Are you ready to write a nonfiction proposal that grabs attention?

Are you ready to write a nonfiction proposal
that grabs attention?

First things first: You need to know a few things before you start.

1. Know your passion. I’ve alluded to this earlier. A good book proposal emerges from a passionate idea. Examine yourself. Think about the topics you get passionate about when you talk to folks. Talk to others who know you well. Share your book idea and see if they catch your passion for it. It’s a huge undertaking to write a proposal, so be sure you have the passion to carry an entire book.

2. Know your book. What genre is your book? Where it would be shelved in a bookstore? How well do you know what the book will be about? Do you have access to good research, great interviews? How unique is your book? Will a pub board find it unique?

3. Know your immediate audience. The first audience of your proposal is actually the agent or publisher you’re querying. Find out everything you can about the agent or publisher. Do they specialize in the genre you’re writing? Do they take new authors? How many? Have you attended a writer’s conference and spoken directly to the editor or agent? What kinds of books are they looking for? Purchasing a market guide is a great first step. Analyzing books already represented or published is another great step. (If an agent already represents three mom authors, chances are he/she won’t want to take on another mom author.)

4. Know the bookselling industry. Do you know what is selling in the industry? What has oversold? What trends are up and coming? Go to bookstores and walk the aisles, sign up for newsletters and updates from the publishing industry, go to conferences, talk to booksellers. It’s absolutely imperative that you know what you’re getting into before you embark on this journey.

5. Know yourself. Writing a proposal is the first step in a very long journey. Do you have what it takes to count the cost of bringing a book to fruition? Can you take constructive criticism? Do you have the time it takes to not only write the book, but to edit it in a timely manner and promote it when it releases? Do you have a critique group to support and help you through the process? Author Jan Winebrenner says publishing a book “is like giving birth to an elephant—only more painful.” Are you ready for that?

Excerpted from Nonfiction Book Proposals that Grab and Editor or an Agent by the Throat (in a good way!) by Mary E. DeMuth. You can purchase the download here: http://www.maryedemuth.com/store.php

Mary E. DeMuth helps people to turn their trials into triumphs. An expert in Pioneer Parenting, Mary enables Christian parents to navigate our changing culture when their families left no good faith examples to follow. Her parenting books include Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture (Harvest House, 2007), Building the Christian Family You Never Had (WaterBrook, 2006), and Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God (Harvest House, 2005). Mary also inspires people to face their trials through her real-to-life novels, including Watching the Tree Limbs (nominated for a Christy Award) and Wishing on Dandelions (NavPress, 2006). A pioneer parent herself, Mary and her husband, Patrick, reside in Texas with their three children. They recently returned from breaking new spiritual ground in Southern France, where they planted a church. You can find her on the web here:

www.marydemuth.com
www.relevantblog.blogspot.com
www.pioneerparenting.blogspot.com

TRY DYING by James Scott Bell

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance Introduces

TRY DYING BY JAMES SCOTT BELL CENTER STREET PUBLISHERS, 2007.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Scott Bell is a former trial lawyer who now writes full time. He is also the fiction columnist for Writers Digest magazine and adjunct professor of writing at Pepperdine University.
His book on writing, Plot and Structure is one of the most popular writing books available today. The national bestselling author of several novels of suspense, he grew up, and still lives in Los Angeles, where he is at work on his next Buchanan thriller.

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My Review

JAMES SCOTT BELL's TRY DYING brings to mind film noir, the old black and white detective films of the 1950s.

Ty Buchanan loses his fiance in a weird accident-cum-murder. And his life changes from that of an ordinary, but successful, LA lawyer to a morose, ambivalent, self-deprecating, but hard-boiled detective. Think Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, or even "Dragnet's" Sgt. Joe Friday.

At his fiances funeral, the grieving Buchanan is accosted by an eye-witness to her murder. But the guy wants money in return for his information. Buchanan refuses to pay-up and gets knocked out. He reports the attack to the police, but realizes it's up to him to turn detective and find her killer.

The plot thickens when somebody tries to dissuade him from his investigation by blowing up his house. Buchanan refuses to quit. A femme fatale, TV news reporter offers to help Buchanan. In return for dibs on him as a "human interest" story, she uses her connections to help him with his investigation.

As film noir satired Hollywood crime dramas, Bell's Try Dying satirizes the literary genre that birthed film noir. Try Dying is an enjoyable read. I recommend it.

Now, I'm in the mood for a cup of java and a Bogart movie.

Vicki Talley McCollum, 2007 (c)

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ABOUT THE BOOK
On a wet Tuesday morning in December, Ernesto Bonilla, twenty-eight, shot his twenty-three-year-old wife, Alejandra, in the backyard of their West 45th Street home in South Los Angeles. As Alejandra lay bleeding to death, Ernesto drove their Ford Explorer to the westbound Century Freeway connector where it crossed over the Harbor Freeway and pulled to a stop on the shoulder.

Bonilla stepped around the back of the SUV, ignoring the rain and the afternoon drivers on their way to LAX and the west side, placed the barrel of his .38 caliber pistol into his mouth, and fired.

His body fell over the shoulder and plunged one hundred feet, hitting the roof of a Toyota Camry heading northbound on the harbor Freeway. The impact crushed the roof of the Camry. The driver, Jacqueline Dwyer, twenty-seven, an elementary schoolteacher from Reseda, died at the scene.

This would have been simply another dark and strange coincidence, the sort of thing that shows up for a two-minute report on the local news--with live remote from the scene--and maybe gets a follow-up the next day. Eventually the story would go away, fading from the city's collective memory.

But this story did not go away. Not for me. Because Jacqueline Dwyer was the woman I was going to marry.

In Try Dying, a fast-paced thriller, lawyer Ty Buchanan must enter a world of evil to uncover the cause of his fiance's death--even if hie has to kill for the truth.

"Bell is one of the best writers out there...he creates characters readers care about...a story worth telling."
~Library Review~

DEADFALL by Robert Liparulo

Terror rides into Fiddler Falls, Saskatchewan, in a hummer, the “color of bright yellow birthday balloons.”

But “you can’t judge a fellow by the color of his car,” Roland Emery observes ironically, just moments before the occupants fire a deadly weapon, disintegrating the tree that stands between them.

Next, Liparulo introduces the Fuller family; Tom, the sheriff, his wife Laura, and their brave, ten-year old son, Dillon. It’s the good sheriff’s job to stand up for the town, to protect them and his family from the visiting evil.

In the meantime, Hutch and three of his good friends, fly in by helicopter to begin two weeks in tents in the Canadian wilderness: camping, fishing, and bow hunting in isolation, without means to contact civilization.

Early the following morning, Hutch slips into the woods with his bow to hunt caribou. Kneeling in the grass at the meadow, readying his aim, he hears the sound of an engine, “something like a big truck or a powerful ATV.”

In true Robert Liparulo style, Deadfall plunges into the last moments of a character’s life; humanizing him so the reader begins to care about him, even though she can only know him through his terror, his pain, his humanness. And then the character dies in some horrible manner that thrusts her into a nightmare of mayhem.

Liparulo never eases up on his readers. In Deadfall, you can’t be sure who will survive, if anyone. It’s definitely “white knuckle intensity” till the very end, which, despite 470 pages, comes way too soon.

Read DEADFALL You’ll love it.
Vicki Talley McCollum, SavVy ReViews (c) 2007

An Interview: Robert Liparulo, "GERM."

DEADFALL, by Robert Liparulo. Tomorrow--Christian Fiction Blog Alliance Blog Tour!

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GERM, by Robert Liparulo , 2006

Robert Liparulo's all-too-realistic premise for GERM comes from a what if scenario.
What if all those hundred’s of thousands of PKU tests—the blood samples taken from newborn babies born in industrialized nations to check for certain genetic diseases, then placed on Guthrie cards and stored in warehouses and never destroyed? What if they fell into the wrong hands?

Like into the hands of Karl Litt, a German scientist/bioterrorist—plotting to murder 10,000 American's for a personal vendetta. What if this bioterrorist specializes in gene splicing and encoding human DNA, and has inside information about the 1995 Ebola outbreak?

“Theoretically," these viruses have the ability to "find specific DNA—specific people,” says Liparulo.

After reading both novels, I'm a fan. Liparulo's novels are full of action, suspense, and fun to read. Liparulo's plots careen wildly through a crash-course of crises littered with quasi-supernatural evil.

Liparulo's characters are multi-faceted; internally conflicted with the stuff that makes for realistic characters. "GERM's" Stephen is a strong ex-college wrestler turned preacher who embodies G.K. Chesterton's description of courage, "a contradiction in terms that(sic) means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die."

Liparulo's characters are flawed. Some have bad habits like smoking or drinking too much, and they know they should stop. Others, like GERM's Julia and Allen, have bought into today's mores and have been hurt because of it. It's refreshing to meet people like them in Christian fiction; people who are conflicted with the struggles that typifies real life.

Madeleine L'Engle once said, "Christian art? Art is art; painting is painting; music is music; a story is a story. If it's bad art, it's bad religion, no matter how pious the subject. If it's good art. . . ," and Robert Liparulo's fiction is good fiction. Somewhere in his fiction is good religion, too, but it doesn't call attention to it's piety. Maybe that's the difference in Liparulo's style that draws me. I wish I could write like that. I'm thrilled to learn he has a third novel in the works.

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Interview With Robert Liparulo

While immersed in “Comes A Horseman,” I had to break from the vivid imagery and intense drama—but, not for long—I had to find out what happened next.

Robert Liparulo has written two thrillers, “Comes A Horseman,” which rose to number 33 in the Top 100 Thrillers on Amazon.com for 2006, and his newest novel, “Germ.” After reviewing “Comes A Horseman” for "Christian Library Journal, " I jumped at the chance to review “Germ” when it was released last November.

Liparulo is unique as a writer: the successful combination of a murder and mayhem imagination tied to Christian morality. I am pleased that he agreed to talk to me about his work, and offer some pointers for new writers.

Books to Movies

Liparulo’s novels are dramatic, fast-paced and visual—they read like a screenplay; so, it comes as no surprise that both novels have been optioned for movie rights. Mace Neufeld is producing "Comes A Horseman."

I asked Liparulo about production and if he is involved with the screenplay:

Liparulo: “Mace Neufeld, who has produced all of Tom Clancey's movies, and "General's Daughter, " and a whole slew of successful films, is producing "Comes A Horseman." They’re still trying to get a good script. They’ve rejected two scripts by two prominent scriptwriters, is my understanding. So, they're not at the casting stage yet. I have no idea who they have in mind. I did get a chance to talk with Mace about the script. I suggested another twist at the end, one that’s not in the book, and he seemed to really like it. Aside from that, I don’t have any input. I get to go to the premiers. That’ll have to do, I guess.”

"Red Eagle Entertainment," a relatively new, but well positioned production company is making "Germ." Right now, they have Robert Jordan’s “Wheel of Time” in production. They're putting something like $100 million into it—nothing to sneeze at. They said they want to put “Germ” on the same track. I’m writing the screenplay, so I do have more input this time.

But in Hollywood, scripts get polished and re-written all the time; I’m not expecting the movie to be exactly what I write. When the offers started coming in, I asked Morrell and a few other authors who had sold to Hollywood what I should do. Their advice was to take the money and run. They said it only hurts to try to influence how your stories will be interpreted on the screen. You gotta let it go. Except for the "Germ" screenplay, I've been able to do that. I'm comfortable that I've done my job and the movies will be what they will be."

Journalism Days

Liparulo majored in creative writing at Weber State University, Utah: “I never wanted to be or imagined myself as a journalist,” but, when he got married after college, he “followed the money. At the time, that meant freelancing magazine articles and newspaper stories.” to Travel and Leisure. “I’m curious about everything, as writers should be."

Liparulo: "As a freelancer, I could appr0ach any publication. Publications exist for every conceivable topic: yarn balls and shoelaces and abandoned eighteenth century mine shafts. Over time, the things that really interested me started to become apparent: military and police operations, travel, business management, relationships (not just romantic relationships, but father/child, siblings, friends). The great thing about freelancing is you can write about whatever piques your fancy; the bad thing is you have to hustle to keep the articles flowing out and the cash flowing in.”

Liparulo is focusing on his fiction. After ten years as a contributing editor to “New Man” magazine, he said: “Novel writing is where my heart is. It’s what I was designed to do, so when I could focus solely on writing novels, I let all of the magazine writing go. "New Man" was the last one I released.”

As a journalist, Liparulo interviewed celebrities. Steven Spielberg was probably his most memorable interview:

Liparulo: This was right after “E.T.” I really admired him. He was so sure of where he was heading, of the mark he wanted to make. I saw more drive and passion and determination in him than in anyone I’d ever met. And yet he wasn’t anxious or jittery. No nervous energy. Just energy. For years after that, I’d work harder and (I hope) smarter just by thinking, 'Spielberg’s probably working right now.' He also had a passion for doing things right, even if they were outside of his core competencies.

As an investigative reporter, I learned how to research well, and I got over the fear of picking up the phone and calling someone in authority when I needed some information. These skills helped when I started researching “Comes A Horseman.” I wanted to be as factual as possible, to give the fictional side of the story a strong foundation in fact.

As a magazine writer, I learned to be economical with words, to write tightly and make sure few words said a lot. So, everything I needed to be a good journalist translated very well into fiction.

Liparulo describes his first opportunity to send his work, a series of “short radio shows for kids,” to an editor:

Liparulo: Tommy Nelson was looking for writers for a series of kids’ novels. I contacted the editor and sent her some samples. Nelson ended up not doing the series. A while later the editor called up and said she’d liked my samples and had I ever considered novels for adults? I had just spent the past six months working on a spec manuscript—about a third of what became "Comes a Horseman"—and sent her that. Nelson (WestBow Press, Thomas Nelson) bought it, and here we are.

Liparulo's advice to new writers

Write what you would write “regardless of readers, publishers and markets,” then trust that you are where God wants you to be in your writing. Liparulo writes what he likes to read.

Genre: Fiction/Thrillers/General
"Comes A Horseman," by Robert Liparulo, WestBow Press, 2005/
"Germ," by Robert Liparulo, WestBow Press, (c)2006.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Liparulo's debut novel Comes A Horseman. Soon to be a major motion picture by producer Mace Neufeld. His short story "Kill Zone" was featured in the anthology Thriller, edited by James Patterson. Liparulo is an avid scuba diver, swimmer, reader, traveler, and a law enforcement and military enthusiast. He lives in Colorado with his wife and four children.

ILLUMINATED By Matt Bronleewe

Coming Soon--An interview with Matt at Infuzemag.com.
Illuminated is an excellent read. Just received it today--and can't put it down! Vicki


Christian Fiction Blog Alliance Introduces

Illuminated by Matt Bronleewe Thomas Nelson, Publishers, 2007

Matt Bronleewe is a recognized producer, songwriter and author. The former member of the band, Jars of Clay, earned numerous awards producing and co-writing albums that sold a combined total of over 20 million copies. His songs were recently recorded by Disney pop sensations, Aly & AJ, American Idol finalist Kimberley Locke, and more. Bronleewe has worked with Grammy Award-winning artists such as Michael W. Smith, International pop singer Natalie Imbruglia and Heroes star Hayden Panettiere.

Born in Dallas, Texas, Bronleewe grew up on a farm in Kansas where he lived until he left for college in 1992. At Greenville College in Illinois, Bronleewe formed the band Jars of Clay with his dorm roommate and two neighbors, and the group soon found success. Though Bronleewe opted to leave Jars of Clay early on to pursue an academic career, he soon found himself in Nashville, co-writing, producing, and playing music professionally.

Bronleewe expanded his love of story telling beyond music into authorship. He is currently writing a five book series for Thomas Nelson Fiction. Illuminated, in stores now, begins the adventurous series about rare manuscripts and the mysteries within. Bronleewe lives in Brentwood, Tenn., with his wife and three children. He continues to write and produce music, and he volunteers through his church to help disadvantaged youth in the community. Bronleewe enjoys reading, taste-testing good food, and watching sports, as well as indulging his interests in art, architecture, design, and science.


ABOUT THE BOOK:
IT'S BEEN 500 YEARS IN THE MAKING...PREPARE TO BE ILLUMINATED. August Adams has failed his family before. He's sacrificed relationships in pursuit of adventure, fame, and money. Now the very lives of those he loves depend on his ability to decipher a centuries-old puzzle encrypted in the colorful hand-painted illuminations that adorn three rare Gutenberg Bibles. It's a secret that could yield unimaginable wealth, undermine two major religions, and change the course of Western civilization. Two ruthless, ancient organizations are willing to do anything to get their hands on it. And August has the span of one transatlantic flight to figure it out. If he fails, those he holds most dear will die. If he succeeds, he'll destroy a national treasure. The clock ticks, the suspense mounts, and the body count rises as August pits his knowledge and his love for his family against the clock, secret societies, and even Johannes Gutenberg himself.

"...this rare breed of suspense thriller combines mysterious hidden clues, secret societies, buried treasure, double agents, and the Knights Templar...if you turned National Treasure into international treasure, traded DaVinci codes for Gutenberg Bibles, married it to Indiana Jones, and added the pacing of 24 you'd be in the neighborhood of Illuminated...on a scale of one to 10, this one goes to 11."-Aspiring Retail Magazine