Tips on Writing a Book on Speculation

If you're preparing a non-fiction book proposal, you're probably writing a few chapters on speculation. If you're writing fiction, you will need to finish and polish the entire manuscript before approaching agents or publishers, so in a sense, you are writing the entire book on speculation. While writing chapters without guidelines or assurance of payment may feel intimidating, there are some guidelines to follow that may help you find your way.

• Work off Your Outline
  You should have a general outline of your proposed book already documented. Work off that outline to choose the chapters that you believe will be most interesting and impressive. You may want to choose the first three chapters so the agent or editor at the publishing house feels as though he or she is reading a sample book, or you may want to choose a few chapters deeper in the proposed text that you feel will provide the best showing. (If you are writing fiction, you will always submit the first few chapters, but with non-fiction you have more flexibility in selecting the chapters submitted as samples.)
• Highlight Your Knowledge
  Write your sample chapters such that your expertise in the topic at hand is obvious. Make sure those sample chapters include valuable, interesting, entertaining information that will entice the agent or editor to want to read more. Include references in the text to your celebrity status or recognition in the field if you have a strong platform that involves public awareness of your expertise.
• Showcase Your Writing Ability
  Polish the chapters until they are perfect. Edit for typos, grammatical errors, spelling and wording. Read the text out loud to make sure it flows. Have another writer critique it for you. Make sure your chapters are the best you can make them.
• Drill Down Into Practical Applications
  Make sure the chapters go beyond citing facts. Make them useful, entertaining or applicable to everyday situations. Remember, you are giving the agent or editor a sample of your actual book, so you want them to find value in the chapters submitted.