So that you wish to publish the subsequent nice e book! To take action you first want a e book proposal.
Again in late 2011, I spent hours placing collectively a e book proposal for my severance negotiation technique e book, How To Engineer Your Layoff.
After engineering my very own layoff three months earlier, I had hoped to get a literary agent, land a e book deal, and spend the subsequent yr writing the e book. Writing a e book was all the time on my bucket checklist. And what higher time to take action than after retiring on a seaside in Hawaii?
Alas, destiny had different plans. I submitted my e book proposal to about 15 brokers and did not get a single reply again. Undaunted, and with the assistance of my dad and spouse, I made a decision to self-publish my e book anyway.
I had been writing about retiring early since 2009 when Monetary Samurai started. Throughout this time interval, I handled my struggles of strolling away from a gentle paycheck at a younger age. I additionally met lots of of others on-line who struggled with the identical points.
We talked about overcoming the another yr syndrome to do one thing new. We even mentioned methods on the way to persuade our spouses to work longer so we may retire earlier! I failed in that division.
Then it hit me. What if extra individuals may stroll away from their jobs with a departing monetary reward? A severance package deal would assist ease the transition into early retirement, entrepreneurship, parenthood, training, or perhaps a new profession.
I knew I simply needed to publish the e book.
My Rejected Guide Proposal Turned Out Fantastic
One of many the explanation why I write from firsthand expertise is as a result of I wish to know what’s significant and what’s not. Negotiating a severance package deal gave me the liquid braveness to stroll away from a six-figure job I disliked at age 34.
A severance package deal modified my life for the higher.
Now not do I endure from persistent decrease again ache, sciatica, and TMJ as a result of stress of working in finance. My hair stopped falling out and greying. My spouse and I had been lastly capable of have youngsters after years of making an attempt. And I received to pursue my inventive aspect whereas being free!
How To Engineer Your Layoff has gone on to generate over $550,000 in income since 2012. When the gatekeepers do not offer you an opportunity, do it anyway! Don’t be deterred by rejection. Embrace it!
In the course of the first couple of years, HTEYL solely generated about $10,000 a yr in revenue. However after repeatedly increasing and revising the e book, income have grown by 5X.
Certain, you are not dwelling it up on $50,000 a yr earlier than tax. You may’t even comfortably care for a household of 4 with solely $50,000 both. However to me, $50,000 is an glorious supply of passive revenue that was created from nothing.
As well as, if I had been to have gotten a e book deal again in 2012, I most likely would have accepted a e book advance of as little as $25,000. Phew!
New Alternatives Come up If You Stick Issues Out Lengthy Sufficient
Eight years of writing later, on the finish of 2019, I lastly received a e book cope with a serious writer: Portfolio Penguin Random Home. I did not go in search of one so no e book proposal was vital. The supply got here to me by a chilly e-mail outreach.
As soon as the pandemic started in February 2020, I made a decision to put in writing my subsequent e book, Purchase This Not That,
Wanting again, I respect all of the rejections I’ve had in my life. The rejections make any success you’ve all of the sweeter. Rejections are additionally extremely motivating to show your rejectors mistaken! I like them.
If you wish to change into a revealed creator, under is my rejected e book proposal that ought to have been accepted. I have not learn this e book proposal in 11 years. I simply occurred to have discovered it in my Google Drive paperwork once I was trying to find one thing else.
Upon re-reading the e book proposal, I discovered it to be fairly good! Alas, I am biased.
Instance Of A Rejected Guide Proposal
Title: How To Engineer Your Layoff: Make A Small Fortune and Reside The Life You’ve At all times Needed
Submitted by
Sam Dogen
Handle
Introduced on June 15, 2012
I. THE CONTENT
A. Premise
In a current research by Manpower Inc, 44% of respondents say they’re “unhappy” with their jobs. With roughly 138 million taxpayers in America, a minimum of 61 million People are in search of one thing extra significant to their jobs.
Go over to China, and that quantity is probably going within the lots of of tens of millions. Sadly, individuals really feel caught of their jobs due to payments to pay and debt obligations to fulfill. There’s a unending quantity of anxiousness skilled by tens of millions of staff.
Except one plans to work till demise, there’s all the time a backstop the place one not needs to work. In consequence, this e book is just not solely focused to the disgruntled employee, however to all staff.
How To Engineer Your Layoff will educate individuals the way to strategically negotiate their layoff by constructing key relationships and deploying varied methods to make sure most return.
B. Distinctive Promoting Proposition
There are many books that present you the way to get a job, however there are none that present you the way to exit a job with a wholesome severance package deal.
It’s just like the age previous consumer criticism to his stockbroker that they all the time get suggestions on when to purchase, however by no means to promote. As an govt who has engineered his personal layoff, readers of this e book will:
1) Understand staff have unbelievable authorized rights and aren’t simply discarded rag dolls in an ever rising world of company energy.
2) Discover ways to efficiently negotiate with massive companies with out the necessity for costly authorized council.
3) Examine success tales of particular person individuals who have engineered their layoffs.
4) Suppose critically about their monetary future in order that when the time involves separate, they are going to be greater than able to take the leap of religion.
5) Plan for all times after work.
C. Guide Overview
The manuscript might be divided into 16 chapters consisting of a number of subjects.
Introduction
Desk Of Contents
Chapter 1: Take Again Your Life
Chapter 2: Your Worst Enemy Is Additionally Your Greatest Buddy
Chapter 3: Time For A Coronary heart To Coronary heart With Your Boss
Chapter 4: When All Else Fails, Carry In The Large Weapons
Chapter 5: What To Look For Throughout Severance Negotiations
Chapter 6: Case Research Of Folks Who Have Efficiently Been Let Go
Chapter 7: Negotiating A Separation Package deal When Becoming a member of A Competitor
Chapter 8: Grey Space Separation Maximization Strategies
Chapter 9: Why I Left My Job
Chapter 10: Life After Separation
Chapter 11: Rediscover Your Varied Earnings Streams
Chapter 12: Causes Why You Ought to Not Engineer Your Personal Layoff
Chapter 13: Causes Why You Ought to Engineer Your Layoff
Chapter 14: How To Retire Early And By no means Have To Work Once more
Chapter 15: Making Your Financial savings Work For You
Chapter 16: The Privilege Of Giving Again And Sharing Our Information
Conclusion
Sources
Acknowledgements
D. The Manuscript
1. Manuscript Standing: I’ve written 30,000 phrases to this point. With the framework in place, I’m ready to put in writing 55,000 extra phrases to complete the e book. Moreover, I’ve over 100,000 phrases written in varied weblog posts from which I can draw info.
2. Particular Options: The chapters will include subheads, lists, bullet factors, and a evaluate field of key factors for environment friendly studying.
3. Anticipated Size: 60,000-85,000 phrases.
4. Anticipated manuscript completion date: Roughly 60 days after receiving a dedication from the writer.
II. THE MARKET
A. Traits
There are 138 million taxpayers in America as we speak. Roughly 44% of staff within the newest survey by Manpower Inc revealed they’re “unhappy” with their job, and one other 20% who’re borderline.
In different phrases, greater than 60 million People want to do one thing else extra significant with their lives and logically engineer their very own layoffs.
The audience isn’t simply the disgruntled employee. In some unspecified time in the future, all people will cease working. With the decline in pensions and a fickle financial system, all people wants a information to determine the way to maximize their separation.
B. Motivation
The viewers for this e book is made up of people that don’t have the talents, information, or braveness to face their superiors and negotiate their freedom. It’s as if the US workforce is one large zombie wasteland, begrudgingly following orders to stroll off a cliff till no extra.
C. Scalability
How To Engineer Your Layoff might be written in a manner that’s scaleable throughout all cultures, and throughout a number of industries in varied international locations.
The e book touches in regards to the softer aspect of human feelings and negotiation techniques that transcend all areas.
Do you actually suppose your landlord will increase your hire after you get them tickets to your favourite opera? Will the Human Sources supervisor hearth you for those who introduced her a shawl again from her favourite island of Santorini?
I’ll write my e book in a manner that’s translatable and relevant in many various languages. I grew up in six completely different international locations and have visited 30 different international locations. In consequence, I’ve the power to narrate to a big number of audiences.
D. Platform And Affinity Teams
1. 150,000+ month-to-month guests to FinancialSamurai.com
2. 3,000 Twitter followers of @FinancialSamura
3. The eye of lots of of essentially the most influential private finance bloggers on the net because the founding father of the Yakezie Community of PF and Way of life Blogs.
4. Yakezie Community’s potential attain is round 750,000 pageviews a month.
5. The burgeoning early retirement / FIRE group which I helped kickstart in 2009
6. The hundreds of Occupy Wall Avenue protesters who needs to take again their lives and battle for his or her rights in opposition to massive companies.
7. The tens of millions of staff in extremely cyclical industries corresponding to semiconductor, banking, consulting, capital items, communications, power, and transportation who expertise employment whiplash each time the financial system goes by a growth and bust
E. Comparable Books
I’ve by no means come throughout on-line, or within the bookstore a e book on the way to get laid off and negotiate an outstanding severance package deal. All of the books are about the way to get a job, the way to interview, how to decide on an business that matches you and so forth.
Getting laid off is large enterprise, with large payoffs. Doing a fast search on Amazon, I’ve discovered the next three books. The most recent e book was revealed in 2010 and is a comedy.
1. How To Get Fired!: The New Worker’s Information To Perpetual Unemployment by Jeff Havens (Writer: Large Pow! Books; 1st version (April 1, 2010)). Guide is a comedy and doesn’t provide the instruments to barter actual cash severance.
2. Getting Fired: What to Do if You are Fired, Downsized, Laid Off, Restructured, Discharged, Terminated, or Compelled to Resign by Steven Sack (Grand Central Publishing (January 15, 2000)). Outdated.
3. Hearth Me, Please! 101 Methods to Get Fired from Your Depressing Job by David Cordell (Dreamcan Books (December 27, 2004)). Outdated. Solely 96 pages.
My e book might be distinctive as a result of:
1. Dwelling my e book in real-time. I managed to work for 13 years on Wall St., construct a internet value of three million {dollars} by age 34, construct a preferred private finance weblog, and engineer my layoff that paid for 5 plus years of regular dwelling bills.
2. A stable platform. With the creation of Monetary Samurai and the Yakezie Community, I’ve a big platform to market and distribute my e book. Not one of the authors have the identical platform and presence on-line.
3. Scaleable. The e book might be written in a manner that may join throughout staff in Europe, the US, Canada, Australia, and Asia. The e book is not going to be restricted to only the 138 million staff in America.
III. THE AUTHOR
A. Background
I’m a 13-year veteran of Wall St. who grew to become a Vice President on the of 27, and a Director at 30. I managed a multi-million greenback enterprise in San Francisco for one of many main funding banks.
In 2012, on the age of 34, I spotted my dream of working for myself by efficiently engineering my very own layoff. I obtained my undergraduate diploma Magna Cum Laude from The Faculty of William & Mary and my MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas Faculty of Enterprise.
I grew up in six completely different international locations (Philippines, Zambia, US, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia) and may communicate Mandarin. My hobbies embody investing in the true property and inventory markets, enjoying poker, tennis, snowboarding, golf, mountain climbing, and touring.
In 2009, I began the non-public finance weblog, Monetary Samurai, which has grown to be one of the vital broadly learn private finance blogs on the net with over 150,000 pageviews a month. Monetary Samurai has a Pagerank of 4, mozRank of 5.5, an Alexa Rank of 30,000, and a Area Authority of 66.
In December, 2009, I began the Yakezie Community, which now has 100 of one of the best private finance and way of life bloggers on-line as Members. The potential attain of the Yakezie Community is within the 1 million+ pageviews a month.
B. Private Advertising and marketing
- I’ll faucet my total Community of bloggers throughout the Yakezie Community to assist promote and change into associates of my e book. The utmost potential attain is over 750,000 readers a month.
- I plan to talk at Fincon 2012, Weblog World and another convention who could have me.
- I’ll create video content material on my web site, and visitor put up on a minimum of 10 different extremely rated blogs.
- I’ll do a minimum of 10 podcast interviews from throughout completely different genres, and completely different international locations to get the message out.
- I’ll contact base with all my ex purchasers and colleagues within the business to assist them unfold the world. I’ll ship private e-mails to mates in cyclical industries to additionally assist spotlight the e book.
IV. Pattern Content material
Chapter 1: Take Again Your Life
Welcome to the start of the tip! You’re sick of your job and don’t know the way to get out. Day by day that passes appears like one other ounce of distress crushing your soul.
You had been as soon as once more handed up for promotion as your boss makes your life hell. You may not stand your co-workers, particularly the one who retains whistling some tune you possibly can’t stand and the slob who cracks hard-boiled eggs at his desk for breakfast.
Your commute is so lengthy you’re positive child pandas are dying due to your air pollution. In the meantime, you possibly can’t assist however marvel if even a monkey can do your job. You didn’t go to highschool to join this!
Thousands and thousands of persons are caught in work conditions the place they really feel trapped. A Could 2012 research by Proper Administration a Manpower subsidiary, discovered that solely 11% of individuals had been happy with their jobs and that 16% had been “considerably happy.” A full 44% had been dissatisfied. However you already knew this!
With payments to pay and dependents to feed, how can we be irresponsible and voluntarily abandon a gentle paycheck? With unemployment charges at 8%-20% ranges all over the world, there’s no assure we’ll ever discover one other an identical paying job once more!
What do you worth extra? Freedom or the hypnotic attract of cash? I believe for those who’ve bought this e book, the reply is freedom. For many of us, work is a way to an finish. Work to stay relatively than stay to work.
Think about A Completely different Atmosphere
Think about somebody providing you with $20,000 to not work. Or how about $50,000, $100,000, and even $500,000? Greater than possible, you’ll be ecstatic and take it, particularly for those who had been pondering of leaving anyway.
Let’s flip issues round and picture a situation the place your organization says you need to pay $20,000, $50,000, $100,000, $500,000 with a view to give up your job.
This proposition is much like a slave having to work off his debt to achieve freedom. It’s absolute horseshit, however in actuality, quitting your job with out something in return could be very related. Certain, you possibly can achieve your freedom by quitting your job, however you’re additionally shedding all of your revenue!
Many individuals are afraid to strategy their boss a couple of separation settlement. Much more individuals don’t notice staff have highly effective rights. When you understand your rights, you’re capable of maximize your returns.
One pal managed to carry off getting laid off for for 2 years in Seoul, South Korea. He realized that staff can’t be terminated with out extreme monetary penalty to the corporate except an worker volunteers or conducts gross negligence. In these two years, my pal was capable of present for his household, save a ton of cash, and go away with a separation package deal valued at 2X his wage.
Know you’re serving to your boss make the tough resolution of whom to let go. Some obtain $5,000 for leaving, whereas others might obtain $500,000. No matter sum you obtain is best than zero and all gravy. Better of all, bonus cash offers you a pleasant cushion to embark on the brand new life you’ve chosen.
I, the Monetary Samurai, am right here to assist make what you think about a actuality.
The Largest Push Backs To Negotiating A Severance
I’ve talked to over 100 less-than-satisfied staff in regards to the topic of engineering their layoffs as an alternative of simply quitting. I all the time inform them that as an alternative of complaining, to do one thing about their scenario! The most typical excuses I get are:
- “I discover it disingenuous to scheme the way to get let go. It’s extra honorable to give up.”
- “I’ve plenty of satisfaction in my work and may’t see myself taking it down a notch.”
- “If I engineer my very own layoff, I concern that I received’t have the ability to get employed once more.”
Most of those persons are both too younger, or too naïve. They haven’t labored lengthy sufficient within the work drive to get screwed over by a co-worker, boss, or financial cycle. Additional, they haven’t seen sufficient good mates and family members lose their jobs by no fault of their very own. By the point you are carried out studying, you may notice that negotiating a severance is feasible.
One in all my mates received let go whereas on trip simply two years earlier than he may begin receiving retirement advantages. He was 54 on the time and one of the best mailroom clerk one may have! The corporate may have reduce any variety of financially safe staff, however selected to chop a 10-year veteran of the agency who barely made $30,000 a yr. Shameful.
As a former supervisor who participated within the hiring and firing of individuals, I nearly all the time seen when an worker’s enthusiasm began to fade. Work all the time follows the guts.
Ideas Comply with Motion
In case you are studying this e book, however have one of many above frequent responses, you’re pondering issues by. Is it nonetheless scheming if you don’t act, however your thoughts thinks in any other case? In fact it’s. Wanting to determine the way to go away your job demonstrates you not have the total want to work and carry out such as you used to.
There are tens of millions of individuals on the market who would gladly take your place for much less cash and work more durable besides. Denying individuals this chance is egocentric. As a substitute, do society justice. Let somebody who needs your job do it and work out the way to go away your job gracefully and in your phrases.
The worst worker is the one who complains in regards to the scenario and does nothing to it.
Gone are the times of firm loyalty to staff and firm pensions. One should look out for themselves first as a result of the corporate and only a few different individuals will.
Now that you just’ve carried out some self-discovery, it’s time to get to work!
Thank You
I firmly consider my e book will allow tens of millions of individuals to interrupt free from depressing jobs to stay extra significant leaves. I did not suppose negotiating a severance was doable till I attempted.
Thanks on your time and consideration.
Regards,
Sam
Guide Proposal Overview
So there you’ve it! My rejected e book proposal. Not too dangerous proper? It’s extra thorough than I had remebered.
I believe the e book proposal was rejected as a result of negotiating a severance was too uncommon a subject, regardless that there are tens of millions of staff who will finally transfer on. Maybe the thought of negotiating a severance to FIRE was too new of an idea since FIRE had not gone mainstream but. Or perhaps I simply did not contact the correct literary brokers. I am undecided.
What I do know is having a platform is the principle technique to get a e book cope with a conventional writer. Given publishers do not actually market your e book, you want an present platform to assist unfold the phrase. But when you have already got an present platform, it’s possible you’ll relatively self publish and earn larger economics as an alternative.
No matter route you resolve, construct a platform and construct a model. Should you do these two stuff you’ll have a a lot simpler probability of touchdown a e book deal. On the very least, you need to have the ability to have a literary agent reply to you!
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