I’m happy to report I’m working on another outdoor magazine assignment. I’ll be traveling soon to the Mojave Desert to start taking photographs and to conduct interviews. Looks like the weather will be good.

I’ve also been asked to submit a complete book proposal to a local publisher. He and I are on good terms, although every idea I have sent to him has been deemed non-commercial. In fact, we are on such good terms that I was able to send him a book pitch that took only twenty minutes to write and was just four paragraphs. I sent that short pitch to him, knowing there was no reason to send a complete pitch if he didn’t like my idea to begin with. Well, he does like my current idea so he’s asking for the following:

• A cover letter, including: a brief summary of the book, the approximate length (word count) of your manuscript, and why you think your book is a good fit for us.
• A table of contents or outline of the book’s contents
• Two sample chapters
• Any photographs or illustrations you believe might assist us in evaluating your proposal (do not send originals!)
• A brief list of similar or competitive books, including title, author, publisher, ISBN number, and date of publication. (These are all available on Amazon.com and other online booksellers.) Tell us what makes your book unique. How does it differ from your competition? (This is vitally important information — please take the time to research thoroughly and think about it carefully.)
• Marketing and publicity plans or ideas
• A description of your book’s target audience (Please be as specific as possible.)
• A brief autobiographical summary or résumé. What do you, as the author, bring to the project?
• Your mailing address, daytime phone number, and e-mail address

Whoo! Quite a list. But very typical for a book proposal. I am now starting to think about how to do all of this. Two sample chapters. Tough. But the door is open. Now, I have to walk through it.

Wonderful site on the Mojave here (external link) Picture from their website.