I had a winner of an idea for a book on fraud, and I had a willing publisher in John Wiley & Sons. I expected the next step of the process to be putting together a book proposal.

My friend Susan Marshall of Executive Advisor had told me how challenging that part can be. Susan has done several book proposals and has published a few books, and she emphasized how important the book proposal is. You can have a great idea with a bountiful market for the book, but a bad proposal can put a stop to your publishing dreams.

Imagine my surprise when my editor said that I didn’t have to do a proposal. My editor was committed to the project, and would create an “internal proposal” that needed approval from the marketing department and the executives.

The editor was going to do the hard work, and all I had to do was provide key pieces of information.

I developed the outline for the book further, putting in more details about my approach to the various components of fraud detection, investigation, and prevention.

More importantly, I had to detail my platform for Wiley. First I detailed important national clients I’ve worked with, as these may be potential purchasers of the book. Then I detailed my speaking engagements over the last year, as well as those booked for the upcoming year. Traveling the country training and presenting on fraud investigation and prevention as I have is very attractive to a publisher. It demonstrates more potential buyers for the book, and identifies opportunities to promote the book in the future.

I also outlined for Wiley all the publications I’ve written for and the increase in my online presence. I’ve written lots of articles that have been published around the country, and this has played a part in the significant increase in traffic to my website and blog.

Finally, I noted two highly visible and well-respected individuals who would each be willing to write a forward for the book. I also mentioned some promotional activities that I believe will positively impact book sales.

I wrapped it all up with a bow and sent it off. I waited my editor to put together the actual proposal and to receive word back…

Next: Negotiating a contract with Wiley.

One Comment

  1. Juliet Sallette 07/20/2007 at 1:42 pm - Reply

    Tracy,
    Congrats and good luck with your book on fraud. I am sure that it will be a success. You do a great job with the Fraud Files Blog, so I am sure the book will be equally as successful. We have something in common, we help fight fraud. You handle it on the Forensic Accounting side and our firm handles it by representing the whistleblower in qui tam claims. I have bookmarked your site and will definitely come back to visit. Kudo’s on doing this since 2005. We are new to the blogging world. We started earlier this year. It is a labor of love, as you can attest. The satisfaction is the traffic and the comments by visitors who email or leave comments saying they like the blog or a post. I know how good it makes me feel, so if I can repay the favor with letting a fellow blogger know how much I like their blog, I do it. All the best with JW, I look forward to the update on Fraud Files. Juliet… If you get a chance, check out my blog at http://www.whistleblowerlawblog.com. Thanks 🙂

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