What sections does a non-fiction book proposal need?

A standard proposal includes an overview, target-audience and market analysis, comparable titles, an author bio with platform, a chapter-by-chapter outline, and one or two sample chapters. This builder generates all of these except the sample chapters themselves, which you write.

Why are comparable titles so important?

Comp titles show an editor where your book sits on the shelf and that a market exists for it. The builder asks for two or three recent, successful but not blockbuster comps and frames how your book is similar yet distinct from each.

What goes in the author bio for a proposal?

The bio establishes your platform — why you are the person to write this book and how you will help sell it. Include relevant expertise, audience size, media, and prior publications. The tool prompts for these so the bio reads as a credibility and marketing case.

How detailed should the chapter outline be?

Each chapter gets a title and a two-to-three sentence summary of what it covers and the takeaway. That level lets an editor see the arc without reading the manuscript. The builder produces this from the chapter titles you list.

Is a proposal needed for fiction too?

Fiction is usually sold on a completed manuscript plus a synopsis and query, not a proposal. This builder is tuned for non-fiction, where books are routinely sold on proposal before the full manuscript is written.

Book Proposal Builder

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The document that sells a non-fiction book

Non-fiction is sold on a proposal, not a finished manuscript — so the proposal has to do the work of the book before the book exists. This builder assembles the sections agents and editors expect: a compelling overview, a market and audience case, comparable titles, an author bio that proves platform, and a chapter-by-chapter outline.

How it works

The tool takes your working title, hook, and target reader and writes an overview that opens with the hook and frames the problem your book solves. The market section quantifies the audience and lists the comparable titles you provide, positioning your book as similar enough to have a market yet distinct enough to need writing. The author bio is built from your expertise and platform details to read as a credibility-and-sales case. Each chapter title you supply becomes an outline entry with a summary prompt, giving an editor the full arc at a glance.

Tips and example

Lead the overview with the single most surprising or urgent idea in the book — that hook decides whether an agent reads on.
Pick comps published in the last 3-5 years that sold well but were not mega-bestsellers; comping to a blockbuster reads as naive.
Make the platform concrete: newsletter with 30k subscribers beats large online following.
Keep chapter summaries outcome-focused — what the reader can do or understand after the chapter, not just its topic.