Authors have responded with enthusiasm to the availability of great new tools for publishing their own work, and that makes a lot of sense.

Now the indie author community is made up of writers who had never published before, writers who had previously published with traditional publishers but now self-publish, and writers “working both sides of the street” by placing some books with traditional publishers and taking on others themselves.

This seems to me to be a healthy situation, because it moves a lot of the decision making about publication into the writer’s hands, and away from intermediaries who may or may not have the same concerns as a writer would have about how their work is published and promoted.

And there are good reasons some books are best published by traditional publishers, and I don’t expect that to change.

On this site, you’ll find tools and advice about planning, creating, and marketing your own books. That’s been my focus from the time I wrote my first article here, and it isn’t going to change.

But I’ve also written about pitching your book, which is usually a subject of interest to authors pursuing a publishing contract.

And now, on our BookDesignTemplates.com site, we’ve got something new that will help both kinds of authors.

New Book Proposal and Manuscript Templates for Microsoft Word

We teamed up with legendary literary agent and author Mike Larsen to help authors who want to pitch their books before they think about publishing.

Using our expertise at crafting Word templates, we created a Book Proposal that helps ensure your book proposal is in the right format and on target for submission.

The format comes right out of Mike’s bestselling How to Write a Book Proposal which is THE resource for getting your work published. In it Mike teaches you how to create an effective, nonfiction book proposal in a clear, step-by-step manner.

We took tips from the book and added them to the template to help keep you on track, and provided Word styles and formatting to make your job easier and faster so you can concentrate on fine-tuning your proposal.

The Proposal template comes bundled with a matching Manuscript template, also drawn to the same specifications.

A Lifetime of Wisdom in 51 Pages

When you download the Proposal template you’ll also receive “Keys to Becoming a Successful Writer Faster and More Easily than Ever,” a PDF that distill’s Mike’s lifetime of working with authors and publishers into a series of tips and pointers. Here’s a sample:

• “The Hook, the Book & the Cook: The 3 Parts of an Irresistible Query Letter”
• “Making Your Work Rejection-Proof: How 8 Kinds of Readers Can Help You Make Every Word Count”
• “From Me to We: Crowdsourcing Your Success by Building Engaged, Win-Win Communities”
• “Building a Platform to the Stars: Creating Worldwide Visibility from Your Desk”
• “Taking the Guesswork Out of Publishing: 12 Ways to Test-Market Your Book to Prove It Will Sell”

There’s so much packed into these 51 pages, you’re almost forced to have a breakthrough in how you look at being a creative entrepreneur.

And self-publishers might want to learn about book proposals too. The discipline of working through how your book will be positioned and marketed, and the assets you bring to the task, will help you create a better book.

Sale This Week

To introduce writers to our site, we’re offering 20% off this $27 Book Proposal & Manuscript Template Bundle when you use coupon code PROP20. Just pop it into the “Discount Code” box on the shopping cart.

The coupon code expires Sunday October 13, at midnight Pacific time.

Check it out here: Book Proposal & Manuscript Template Bundle

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