would it read? That pitch is an executive summary of the hour long presentation you’ll make later. Think of each chapter as a speech you are giving.You aren’t rewriting the chapter, merely summarizing it. If applicable, include the “big idea” or the key benefit of this chapter.You can’t eliminate them all but at least be careful. Avoid starting each annotation with “This chapter will” or “The reader will.”.You aren’t using steel beams or bricks, you are drawing a picture of what the bridge will look like when complete. A blueprint or a “picture” of the bridge. In some ways this outline is creating an architectural design of a bridge. This “executive summary” of the whole book could be what helps sell, or not sell, your idea. Your book proposal will be scrutinized by everyone in the decision making process at the publisher. It may help guide your eventual composition.Īs with the fiction synopsis, there are no shortcuts here. Even if you haven’t written those chapters yet, I hope you’ve thought about what you are planning on writing. ![]() It forces you to think hard about what your book is saying in each part or what the title of your chapter should be. This annotated outline is a bit like creating a hook for each chapter. It means you might be needlessly repeating yourself. One benefit of this exercise is that you might realize that you have two chapters that, when boiled down to their essence, are saying the same thing. But they will read a one paragraph summary. In many businesses the executive manager won’t have time to read all 10 pages of your statistical argument for buying a new machine. Yes, I’ve seen fiction TOC’s that are just a list of sequential numbers…)Ī simple method would be to write one paragraph about each chapter describing its core message. The nonfiction proposal should include a table of contents (TOC). (A fiction synopsis is two-three pages single spaced which tells the whole story from beginning to end. Instead it is more of an annotated outline. Your nonfiction proposal doesn’t provide a synopsis per se. I intentionally did not use the word “synopsis” in the title of this article. I’ve seen many authors confuse the two and create extra work for themselves. This is one of the main differences between the fiction and the nonfiction book proposal. Since we recently discussed the role of a synopsis in a fiction proposal I thought it important that we address what the nonfiction author needs to provide. ![]()
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