Publisher seeks photographers to write and illustrate photo how-to ebooks

Lone Wolf Enterprises, Ltd, in conjunction with World Photographers Organization, is seeking photographers to write and illustrate photo how-to books on very specific topics. Examples of potential titles could include:

Insider Tips on Insect Photography

Shoot Better Indoor Photos

Capture Lovely Landscapes

The Art of Tasteful Nude Photography

Shooting Winning Model Portfolios

and the list goes on. See details below:



Ebook Proposal Guidelines

What does a book proposal consist of? The basic elements are as follows:

* Cover letter
* Title of the book
* Table of contents
* Audience
* Competition
* Concept and approach
* Credentials
* One sample chapter
* Contact information

Cover Letter
Your cover letter should be concise. Keep it to a single page. This letter is your sales pitch, so make every word count. Tell in no more than two paragraphs why a publisher should be interested in your idea. Follow this with a brief review of your credentials to author the book, and then lead into the proposal contents.

Title of Book
Choose the title of your book carefully. Don’t make it too long. Avoid being cute with the title. If you are selling a how-to book, the title should reflect the subject matter. An example might be: Night Photography. Another example could be: Making Money as an In-Home Photographer. The book title is the beginning hook for securing a publisher, so invest enough time in it to make yourself successful.

Table of Contents
How long should a table of contents be? It should be as long as it needs to be. Most non-fiction books contain between 10 and 20 chapters. I would say a good average is around 16 chapters. The word count for such a book is likely to be between 50,000 words and 85,000 words.

Ebooks can be smaller. There should be at least 48 pages. Sixty pages are better, and 125 pages are ideal. Depending on illustrations, this could make the word count as low as 12,000 words or as high as 40,000 words.

Chapters do not have to be equal in length. You should make them as long as they need to be to convey the required information to readers. A table of contents should begin with a heading for an introduction. From there, you list chapters in numerical order, as they will appear in the book. Under each chapter title you should either write a paragraph that explains what the chapter will contain, or use a bullet list of at least five key topics to be covered in the chapter.

Consider if your book will benefit from a glossary or appendix materials. If so, this information should be listed on the table of contents.

Audience
Who is the audience for your book? Never say everyone. There should be a prime audience and a secondary audience. If you are writing a book about macro photography, your prime audience will be macro photographers. Secondary markets could be nature photographers, wildlife photographers, and so forth. The more defined list of an audience you provide, the better your chances of making a sale are.

Competition
You need to know your competition and point it out to your perspective publisher. Don’t look for a book that has never been written. Publishers like the comfort level of being able to check the sales records of similar types of books to see what the likelihood of success is for your project.

Online book stores are excellent places to conduct your research. Find three books that match your concept as closely as possible. Then record the following data for your proposal:

* Book title
* Author’s name
* Publisher’s name
* Date of publication
* Number of pages in the book
* Price of the book
* International Standard Book Number (ISBN) for the book

Determine what makes your book idea better or different, and explain it to the publisher. If you can’t do this, your book will probably not get published by a major publisher.

Concept and Approach
The concept and approach are your big sales pitch. This is where you describe the contents of your book, your credentials, and what will make your book a pleasure to publish and profit from. This section is usually about two pages long.

When fleshing out the concept and approach you will want to include the types of illustrations you will use and how many of them the book will contain. How many book pages do you foresee the book having? Will you incorporate tip boxes or sidebars?

Don’t worry about pricing the book or suggesting cover designs. The publisher will take care of this when the time comes.

Use this section to describe your writing style. Conversational style is usually desired. Tell the publisher whatever is suitable to your topic in a way to make the book appear more desirable.

Credentials
Credentials are a key element in selling a non-fiction book. List all of your experience related to the subject matter. Make note of your education, licenses held, or other information that makes you the right author for the book. List any organizations that you belong to that might be conducive to special sales. Essentially, sell yourself.

Sample Chapter
Many publishers will require one or two sample chapters from unknown authors. We generally require only one sample chapter. This allows the publisher to study your style and ability. It is best to use chapters from around the middle of the book. Avoid using the first or last chapter. Make your work shine. If you have gotten to the stage where a publisher is reading your sample work, you are well on the way to getting a book contract.

Contact Information
Don’t forget to include all of your contact information for publishers to use. It may be surprising, but some authors fail to do this. Make yourself accessible and easy to contact if you want to make a sale.

Submission
We accept sample chapters via email. The same is true of low-res photos that will be used in an ebook. These materials can be emailed to: lonewolf@lonewolfent.net High-res photos that will appear in the book need to be sent on disk to:
Lone Wolf Enterprises, Ltd.
WPO Division
PMB # 300 13 Gurnet Road
Brunswick, ME 04011
Phone: 207-666-8579

R. Dodge Woodson Endorsed and Approved