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  • What’s the Most Important Part of the Book Proposal? | Episode 13

    What’s the Most Important Part of the Book Proposal? | Episode 13
    2025/11/04
    On the episode of The Book Proposal Podcast, Debra Eckerling answers the question, “What’s the most important part of the book proposal?” Although every element of your book proposal is essential, there are three sections that will help you hone in on your book concept and positioning. The Overview, Audience, and Book Comps. In the Overview, you express what the book is, what makes it unique, and what you are the best and only person who can write it. The Audience section is research-based. It’s where you share information about your demographics - individuals and groups - along with stats that prove there’s a large enough audience interest in your book. Your Book Comps - five traditionally published titles with high rankings and good reviews - is more proof of concept. These books sold, and yours is similar but different, so it will too. Before you get too deep into the weeds of your book proposal, make sure you have a solid foundation (the Overview), Audience data, and a compelling case for the saleability of your book (Comps). More on the overview in episode 4. More on audience and comps in future episodes. *** Debra Eckerling is a goal strategist, book proposal specialist, and author of “Your Goal Guide” and “52 Secrets for Goal-Setting and Goal-Getting.” Have a question about book proposals, email Deb@TheDEBMethod.com. Connect with Deb on LinkedIn and follow @TheDEBMethod for more resources and tips. Learn more at TheBookProposalExpert.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    4 分
  • How Does the Book Submission Process Work? | Episode 12

    How Does the Book Submission Process Work? | Episode 12
    2025/10/28
    On the episode of The Book Proposal Podcast, Debra Eckerling answers the question, “How does the book submission process work?” As you might expect, Debra says it all starts with writing a compelling book proposal. In tandem with that, research and create a list of agents and publishers you want to submit to. You can do this by reviewing similar titles - checking publishers, as well as agents mentioned in the acknowledgement section, and attending writer events. (More on finding publishers in episode 7.) Study their submission guidelines and follow them to the letter. Note: Debra advocates for going the agent route, as they have access to all publishers; most of the large ones will not take un-solicited manuscripts. Once your proposal is polished, write and submit a query letter, along with your proposal. Debra shares how nonfiction and fiction submissions differ, and why memoir authors should always have their full manuscript ready even though they’re submitting a proposal. After you hit send, the waiting begins. It typically takes two months or longer for a response. If there’s interest the agent or publisher will contact you with next steps. Traditional publishing takes time, strategy, and persistence, but for authors seeking a credible platform with a larger reach, it’s absolutely worth it. Listen to the ep for more detail, insights, and examples from Deb’s experience. *** Debra Eckerling is a goal strategist, book proposal specialist, and author of “Your Goal Guide” and “52 Secrets for Goal-Setting and Goal-Getting.” Have a question about book proposals, email Deb@TheDEBMethod.com. Connect with Deb on LinkedIn and follow @TheDEBMethod for more resources and tips. Learn more at TheBookProposalExpert.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    6 分
  • What is an Author Platform? | Episode 11

    What is an Author Platform? | Episode 11
    2025/10/21
    On the episode of The Book Proposal Podcast, Debra Eckerling answers the question, “What is an author platform?” Your author platform is everywhere you show up on and offline. This includes your website, newsletter, online communities, social media, and traditional media. It's videos, webinars, speaking engagements, in-person activities, and involvement in organizations, as well as your notable contacts and connections. In each of the platform sections in your book proposal, you want to explain what it is, the kind of content you share, numbers - if they are impressive, and, if appropriate, the link, so whoever is reading your proposal can click it to learn more. In addition to website, social media, and any podcast or live stream shows, include recent media - articles, podcasts, TV, and radio, the link to your sizzle reel, and speaking engagements - on and off-line. The last part of the platform section is where you put your contacts: notable names and companies, community involvement, organizations - professional and social. These are people and communities, excited to spread the word about your book. More on each of these segments in future episodes! *** Debra Eckerling is a goal strategist, book proposal specialist, and author of “Your Goal Guide” and “52 Secrets for Goal-Setting and Goal-Getting.” Have a question about book proposals, email Deb@TheDEBMethod.com. Connect with Deb on LinkedIn and follow @TheDEBMethod for more resources and tips. Learn more at BookProposalPodcast.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    5 分
  • How Do I Decide What Book to Write? | Episode 10

    How Do I Decide What Book to Write? | Episode 10
    2025/10/14
    On the episode of The Book Proposal Podcast, Debra Eckerling answers the question, “How do I decide what book to write?” Some professionals, whether they're a writer - and/or entrepreneur, executive, consultant - know they have a book in them, but they do not know what that book is. If you are uncertain how to find the focus of their book, try Directed Journaling. This is how it works: schedule 3, 4, or 5 15-minute appointments with yourself and during that time, brainstorm the answer to a question or series of questions, related to the same topic. In this case, your ideas would be related to the book itself, your topic options, sprint on the topic, or even why you want to write a book. Don't read any of your entries until after you've completed the exercise. Then, read everything straight through once and then read it again with a highlighter or a notepad next to you, so you can highlight or write down the things that you talked about the most. By the end of these journaling sessions, you should have a good starting point for your book. If you don't, do some more starter sessions. Once you have your ideas better formulated, do a quick comprehensive title search and see what other books are out there. That way, you confirm that your spin is indeed unique, yet books on similar subject matter still sell. You can also use director journaling to dive a little deeper into your topic or concept and even use it to flesh out sections of your book proposal, such as the overview, book summary, and detailed outline. Remember, the idea is just the beginning. When you apply the structure of a book proposal to your concept, your idea evolves into a well-defined, saleable book. Add it to the other elements of your proposal - platform, marketing, audience, comps - and you are raring to go. Debra will cover those topics on future episodes. *** Debra Eckerling is a goal strategist, book proposal specialist, and author of “Your Goal Guide” and “52 Secrets for Goal-Setting and Goal-Getting.” Have a question about book proposals, email Deb@TheDEBMethod.com. Connect with Deb on LinkedIn and follow @TheDEBMethod for more resources and tips. Learn more at BookProposalPodcast.com.
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    6 分
  • How Do I Find Time to Write My Book? | Episode 9

    How Do I Find Time to Write My Book? | Episode 9
    2025/10/07
    On the episode of The Book Proposal Podcast, Debra Eckerling answers the question, “How do I fit writing my book into my already busy life?” At the early stages, even before writing your book - or your book proposal - you can start developing your book’s content, in 5- or 10-minute increments. You can set short appointments with yourself or, whenever you have a few minutes of downtime, start writing down points you want to make, anecdotes, and concepts for your book. Remember to keep all of your ideas in the same notebook or computer document, so everything is together for when you're ready to fully start working on it. While finding time beyond those 10-minute spurts is a challenge, it is totally doable. See if it's feasible to get up one hour earlier in the morning or go to sleep an hour later at night and work on your book then. Otherwise, look at your life, see where you're spending your time, and then consider what adjustments you can make to your schedule. Find places to swap downtime for book-writing time, Writing a book is a marathon, not a sprint. That’s why a book proposal is so important. As long as you have a roadmap for your content, whenever you find or make the time, you know what you need to do. You can simply focus on the writing. *** Debra Eckerling is a goal strategist, book proposal specialist, and author of “Your Goal Guide” and “52 Secrets for Goal-Setting and Goal-Getting.” Have a question about book proposals, email Deb@TheDEBMethod.com. Connect with Deb on LinkedIn and follow @TheDEBMethod for more resources and tips. Learn more at BookProposalPodcast.com.
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    6 分
  • Why Publish Traditionally? | Episode 8

    Why Publish Traditionally? | Episode 8
    2025/09/30
    On this episode of The Book Proposal Podcast, Debra Eckerling answers the question, “Why publish traditionally?” If you are using your book to establish yourself as the authority you are, if you want to get it in front of as many people as possible, try to get a traditional book deal. Start with sending your book proposal to agents and publishers. You can always do self or hybrid-publishing as your backup plan. When you publish traditionally, you may make less money. However, you also don't need to outsource things like cover art, editing, and formatting; you do not need to deal with production and distribution. Plus, you may get at least some PR and marketing support. Remember, no matter how you publish, there's a certain amount of promotion you need to do yourself. The biggest difference between traditional and self and hybrid publishing is traditional publishers pay you. They absorb the costs and have the resources to create a professional product. When you do it yourself or with support from a hybrid, you pay for all of the things; you also need to do research and quality control. Ultimately, traditional publishing offers credibility, reach, and resources that can give your book the best chance for success. *** Debra Eckerling is a goal strategist, book proposal specialist, and author of “Your Goal Guide” and “52 Secrets for Goal-Setting and Goal-Getting.” Have a question about book proposals, email Deb@TheDEBMethod.com. Connect with Deb on LinkedIn and follow @TheDEBMethod for more resources and tips. Learn more at BookProposalPodcast.com.
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    6 分
  • How Do I Find the Right Publisher? | Episode 7

    How Do I Find the Right Publisher? | Episode 7
    2025/09/16
    On this episode of The Book Proposal Podcast, Debra Eckerling answers the question, “How do I choose which publisher to send my proposal to?” There are different ways to go about finding the right publisher for your book proposal. The larger publishing houses, namely the big five, and their imprints, will only allow submissions through an agent. However, there are plenty of smaller publishers that accept proposals and queries directly from writers. So the first decision you need to make is whether to seek out an agent or go directly to a publisher. If you are going the direct to publisher route, you have a few options, but they all boil down to research. Start with a simple online search for publishers that accept unsolicited or un-agented manuscripts - or reverse engineer it and look at who publishes books you feel are akin to yours. Then check their catalog, accepted genres, and submission guidelines. You can also find potential publishers through networking, writers communities, and events. Whether you are sending your proposal out to an agent or directly to a publisher, remember: your cover letter/query needs to be as professional as your book proposal and your manuscript: spelling counts, formatting counts, alignment with the publisher counts. *** Debra Eckerling is a goal strategist, book proposal specialist, and author of “Your Goal Guide” and “52 Secrets for Goal-Setting and Goal-Getting.” Have a question about book proposals, email Deb@TheDEBMethod.com. Connect with Deb on LinkedIn and follow @TheDEBMethod for more resources and tips. Learn more at BookProposalPodcast.com.
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    8 分
  • What’s the Difference Between a Pitch and a Book Proposal? | Episode 6

    What’s the Difference Between a Pitch and a Book Proposal? | Episode 6
    2025/09/09
    On this episode of The Book Proposal Podcast, Debra Eckerling answers the question, “What’s the difference between a pitch and a book proposal?” A pitch is a brief summary of your book - and it is also incorporated into your book proposal - but it is just one element that you need to sell your book. You typically share your book pitch in a query email or submission, within a conversation, or through a pitch event. You are pitching what your idea is, what makes it unique and why this book needs to be out in the world. Your book proposal is much more than the pitch. You are creating a sales and marketing document that makes the case for your book. In addition to the elements of the overview, which is the essence of your pitch, you need to include how and why your book will sell, who will buy it, what your platform is, and your marketing plan, along with your detailed outline and sample chapters. A pitch may get you in the door, it drums up interest. However if you do not have a book proposal to back up your idea, it’s not going anywhere. *** Debra Eckerling is a goal strategist, book proposal specialist, and author of “Your Goal Guide” and “52 Secrets for Goal-Setting and Goal-Getting.” Have a question about book proposals, email Deb@TheDEBMethod.com. Connect with Deb on LinkedIn and follow @TheDEBMethod for more resources and tips. Learn more at BookProposalPodcast.com.
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    4 分