Crafting the Non-Fiction Book Proposal with Alex Rubens and 8-Bit Apocalypse
Hey there non-fiction writers!
So, I know working in this particular category can be tricky. Agents and editors ask for proposals but… what do those even LOOK like? And how do you know if one is going to work or not? What if you’re missing something? WHAT IF-
Okay, deep breaths. I’m here to help! And we’re going to use bits of an actual book proposal from a project that sold. This one worked, my friends.
Today, I’m dishing a breakdown of the proposal for Alex Rubens’ 8-Bit Apocalypse: The Untold Story of Atari’s Missile Command. This wonderful book came out in 2018 in hardcover with Overlook, and in beautiful paperback in 2019 with Abrams.
Now, this kind of post might seem familiar, and that’s because I’ve done this kind of deconstruction with Sam Slaughter’s wonderful Are You Afraid of the Dark Rum?, his 90’s cocktail book. I’ll be using the same sort of breakdown here, with Alex’s work, specific to a pop-culture history project. You know, as opposed to a cocktail book. Though the elements are the same.
First, a few quick disclaimers!
Remember how subjective this all is. What works for me as an agent, might not work for someone else. There are some great additional proposal guides written up by Jane Friedman, Brian Klems at Writer’s Digest, and Nathan Brandsford. Learn as much as you can.
Make sure you are reading agency guidelines before sending anything. An agent might want something ENTIRELY DIFFERENT. But I imagine a lot of what we are going to dig into here, such as author platform, proposed contents, sample pages, etc… will be across the board for everyone who requests a proposal.
And last, if this helps, please consider picking up a copy of 8-Bit Apocalypse. Alex put a lot of work into this wonderful book, and I’m so wildly proud of it. Support him if you can. It’s out in paperback!
Alright. Let’s dig in.
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THE BASICS
When it comes to crafting a really great non-fiction book proposal, there are a few sections you should have in every single one. In my opinion, the breakdown should look a little something like this, and we’ll dig into each of these in a minute:
About the Book: Exactly what it sounds like. What’s the jacket copy look like?
Meet the Author: Let’s get to know you.
Author Publicity & Platform: It’s time to name drop. What’s your platform like, where do you write, who will support your book, what are your numbers? This could also just tie into the Meet the Author section (which in this case, it does).
Comparative Titles: What books would yours sit with in bookstores? What book would fans of your book, also potentially like?
Potential Media Relevance: Covering a topic that gets dug into in the media? Shows us a bit about that, if possible.
Manuscript Overview & Proposed Contents: What you’ve got so far, and where you see the work going. Word count? Well, that can vary greatly. We’ll dig into that too.
Now, when it comes to non-fiction proposals, there will sometimes be sections that are pretty specific to that kind of proposal. For example, with Sam Slaughter’s Are You Afraid of the Dark Rum, we had a whole section detailed to sample photography and recipes. That is, of course, specific to working on a cookbook. If you’re here for that, be sure to check that breakdown out here.
So, keep that in mind as we dig ahead. Your proposal might have to have a little extra, depending on what you’re doing.
Now, let’s break down these sections a bit more. I’ll include summaries of what we discussed in the proposal as well as some screenshots, which I hope will give you a helpful overview of what goes into one of these.
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ABOUT THE BOOK
You know that query letter you’ve been polishing up? With your jacket-copy-esque writing that describes the book you’ve spent all these many months / years on? Well, this is yet another place to let that writing shine.
In Alex’s 8-Bit Apocalypse, he opened up the proposal with this harrowing introduction, discussing a game creator who had spiraled into nightmares after creating one of the most popular and influential video games of all time. Right out the gate, he talks about the era the game was made in, the main focus of the book, and even hints at the rise and fall of the game vs. the creator.
It was this language that actually caught me with his query letter (which you can read here, and has a lot of that language!).
The ‘About the Book’ section for this proposal was only a single page, summing up the entirety of the story in the way you would on a book’s jacket copy. Alex explains the personal sacrifice of the game’s creator, the promise of some interesting behind-the-scenes storytelling, and a little blip about who the book is for (“readers who are hungry for books about pop culture, video games, and American history”).
So yes. Just a page. It’s your jacket copy, afterall. It wouldn’t be more than a page in your query letter, and it definitely wouldn’t be more than a page on the back of your favorite book.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR / PLATFORM
When it comes to non-fiction, you’re selling the author just as much as you’re selling the book, particularly in a category like this one, the pop-culture / history space. The author should be an expert on this topic, right? How do you prove it? How do you show it?
For Alex’s bio in this proposal, we had a page detailing the many places he’s written for as a video games journalist, and his specific beat as someone who covers the human element behind game creation.
This is the place for you to show your expertise. Why you are THE person to write this particular book on whatever the topic might be.
This also falls into that “platform” discussion that gets brought up in non-fiction so often. It’s not always about having a massive social media following. It’s about how you’ve built yourself up in your field. In Alex’s case, it’s through publication and his work in video games. At the time, Alex had been working on narrative in Call of Duty, something else stressed in his about section.
So, someone who writes about video games AND helped make them? Perfect person to write a book like this. Make sure you show that in your proposals.
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COMPARATIVE TITLES
Please don’t leave any comments saying your book is beyond compare. It ain’t.
When you’re thinking of comparative titles, consider what books might sit next to yours in bookstores. On readers shelves. It doesn’t have to be a list of books that entirely similar to it. Afterall, if there was already a comprehensive guide to the backstory of Missile Command, Alex wouldn’t have written this book.
Your book should stand apart, but have friends it can hangout with.
In the case of Alex’s proposal, we dished comparative titles in that gaming space, some of which were publishing the year we were pitching it around (2016, the book came out in 2018, publishing takes forever), and others that showed that yes, video histories can be massive bestsellers.
We also shared some books that weren’t huge blockbusters, because it shouldn’t be all about the big titles. We talked about Super Mario by Jeff Ryan (a major favorite of mine) and Reality is Broken (which is an AMAZING book). Look those up.
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POTENTIAL MEDIA RELEVANCE
When it came to this specific breakdown, we talked a little bit about the outlets that would potentially cover this, but we spent a bit more time on the AUDIENCE. Why? Because there are countless outlets that cover video game stories. So many. So while we listed some at the end of this one page section, it wasn’t necessary to hammer that home for editors and publishers. Because it’s absolutely a given they are going to know there are places that cover games.
Also, I’m not sure if that Missile Command movie is still happening? That was a big thing being discussed back in 2016.
Anyhow. If the potential editor, agent, etc. isn’t aware there are outlets that cover video games… they aren’t the right person to be pitching this project to. Besides, we talked about the many outlets Alex writes for earlier in the proposal.
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MANUSCRIPT OVERVIEW + PROPOSED CONTENTS
Here’s the big one, the question most people have when it comes to non-fiction.
How much of it do I have to write, and what should be there? Well, let’s talk about that.
Non-fiction does sell on proposal. It’s true! But that doesn’t mean it just sells on the idea. You have to show you can actually write the thing, in addition to having the expertise to back it up. I’ve heard contrasting thoughts on the exact count, but for me, at least 10,000 words works no matter the category you’re in.
Should you FINISH the whole book before pitching it? I’ve sold one memoir that was completely finished, so sure, you can. But you don’t necessarily have to.
In the case of Alex’s proposal, it ended up being a little over 10,000 words, and 40 pages long.
We had two key sections in this part of the proposal.
The Chapter by Chapter Synopsis: Alex had the entire book outlined for this project, and detailed what he’d be digging into in every chapter.
The fact that we had a placeholder for “large industry personality” for the foreword is kind of hilarious, but hey, Alex ended up getting Jeff Gerstmann, the founder of Giant Bomb!
Effectively, this is the synopsis for the entire book. He broke down all eleven chapters to show the arc of the story of the game and the creator. This was about a dozen pages, so, lots of details so the editors would know where we were going.
The Sample Chapters: In the proposal, we include three finished proposed chapters for the book, demonstrating the approach Alex would be taking with the content, as well as his style.
Want to read the actual chapters? They are good! Pick up the book please!
And there it is, the non-fiction book proposal breakdown for 8-Bit Apocalypse. I hope you found this helpful. At the end, when we were shopping this around, the proposal was a little over 40 pages total, but it’s perfectly okay for yours to be a bit longe.r
Maybe you have more platform information to dig into, or plan to really dive into the market / media potential for your book (we did that in a big with Sam’s cocktail book here). You do what you have to do, to get that story across, and you as the expert seen.
And like I said, If you find this helpful, consider ordering Alex’s book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or from your local indie bookseller.
And stay tuned! I hope to do more of these down the line.