Writing and Rewriting: We all took College English, but…

An old friend said it best: “I don’t write stuff; I rewrite stuff.” On two books I ghostwrote, the last manuscript draft indicates we were up to iteration 12 on many chapters. Of course, those were not complete revisions. Even draft two was not a complete revision. But we found things to correct or to say better.
All this is made easier if the budding book author starts with a book proposal. It identifies the target reader and that reader’s level of knowledge. The proposal outlines competing books or other sources of information the reader can currently access. Important questions are answered. The big one is Why is this book significantly different and what will it do for the reader who buys it? Why do they need this book? The proposal also outlines the chapter topics with a 3-5 paragraph description of each chapter. No one who knows business well would start a business without a business plan. A book proposal is a business plan for a book.
Roger S. Peterson
West Coast Editor
The Business Book Ghostwriters