Nonfiction Book | New York City | Creative Writing Classes in NYC and Online with Professional Writing Instructors

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"The class really makes me want to jump right into the process!"

- Anne Hinsman
architect

"The instructor has gone through the process herself and was able to explain things from "the front lines.""

- Suzanne Steinbaum
physician

"In several hours I learned all of the preliminary steps from developing a topic to writing a query letter to writing the proposal."

- Joseph Schippa
Psychologist

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Learn the most effective strategy for selling a nonfiction book from someone who knows—a nonfiction book editor.

Whether your nonfiction book is a finished draft or only a rough idea, you need to know how nonfiction books are presented in the publishing industry. Most nonfiction books are sold to publishers on the basis of a proposal—a 30-50 page document that pitches the book’s content and marketability and contains a few sample chapters. You write the proposal before you actually write the book. To sell your book, however, you need a winning proposal. First, you need a clear idea of what your book is and how it will fit into the marketplace. Then you need to write a proposal that meets professional standards and entices editors into acquiring your book. This course will set you in the right direction for writing your nonfiction book proposal.

Among the parts of a book proposal covered: overview (the basic idea), marketability (who will buy), competition (similar books), table of contents, the writer (about you), platform (how you can help sell).

Nonfiction books encompass such diverse types as: memoir, biography, narrative nonfiction, true crime, self-help, humor, history, science, politics, sociology, arts, and pop culture. (Memoirs are sometimes sold with proposals, and sometimes sold after the complete work is written. Often it’s best to write the complete memoir, but this course can help you discern the scope and marketability of your memoir.)

See also: Nonfiction Book Online

Nonfiction Book \| One-Day in NYC
In this four-hour session, a professional editor will break down the various parts of a nonfiction book proposal and also work with students on crystallizing their book idea into something that is realistically saleable. Students will have ample opportunity to ask questions of the instructor. (Students may further develop their book proposals through private work with a Gotham instructor.)

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