“A Toast To Plum: Celebrating P.G.Wodehouse”- An Update

This writing project has gone for a toss! It was so dear to my heart and I had great hopes of it becoming a published book that Wodehouse fans the world over would enjoy. However, the plan seems to have become unstuck. I failed in my attempt to persuade the Trustees of the Wodehouse Estate to grant permission for its eventual publication. They didn’t seem to have been impressed by my preliminary inquiry. Perhaps I should have made out a formal book proposal.

Writing A Book Proposal

Till now I have written fiction and the process generally followed to get your manuscript finally published as a book is one I am familiar with. Key points here are to write a strong query, a succinct but interesting synopsis and of course have some top quality writing in the first few chapters. Without these, I am afraid, you may not succeed in your efforts to get your book published. But hang on a moment, is the submission process the same for non-fiction?

Writing A Synopsis

Done with your novel? Writing work over? Great, because the tough part starts now! If you thought writing the novel was the difficult part and it will be smooth sailing from hereon till the book is published amongst a burst of flashes from the Press cameras at the book launch, you are in for a surprise. The tough part begins now.

Novel or Query? Which Is More Difficult?

Which is more difficult to write? Novel or query? No prizes for guessing! It has to be the query!! As the days go by, I discover that writing a 80,000 word novel was so much easier than writing a query. I would like to share my learnings for the benefit of others who might be in a similar position – now or later: