How much does a non-fiction book change from proposal to published?
Behind the scenes of publishing a book
In the digital age, where we can erase, change or edit words that we put out in to the world, writing a book can feel like a daunting prospect. It’s a fixed, physical object. A commitment to the words and ideas we are putting down. It’s even be allocated a place in the British Library!
When I’m working with writers on their non-fiction book proposals, a question that comes up a lot is, how much does a book change from its original form as a proposal, to its final published version? And when they’re asking this, I know what they’re really asking is - What if I change my mind about something? What if I realise I was missing a huge piece of the puzzle?
You need to know your book inside and out in order to show why it’s urgently needed in the world, who would buy it and why. This is the primary job of a book proposal - a passionate argument for its existence and a business plan, rolled in to one. But you also may not be able to do some of the research until the book is commissioned. This is most often the case when it comes to non-fiction that involves not just the expertise and/or experience of the author, but the stories of others as well.
This is the paradox of writing a non-fiction book proposal.
Both of my books have involved the stories of others. And its probably how I’ll always approach non-fiction because what interests (obesesses) me as a writer is how our own individual stories fit within a greater context. This means that twice, I’ve written and sold proposals for books without having conducted most of the interviews needed to write the book.
So I thought it might be helpful to walk you through some of the changes that happen in my latest book HOME MATTERS, from first inception, to finished book in my hands.
The beginning
HOME MATTERS began as a two page mini proposal, when my editor Sarah Thickett at Quadrille had a conversation with my agent Julia Silk about wanting a book that thought deeply about the idea of home. After 15 years as an interiors photographer, having spent a great deal of time in other peoples homes, I had all sorts of ideas swirling around my head. Conversations that I knew I wanted to have with others about how our homes actually shape us.
Sarah thought the ideas were just what she was looking for, so asked me to write a full proposal to take to aquisitions. She wanted it to be hybrid illustrated/narrative non-fiction. I was to shoot the homes, as well as write the book.
The book proposal
I spent many months working on the proposal (alongside finishing a masters degree - eek!). This is a part of the process that I absolutely LOVE which is the reason I chose this focus as a writing coach. I love taking big ideas, teasing them out, pulling together loose threads, making cohesive sense of a variety of thoughts and figuring out exactly what it is I want to say and how I’m going to say it.
I read, read, read. I researched. I spent a lot of time walking and thinking. The proposal went through about four drafts (I think?) of which my agent saw all, and my editor saw two. Each draft got me closer to what I felt it was that I wanted to say and how I was going to say it. For a sample chapter I wrote about my own childhood home, which is a pretty integral part of book and spoke to psychologist Dr Emma Svanberg, who I already knew well and was very generous in giving me her time, not knowing whether or not the book would be commissioned. Sample images were from homes I had already shot in the past, which gave the look and feel I wanted this book to have.
The final proposal was one that all of us were happy with. I had incorporated some ideas that had been specifically requested by the sales team. I had a list of thoroughly researched potential interviewees, none of whom knew they were in my proposal and so there was always the chance I’d have to find different interviewees if it didn’t work out.
But we’d also left room for movement. I knew that each of these conversations I was going to have with designers, artists and writers about their experience of home was going to shape and direct the book as it was being written. And because I was going to be shooting the houses of the people I was interviewing, that also brought its own challenges of scheduling, traveling and a much bigger commitment on the part of the interviewees. We all agreed that there should be wiggle room in the book for new interviewees and homes as it developed.
And thank goodness too - because boy did it change! Including the title.
Aquisitions said a hearty yes and the book was commissioned. And I was off.
Writing the book
This is where my experience as a photographer really came in handy. I am used to producing shoots and this book really needing producing…. Interviewees had to be tracked down and contacted. I needed to be clear about what exactly I was going to be speaking to them about and what would be expected of them in terms of allowing me to come into their home.
Some interviewees fell through because we just couldn’t get our schedules to co-ordinate. I held back on booking some, simply because I knew I wanted to do some others first incase those conversations led me in a slightly different direction. This meant that I didn’t schedule all the homes/interviews in one go, but instead dripped them out over a period of around five or six months, writing up portions of chapters in between shoots.
Because of the nature of how I chose to write the book - essentially taking the reader with me as I visit each home (it was important to me that the reader felt as though they were along for the ride), this meant that I needed to have visited, interviewed and shot each home/person before I could write up any portion of the chapter. This is not how most illustrated books are typically written and produced.
Was this messy? Yes! But the book could not evolved and respond to these conversations in any other way.
I’ll do a deeper dive into the writing and shooting of HOME MATTERS in an up coming post.
The finished book
So how different is the finished book to the book proposal that aquisitions said yes to?
Very, very different in some ways. Not very different in the most essential ways.
The chapters look different. They have different titles, they are ordered somewhat differently and although many of the people I intended to interview made it into the book, some of them ended up in different chapters either because our conversation took a different turn, or I reshaped the chapters based on what I was responding to in these homes. Along the way I did more reading, I found new interviewees and my ideas became more refined. As I explored my own experiences of home on the page, this too shaped how I approached each conversation with others.
I also added a chapter which in the beginning I was a little resistant to add. But almost all of the conversations I had kept leading me back to it. This is the beauty of working on a big project. It cannot be controlled in every single way. I love that this chapter wiggled its way in, shouting at me to be noticed. It’s now my favourite in the book.
But what didn’t change, were the main ideas and the point I wanted to make. What changed was how I was making those points and how far I took them.
I find when I’m working with other writers on their proposals, knowing how much a book can change from its inception to the finished form, can relieve a lot of anxiety.
Publishing takes a long time and on the surface this might seem extremely frustrating, especially when we are used to the immediate response of putting our words out in to the world. But this is really what is so unique and important about traditional publishing. It is its strength.
This long process allows for thoughtfulness and responsiveness. It allows for us to change our minds, to improve our arguments, to find better ways of illustrating them. Of telling the stories that need to be told.
Is the finished version of HOME MATTERS perfect? No! There were lots of restrictions and issues along the way, but then there is with any book.
But it is better than the book I proposed? I think so. And of that, I am very proud.
You can pre-order HOME MATTERS here
You can sign up for the waitlist for my next Non-Fiction Book Proposal Group Program here.
Such an interesting read about how books evolve and change from their inception, thanks for sharing.
This is very interesting and helpful, Penny. I like the idea that the slow pace of book publishing allows space for new ideas, changes, movement. Thank you.