How to Write Winning Book Proposals

January 8, 2009

Last month I started discussions with the Studio B agency, which represents technical writers. Studio B is a bit different than the agency I used to be represented by (I’m not currently represented by an agent) in that they can represent book writers in full, which is the kind of representation I had before, or work with writers on an individual project basis, primarily for online articles. I’ve been speaking with Studio B under these latter pretenses, initially with the intent of writing articles on Adobe Flex and AIR.

Anyway, the point in this post isn’t to dicusss my history with agents and agencies, rather to point you towards Studio B’s Web site. I am frequently asked about what steps one would take to get published. The answer isn’t a secret, you just need to come up with a good idea and follow the publishers’ guidelines for submission. Studio B has quite a bit of good information on their site for getting published, including this article on writing winning book proposals. If you click on the “Studio B for Authors” link, you’ll find several other articles that are well worth reading. Finally, I will say that you don’t necessarily need an agent in order to get published (I signed with an agent after already publishing three books) but some argue that it is worth your while to have one. Regardless of that decision, if you’re interest in writing, check out those articles on Studio B’s Web site for some great, no-nonsense information.