Book Proposal

A book proposal is usually used as a pitch to sell your book to a publisher before it is written. However, it can also serve other purposes:

  • It provides the overall vision for your project.
  • It is a great tool to reference while you are writing.
  • It helps you to narrow your focus – this is specifically achieved by choosing your audience and then narrowing that audience down to one person (ie: middle aged believer who is faltering in their faith – or – 25 yo believer who is a babe in Christ). By writing to one person, you are able to make it more relatable to your reader (no matter who they are).
  • It will helps your editors understand the foundation of your book and your style of writing.
  • It helps me, as your publisher, ensure your book stays on the right track.
  • It provides information that you will later need for getting your book up for sale. For instance, the reader benefits can be used on the back cover in the blurb. Other items include an author biography, book topic categories, and description

The following is a book proposal template that is provided courtesy of Destiny Writers.
You can copy and paste it into a new Word document and fill it in. This is required of all Red Door Sentinel authors.

Book Proposal Template

Working Title (and Subtitle):

Author:

One Sentence Description: What is your book about in one sentence? This is your elevator speech. (one sentence)

Mission: What do you seek to accomplish with the writing of this book?                           (one sentence)

Overview: What is the background to this book? Where did the idea come from? What do you plan to write about? (about 250 words)

Premise: What is the purpose in writing this book? Why is this book necessary? What need will it meet? (about 250 words)

Audience: To whom are you writing this book? Describe this person in great detail.  Why did you choose this person? (one paragraph)

Category: Where would someone find this book by doing a topical search on Amazon? (e.g. Christian Living/Spiritual Growth). Do an Amazon search. What other titles are out there that are similar to your book?

Reader Benefits: What benefit can the reader expect from reading this book?  (3-5 bullet points)

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Author Information: Why are you the best person to write this book? What are your qualifications? (3-5 bullet points)

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Author Bio.: Write a brief description introducing yourself to the reader. Be sure to establish your credibility as an authority on the material presented in the book.

Structure of the book: How will the material in the book be presented?

            Front matter: (examples – Table of Contents, Preface, Foreword, Introduction)

            Back matter: (examples – Appendices, Indexes, Study Guide, Answer Key)

Graphic Artist/Cover Designer

After signing a contract with RDS, we will get to work right away on the items listed below:

  • Complete a book proposal
  • Come up with a title & subtitle
  • General ideas of the cover design (overall mood, feminine/masculine, light/dark, type of image, etc)
  • Choose a few commercially available fonts that you like
    • The font you choose for your author name is important. Think of it as your signature that you will use on all the rest of the books you produce.
  • Write a back blurb
  • Obtain a professional picture of yourself
  • Compose a short biography
  • Determine needed interior artwork (chapter title pages, etc.)
  • Rough idea of page count (finalized page count will be given when formatting is done)

Once these are gathered, RDS will send them to the Graphic Artist (GA). We will receive back a quote and either engage in a contract or find a different GA.

Once a contract is signed, the GA will work with the author on the cover, back matter, and interior artwork. All correspondence needs to include RDS. A few things to keep in mind when reviewing your cover:

  • Spelling is correct
  • All lines that are centered line up with each other
  • Horizon is level/straight

There will be an interim time after all the graphics are completed and before the page count is finalized (while editing and formatting is completed). The GA will not complete the project until given a final page count.

The following files are needed from the GA:

File containing Type File size   Used for
Front cover, spine, back (with blank space for barcode) .pdf   color paperback
Front cover
(white background needs thin black border)
.jpg < 50MB
2,560 x 1,600 pixels
300 PPI
color eBook
** .jpg thumbnail color eBook
Full title page (same as front cover with RDS logo at bottom) .jpg large b&w paperback
** .jpg small color (rgb) eBook
Title & subtitle page .jpg large b&w paperback
** .jpg small color (rgb) eBook
Title only page .jpg large b&w paperback
** .jpg small color (rgb) eBook
Chapter title artwork .jpg large b&w paperback
** .jpg small color (rgb) eBook

** = same as above

Items in the table above are for Kindle Direct Publishing. More of their paperback cover requirements can be found here.

eBook cover requirements are here.

We will not finalize work with the GA until the proof copy paperback is reviewed. Seeing it as an actual book is different than what you see on a computer screen.