What I learned from my rejected book proposal

Some tips on what to do and what to avoid if you have a non-fiction book idea

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

About a year ago, I decided to throw my chips in and do something I had always dreamed of doing which was to start work on a non-fiction book proposal.

I have always wanted to write a book and loved creative writing at school and university. My shelves at home are heaving with all sorts of non fiction (my favourite genre) from memoir to self-help, autobiographies, nature writing, psychology and (of course) careers and business books. However the dream of writing my own was always pushed to the back of my mind as a 'maybe one day' possibility.

However a couple of years ago my beautiful aunt passed away and one of her life long wishes had been to write a children's book. She had worked for Sure Start during her career and cared deeply about the welfare of young children, and I know that she would have written something absolutely magical for them. When she fell ill she started to create a bucket list of things she wanted to do, but the illness took hold very fast and she ran out of time. This has always stayed with me and in some ways I wanted to do this for her.

And so I decided that it was time to take action and signed up for a book proposal masterclass to learn the ropes. As it turns out, putting together all the elements of a non-fiction book proposal plus writing the sample chapters is a BIG undertaking. I was squeezing it into the tiny chunks of free time that I had here and there alongside my day job and parenting duties, so overall it took a good nine months to get it through several drafts and polished enough to send out to agents (though I'm sure it can be done in less time, perhaps that was just me!).

Now came the scary bit of actually sending my precious book baby out there and seeing if anyone wanted to take it on and nurture it with me. Agents are busy people and receive hundreds of proposals every week. It's common practice to receive an ‘out of office’ reply saying that they will get back to you anywhere from 6 weeks to 3 months down the line, or that they may not get back to you at all due to time constraints. And so you just have to sit back and wait...

It indeed took time but I did eventually hear back from some. Often agents simply aren't able to give you any detailed feedback, but one did say that they liked the idea but my platform wasn't big enough (more on that later) and another said that the proposal was well put together but the idea just wasn't the right fit for their agency. The handful of replies I did get were always kind and polite but in the end none of them wanted to take it any further. After all that time and effort, crushed doesn't even begin to cover I felt...

HOWEVER. I decided to step back, take a break, and put the proposal on the back burner. I wasn't sure how to feel or what to do next, but what was interesting was that the idea simply wouldn't leave me alone. Nor the desire to keep writing. Both kept niggling away at me and eventually I felt recovered enough to reach out to an expert book coach to get some feedback on where I might have gone wrong (again more on that later).

So here is what I have learned:

1. Platform (your audience)

Yes it's true that pre-social media, writers didn't have to worry so much about their 'platform' but now it is definitely a factor that agents take into account. They want to know that you have a fairly large existing audience and that they are engaged with what you have to say.

However that's not to say that it has to be your own platform that has the huge following (though it certainly helps which is why influencers and celebrities often get approached about book deals). I recently read this fantastic article by published author @

Catherine Baab-Muguira

about how you can 'borrow' other people's audiences to give yourself a platform if your topic has a huge pre-existing audience. Definitely worth a read:

How to get a book deal when you're not famous

You can also consider getting yourself published in magazines and on websites with large audiences, to help build your authority and start to be seen as an expert.

There's no quick way around this (it definitely takes time) so if you think you might want to pitch a book idea in the future, get started on building your platform sooner rather than later. I'm still beavering away on building up my community on Substack and Instagram and simply enjoying the journey.

2. Try and link your idea to a trend

I'd love to say that if you believe in your idea and your writing is strong, then an agent will spot your potential and snap you up. However I discovered through this process that the publishing industry is very trend driven. You need to find a way to connect your core idea with what is current and relevant.

So pay attention to what journalists are writing about in newspapers and magazines and what podcasts are really popular at the moment. You will need to address in your proposal why your book need to be written NOW and why YOU are the best placed person to do it.

3. Consider if there a market for your idea

This one is a little different from trends. You have to try and put yourself in an agent's shoes. What is the book market like at the moment? What is selling? It's hard to know if you don't already work in that world, but there are ways of finding out what they are looking for.

If you visit the website of a literary agency and look up the profile pages of the agents who work there, they will usually have a little blurb about their background and also the kinds of books they love to read and what what they are in the market for. I was told that it is tough to sell careers/leadership books by women at the moment. This came as a shock to me, but knowing this also helped to take the rejections a little bit less personally.

4. Don't burn your bridges

Submit to agents in small batches and try and give it a few weeks to receive feedback before moving on to the next batch. Use any feedback you do get to improve your pitch and then try again. I was impatient and kept pushing on and on until I had approached my entire shortlist of non-fiction agents from the Writers and Artists Yearbook! You can't re-submit an idea to an agent once they've rejected it and so that ship has sailed for me on proposal #1 (unless I look into hybrid or self-publishing but that's a whole other post).

5. Get some expert feedback before sending out

You could get this via a book proposal course or by booking a session with an editor or book coach. If you don't have the budget, read some of the many free articles available online to help you structure your proposal (try Reedsy). And always check the submissions page of the agent you are approaching for any guidelines as to how they like to receive their proposals. Also ask around to see if anyone in your network has experience of the publishing world, and ask them if they could take a look at what you've done before you send it out.

The group book proposal course I took was excellent (and I did get positive feedback from agents about how professional the proposal was) but as it was a self-paced group course I didn't end up getting personalised feedback. More recently I booked a session with the wonderful @

Penny Wincer

and she gave me some absolutely invaluable pointers on the proposal itself and helped me understand where I might have gone wrong. We also explored together how to improve my writing in general and what kind of writer I want to be. I came away feeling inspired and uplifted and knowing 100% that this isn't the end of the road for my writing dreams.

6. There are other ways to get your work out there.

Newsletters. Social media. Blogging. Pitching to other publications. Speaking on podcasts. If you have ideas to share, you can still put them out in the world in other ways. I'm still writing, still full of ideas, and strongly believe they can help others. All the work, research and preparation that went into to the book proposal has not been lost. Career change is my speciality and the ideas I wanted to share in the book are valuable, so I'll continue to share them via this newsletter in the hope that they help you.

7. If you really want it, you will find a way.

I don't feel like this is the end of my foray into the publishing world. I've learned so much about how it all works and that it's pretty tough to elbow your way in there and get a book deal. But it's not impossible. I may have to go away, build a bigger audience, come up with something new, and then have another crack at it. But next time I'll know what gets an agent's attention and what to expect from the whole process. My 'book baby' might still find it's way onto a bookshop shelf one day...

8. Don't have any regrets.

As I mentioned at the start, my aunt is the one who inspired me to go for it and I know she would have been very supportive. I might not have had success this time, but at least I don't regret not having tried. There's an Anais Nin quote that sums this up perfectly:

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom".

There's still time for this writing bud to blossom...

So how about you? Do you have a book dream? I would love to hear where you are in your writing journey, and if you'll be trying any of the steps I suggested above. Please do comment below!

Speak soon,

Juliette x