I've noticed an increase in the amount of nonfiction queries lately. While I'm excited about this, I have noticed a trend of experts wanting to turn their years of experience into books. This can be in the form of memoir or narrative nonfiction (nonfiction that follows a narrative thread to shape the story being told). And in a few cases they simply list their credentials and ask me to help them find a topic to write about so they can add published authorto their CV. While I'm happy to help those who fall into the first two categories, the ones that send me their resume or direct me to their website really are wasting their time. I can't tell you what to write anymore than a publisher can. Think of yourself as a journalist. You know the framework of your own experience; do a little leg work and go to the bookstore to see the books that are on shelves written by people with similar credentials to your own.

For those who do come with a book idea in hand, here are some of the things that I look for when evaluating whether to request a proposal or sample chapters. First, keep in mind that I do very few memoirs so you have to be a package deal: your idea has to be interesting (possibly not done before) and your writing has to be stellar. You may site examples of books that were not well written but were published anyway. My response would be that some books get published that aren't as polished or well developed as they should be; that doesn't mean that you can slack off on your own book.

Second, I look for subjects I'm interested in. Always check the submission page for this website to see what I'm currently looking for. I had one person argue with me that agentquery said I was looking for literary fiction; based on this I should look at their novel. For nonfiction this is a little different because some of the subject lines blur, but if the subject you're writing about falls within the parameters of what I'm looking for, go ahead and add me to your submission list. The worst I can say is no.

Third, I look at the credentials of the writer. I look at platform to see if the writer has one and if that audience can be brought over to buying books in the future. There are very few nonfiction subjects that don't require some combination of credentials and platform so make sure you're the best person to write the story or consider getting an expert to collaborate or be a source for you. I find this to be especially true for journalists because you can know a lot about a subject, but not hold a degree or the like in it. This doesn't have to be a hindrance; find out if experts agree with your analysis of your chosen topic who are willing to go on the record about them.

Fourth, I look at the writing. The query letter is especially important for a nonfiction writer as you don't have the excuse a novelist does about writing a query letter being different from crafting a novel. The query letter speaks volumes as to how comfortable you are with your topic, if you can succinctly sum up what you're trying to say in a page, if you have some talking points that the reader can use to follow what you're argument and analysis will be focused on, and that you actually have something to say.

Of course a lot depends on the proposal and seeing sample chapters (and in some cases the full manuscript), but this is a way to skip over those making mistakes and zoom to the top of the line.

Caren