A NEW Academy Course

"How to Create a Book Proposal"

Presented by Lynda McDaniel and Virginia McCullough

 This course contributes to the requirements for CMC certification with the
Core Competency focus area of Consulting Skills and Tools, Advanced level

$29 for IMC USA Members, $79 for non-Members

A book proposal is essential for marketing a book to agents and publishers, but it’s equally valuable for those self-publishing. You’ll learn the key components that help you create a powerful book proposal package. In addition, your book proposal will do double duty as an easy-to-use planning and organizing tool that boosts productivity and helps you start your book fast and stay on track to finish strong.

We will show you how to:     

1. Build a working chapter outline—your book’s GPS
2. Organize content into manageable chunks
3. Identify places to plunge in and start your first draft
4. Crystallize your book’s premise and promise
5. Turn the proposal into a productivity-boosting tool 
6. Discover and fill gaps in research and information
7. Study the competition to find your niche and market-segment edge
8. Define your primary readers and discover your secondary markets
9. Develop strategies to target literary agents and traditional publishers 
10. Write a bang-up bio to use in your proposal, Web site, and more
11. Create your promotion plan—and keep adding to it

 Lynda McDaniel, founder and director of the Association for Creative Business Writing, brings more than 25 years of writing, teaching, and learning to her webinars.

Lynda has written 1,000 feature articles for major publications, and she is the author of a dozen books, including her award-winning "Words at Work: Powerful business writing delivers increased sales, improved results, and even a promotion or two" (which took top honors from the National Best Books Awards).

Lynda’s long career as a journalist includes feature articles for magazines and newspapers such as Associations Now, Southern Living, Country Living, Yoga Journal, Law & Politics, American Cinematographer, AmericanStyle, NICHE, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Charlotte Observer, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and washingtonpost.com.

Virginia McCullough broke into book publishing with her first coauthored books, "TMJ Syndrome: The Overlooked Diagnosis," with A. Richard Goldman, DDS and "Touch: A Personal Workbook" (Open Arms Press), with Greg Risberg, MSW. More books followed, including "A Consumer’s Guide to Alternative Health Care" (Bob Adams), co-authored with Craig Clayton, and "When the Wrong Thing is Right" (MasterMedia), with Sylvia Bigelsen, Ed.S. She’s the sole author of "Testing and Your Child" (NAL, 1994). In 2005, McGraw Hill released "Coping With Chemotherapy and Radiation," the fifth update of a cancer therapy book written with Daniel Cukier, MD and two other doctors.

Virginia has written eleven books for neurologist and smell and taste specialist, Alan R. Hirsch, M.D.