You will not receive a clear answer when you do an online search for the question “How long does it take to write a non-fiction book proposal?” Responses on various blogs will differ, from “weeks or longer,” to “6-9 months.” And though these responses might be accurate, they aren’t very helpful when you are trying to make a plan to write your memoir book proposal.
That is why in this blog post I will give you a more comprehensive answer. First, by explaining why the answers differ so much; then by giving you a breakdown of how long it will take to write a book proposal, section-by-section. While I was writing the most recent memoir book proposal, I kept track of how long everything took me, just so I could give you a precise answer.
So settle in with a nice hot beverage, because this will be a long one. Or jump straight to the end for my once-and-for-all answer to your question how long it takes to write a memoir book proposal.
What determines how long it takes
to write a memoir book proposal?
I’ve written book proposals for people for about 6 years at this point. However, I only realized earlier this week why there’s so much difference in these predictions. And that is because people often conflate two activities that for me are entirely different: developing your idea for the book and writing the memoir book proposal.Â
The difference between developing your book and your proposal
Developing the book can take weeks or even years. And often, while writing their memoir book proposal, people change their minds about what they think the book should be. Now, if you throw out your initial idea and start over, the proposal writing process will, of course, take a lot longer. But that is entirely worth it if that means you end up with a better chance at securing an agent or publisher!Â
The problem is that how long it will take you to hone your idea about what your book should be is completely unpredictable. You can have a stroke of genius in week 1, or you can end up laboring for months, skirting around the issue before you finally feel you have it.Â
That is why I can’t tell you how long it will take you to develop a clear and successful idea of what your memoir should be, even if I am a book proposal coach.
What I can do is tell you how long it will take you to write your memoir book proposal once you have this clarity.Â
The first elements of the book proposal
you should write: The Market section
If you want to be efficient, do not start writing your memoir book proposal top to bottom. Whilst in the actual proposal you’re expected to talk about yourself (author bio) and your book (descriptions) before getting to these sections, the Market sections will help you develop your idea for your book faster than the others will. So start with these.Â
(Note: If you’d like to receive my book proposal template and the associated Playbook, jump to this form.)
Competitive Titles – 2 hours (and a bit)
The first section of our book proposal I suggest you write is the Competitive Titles section (also called Comparative Titles, or Comp titles). As I explain in this blog post about how to write the Comp Titles section, you need to find 3-5 titles that were published in the last five years, by a traditional publisher, and that help you highlight one aspect of your book. Then, you need to write one paragraph for each section.Â
The way I go about finding titles for a memoir book proposal is to feed keywords into Amazon to find books like the one I’m writing a proposal for. Then, I filter out the ones that are too old or self-published, and organize the remaining titles by Amazon rank. This process takes about 30-60 minutes.Â
Then, I write down the information for each title so I don’t lose all the hard work I’ve done so far. For example:
Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover. Reprint edition. Published by Random House Trade Paperbacks in February 2022. ISBN: 978-0399590528. Paperback: 368 pages, $11.79 on Amazon.
Finally, I start writing the paragraphs, which takes up the remaining time.
Target Audiences – 1 hour
The target audiences section takes a bit less time if you already know who you are writing your memoir for. The most time-intensive element for this section is finding sources and statistics that will help you show the size of this audience, and argue that the audience for your book will grow and persist over time.Â
Though I’ve already written a long blog post about how to write an audience section for your book proposal, I thought I’d break down the process for you here as well.Â
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Steps primary audience:
- Define your ideal reader: Think about their demographics (age, gender, education, etc.) and their interests and goals.
- Research the size and growth of your audience: Use reliable sources to gather data.
- Identify their pain points and motivations: What challenges do they face? What are they looking for?
- Explain how your book addresses their needs: Show how your memoir will help them overcome their challenges or achieve their goals.
Steps secondary audience:
- Identify broader audience segments: Think about other groups who might be interested in your book.
- Analyze trends in the market: Look for gaps or unmet needs.
- Position your book as a solution: Explain how your book fills the gap or meets the unmet need.
- Highlight the unique value proposition of your book: What sets your book apart from other books in the market?
Relevance – 2 hours
Now that you’ve figured out who your audiences and competitors are, the big development stuff is out of the way. That means we can speed up this blog post a little bit and get to the real answer to the question how long it takes to write a memoir book proposal.Â
The next section you’ll be writing is about “Relevance.” This section is supposed to answer the question: why is this the right time to publish this book? What is going on in the world, or among your audiences, right now?Â
Here’s what I wrote in my log about this part of my process. Â
I spent about an hour brainstorming and researching the relevance section. I came up with various directions, but realized all of these would either contradict things I said in the audience section, or only apply to one or two of the secondary audiences, not the primary ones. In the second hour, I started writing but realized with every paragraph I wrote that it wouldn’t work. In the end, I broke through this by really focusing in on the primary audience and book’s theme and looking for trends around those on Google.
The lesson? Stay close to your primary audiences when you look for statistics and sources to show current trends in your memoir book proposal.Â
Unique Selling Points – 1/2 hour
Based on the previous sections, but mostly your Comp Titles, you should now be able to easily write a section about what makes your book unique on the market. I usually try to find 3-5 points, then write a paragraph about each. There’s no need for further research, you’ve already done that earlier!Â
Second, write the Book Details
With the most research-heavy sections out of the way, it’s time to really hone in on the details that make up your book. Let’s start big, and then get smaller.Â
Chapter descriptions – 4 per hour (4 hours total?)
Every chapter in your book needs to have its own 1-paragraph description in the memoir book proposal. In this description, highlight what the role of this chapter is within the larger book. If this chapter were to be deleted, what would be missing?Â
You can have as many or as few chapters in your book as you like. And of course, it takes a lot longer to write 50 chapter descriptions than 10. But for a nonfiction book, count on 10-20 chapters on average. For the purposes of this blog post, I’ll assume your book has 16 chapters, which should take you about 4 hours to write.Â
ToC & Manuscript information – 1/2 hour
The final two sections of the Manuscript Details are going to be relatively easy, so you can breathe again. First, make a list of all the chapters you just wrote a description for, and you have your Table of Contents. Then, add a section with some basic information about your manuscript. You can read this blog post if you want to know what information to put in.Â
But honestly: half an hour, here, is probably even a bit excessive!
And with that, you have the Book Details done.Â
Finally, the Overview section of your memior book proposal
At this point, you’ve looked at the context of your book – helping you determine what elements to focus on in your pitch – and you’ve broken down all parts of the book. With this in your pocket, the overview section for your memoir book proposal should be relatively simple.Â
Author bio – 1 hour
Okay, I say “relatively simple,” but I know many authors struggle with the author biography. It can be incredibly awkward to have to introduce yourself. However, as I explained in this blog post on the book proposal overview, it’s helpful to focus on the two questions an agent or editor wants to see answered in your book proposal for memoir: that you are qualified to write this book and that you’ll be able to complete the work. Work that, plus one or two unique facts about you into approximately 1-2 paragraphs – and that’s it!Â
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Synopsis – 2 hours
Now, it’s time to start summarizing your book. Here, you want to start with a quick overview of what your book is about, ideally with a bit of an interesting anecdote or something else to make them curious. Then, you talk mostly about what your book will do (the effect it will have on the reader, or the point that it makes) and how the structure of the book supports that purpose. You can draw from your chapter descriptions or the various parts of your market section here, don’t try to reinvent the wheel. You can go here to read more about how to write a synopsis for memoir. The length can be between one and six pages, but the shorter you can keep it the better.Â
Short description, hook, and keywords – 1 hour
And then it’s time to fill out the remaining parts of your book proposal. Summarize your synopsis to come up with your short description, then condense that into a 1-sentence hook. Extract five keywords that people will use to search for books like yours in search engines. Et voilà ! To be honest, an hour might be excessive for this, but I thought I’d give you some leeway to try on different hooks for size.Â
Concluding thoughts on how long it takes to write a memoir book proposal
Now, let’s do the math, shall we? If we exclude the editing of the sample chapter – which I recommend you leave to a professional editor like me – and you are already clear on the shape and structure of your book, we have an answer to the question how long it would take to write your memoir book proposal: It doesn’t have to take you longer than 14 hours!
As I explained earlier, though, it’s very likely that you will further develop your book as you’re writing your memoir book proposal. You might see a different angle as you write the competitive titles section, or decide to change the book’s structure while you’re writing the chapter descriptions. The time it takes to do this, of course, should be added to the 14 hour baseline.Â
Now that you know how long it will take, I’m sure you have a lot more questions about HOW to actually go about writing it! But don’t worry, I’ve developed a Playbook to walk you through it. Simply fill out the form below and I’ll email it to you for free!
Are you ready to start writing your proposal?
Fill out the form below and I’ll email you my Book Proposal Playbook and Template for free!
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