By Cherrilynn Bisbano @bisbanowrites

I love my job (most of the time)! People entrust their chubby, well-loved baby to me. As a doctor, I give a thorough examination.  I find every pimple, wart, and imperfection.  Some babies have a few normal blemishes while others have the measles.

What’s a physician to do?

Tell the parent of course and give the advice to cure their ailing child.  The parent leaves, SCRIPT in hand, determined to nurture the child until every red spot is gone.

The book proposal is our baby. We find it difficult to hand our precious to someone we barely know, let alone allow them to pick it apart!  We know the checkup is necessary for long life. So, how can we arrive at the examining table prepared for a clean bill of health?

During my many examinations, I found the top 3 glaring blemishes that can be remedied at home.

Format:

Many babies are cute in their bonnets, booties, and bows, but cute doesn’t cut it when submitting a proposal.

I’ve seen proposals with purple cursive fonts, red bold fonts, and pink Sanskrit centered on the page. It looks artistic and captures my eye, but the agent or publisher will reject it.  Always check the submission guidelines just in case the agent or publisher uses a different format. The standard format is 1″ margins, double-spaced in New Courier 12 or Times New Roman 12 font.

Editing:

Excess fat is unhealthy for your baby. In the proposal, extra words hide the message and slows the reader. Edit your proposal and cut as many fat words as possible. Here are a few pounds to eliminate. This is NOT an exhaustive list.

That, really, very, just, then, every, was, is, are, am, all, begin, began, begun, rather, quite, somewhat, somehow, down, up, in, out, under, over, wonder, ponder, think, thought, seem, feel, felt, understand, realize, breathe, inhale, exhale, shrug, nod, reach, stuff, things, got.

Marketing:

We exclaim the expected birth of our sweet bundle of joy with parties and announcements. Marketing your book is similar. Agents and publishers want to know you’ve told the world about your book. The words they dread to read in the Marketing section of your proposal, I will. I will get a website, I will call churches, I will tell my friend, I will get a Facebook page. The I will’s won’t get you a contract. Create and initiate, before you send your proposal.

Just like babies need a checkup, our proposals needs an examination. If the editor finds something you don’t agree with, ask questions. You may learn something new. We don’t slap the doctor if our child is sick, so please don’t slap the editor if your proposal needs work.

What part of the book proposal gives you the hives? Join the conversation?

Cherrilynn Bisbano is a coach, editor, and partner at The Write Coach Team.

As former managing editor of Almost an Author, she helped the website earn the #6 spot on the Top 100 best writing websites for 2018 by The Write Life and Top 101 Websites for writers with Writers Digest.

Cherrilynn is a speaker with Women Speakers. Her topics include leadership, book proposals, and the Bible and a member of American Christian Fiction Writers ACFW.

She is a two-time winner of Flash Fiction Weekly. You can find her published in Southern Writers, More to Life (MTL), Christian Rep, Christian Voice, Refresh and other online magazines. Cherrilynn is a contributor to Selah nominated, Breaking the Chains, Heart Reno, and Chicken Soup for the Soul-Miracles books.

Cherrilynn proudly served in the Navy and Air National Guard, earning the John Levitow Military leadership award.  She lives with her eighteen-year-old son, Michael, Jr., and husband of 21 years.

Cherrilynn loves Christ, Chocolate, coffee, and Cats.