The document that sells a non-fiction book
Non-fiction is sold on a proposal, not a finished manuscript — so the proposal has to do the work of the book before the book exists. This builder assembles the sections agents and editors expect: a compelling overview, a market and audience case, comparable titles, an author bio that proves platform, and a chapter-by-chapter outline.
What a book proposal actually needs to do
Agents and acquisitions editors read dozens of proposals a week. A proposal does three jobs simultaneously: it convinces an editor that a market exists for the book, that you are the right person to write it, and that the book has a clear enough structure to actually be written. This is why every section matters — a brilliant hook with a weak platform bio or a vague chapter outline still gets passed on.
How it works
The tool takes your working title, hook, and target reader and writes an overview that opens with the hook and frames the problem your book solves. The market section quantifies the audience and lists the comparable titles you provide, positioning your book as similar enough to have a market yet distinct enough to need writing. The author bio is built from your expertise and platform details to read as a credibility-and-sales case. Each chapter title you supply becomes an outline entry with a summary prompt, giving an editor the full arc at a glance.
The sections in detail
Overview
The overview is the proposal’s most important page. It should open with the hook — the single most surprising, counterintuitive, or urgent idea in the book — and then frame the problem the book solves, for whom, and what transformation the reader will experience. Editors often read only the overview before deciding whether to keep reading.
Market and audience
Name the primary reader as specifically as possible: not “people interested in health” but “adults over 40 who have been told by a doctor to lose weight but have failed on every diet they’ve tried.” Then describe the size and reachability of that audience. Publishers need to believe there are enough buyers.
Comparable titles
Pick two or three books published in the last three to five years that sold respectably but were not runaway blockbusters. For each comp, describe in one sentence how your book is similar (proving there’s a market) and in one sentence how it is different (proving yours needs to exist).
Author bio and platform
The bio is a sales document, not a CV. Lead with why you are uniquely qualified to write this book, then add your platform: audience size across newsletter, social media, podcast, or website. Be specific with numbers. Publishers want evidence you can help sell the book.
Chapter outline
Give each chapter a title and two to three sentences: what argument or story the chapter makes, and what the reader will understand or be able to do by the end. Together, the chapter summaries should trace the book’s full arc — a reader should be able to follow the logic without reading the manuscript.
Tips
- Lead the overview with the hook first, the bio last — not the other way around.
- Pick comps published in the last 3–5 years; older books signal you don’t know the current market.
- Make the platform concrete: “newsletter with 30k subscribers” beats “large online following.”
- Keep chapter summaries outcome-focused rather than topic-focused.
- The proposal is a sales pitch; write it in the same voice as the book itself.