THE STORY CATALYST
1:1 BOOK PROPOSAL COACHING
THE WAY TO GET YOUR BOOK THROUGH THE GATE
1:1 Book Proposal
THIS PACKAGE INCLUDES
- Four 50-minute consultations to develop your proposal
- Developmental edit
- One 50-minute consultation about implementing the next steps
OPTIONAL ADD-ON
Make it three rounds of editing—developmental, line edit and polish edit
WHY A BOOK PROPOSAL?
You have a captivating idea for a nonfiction book, and it won’t let you go.
You know your idea will reach people because you’ve already tested it in your professional work and on social media.
‘I wish they all came in this way’ is the comment I hear most often from literary agents and publishers about my clients’ book proposals.
HOW A BOOK PROPOSAL CATAPULTS YOUR AUTHOR CAREER
For authors of nonfiction books, you don’t have to write the book first. You have a special “Pass Go, Collect Your Salary” way into book publishing.
That’s because most literary agents want you to query with a full book proposal. They can use that to sell your book to a publisher. If you get a contract, you get an advance on the book and time to write it.
So, if you’re writing nonfiction, start with a book proposal—that’s your gateway to publishing.
For more than 10 years, I’ve worked with authors of nonfiction books on transformation, personal development, spirituality, body/mind/spirit, success, leadership, prosperity, parenting, relationships and more. I’ve worked with authors of cookbooks because I love food and wine. And as a longtime journalist, I’ve developed narrative nonfiction books by journalists and conversation leaders.
And just so you know, one of the best ways to fast-track a memoir is to have a full book proposal. That’s true whether:
- you have a narrative memoir that reads like and novel and feels like a movie
- you have a memoir that changes lives, like Suleika Jaouad’s Between Two Kingdoms or Tara Westover’s Educated
- you have a memoir with teaching elements in the vein of Glennon Doyle or Brene Brown
A BOOK PROPOSAL PACKAGE IS RIGHT FOR YOU IF YOUR PROJECT IS…
- Nonfiction/transformation, personal development or self-help
- Nonfiction/spirituality
- Nonfiction/body/mind/spirit
- Nonfiction/metaphysical
- Nonfiction/psychology
- Nonfiction/leadership, success or business
- Nonfiction/relationships
- Nonfiction/parenting
- Nonfiction/wellness, health or fitness
- Nonfiction/food and wine
- Nonfiction/history
- Narrative memoir
- Teaching memoir
- Narrative nonfiction (long-form journalism)
You don’t need to write the whole book.
You don’t get a book deal with a query letter. You get a book deal with a proposal.
That’s true whether you are querying an agent or querying the publisher directly.
WHY A BOOK PROPOSAL IS THE MOST IMPORTANT DOCUMENT YOU’LL EVER CREATE
I love helping people with book proposals. It’s the most rewarding work I do. That’s because:
A book proposal is a potent form of clarity. It provides proof of concept for your vision. Imagine the surge of confidence you will feel when you pull together the content, voice, audience and promotional strategy for your book on the front end.
A book proposal is a document of persuasion. You are making the case for your book to exist in the world.
BUT DON’T GO IT ALONE
It may be the hardest project you’ll ever write.
But it’s absolutely worth it.
You’ll find plenty of advice about what to put in a book proposal, but you won’t get advice about how to make it the book that the agent has to have, urgently and now.
With 1:1 Book Proposal coaching, you just found the shortcut to getting your book to a publisher NOW—not next year or the year after that.
- You tap into the wisdom, courage and resourcefulness of a master writing teacher and book coach who has works with multiple hundreds of book proposals. My proposals have gotten book deals and won contests.
- You gain access insider tips about rapidly changing world of book publishing.
- You find someone to elevate your book to the top of the heap.
If you’re seeking to be traditionally published by a publishing house that will make your book top of mind for everyone—prominently featured in bookstores, both online and brick-and-mortar, in national media and in book festivals—the book proposal is your way in.
If you’re seeking to published with a hybrid or indie publisher, a book proposal will give you a robust marketing and promotion plan, as well as help you prepare all the content so your publisher’s publicity team can make stand out online.
If you’re seeking to self-publish, a book proposal gives you a head start on a marketing and promotion plan with effective brand messaging and content that draws your intended audience.
WHAT’S INCLUDED
TIER 1 + BOOK PROPOSAL WITH DEVELOPMENTAL EDIT
- Four 50-minute coaching sessions to develop the proposal
- Story Catalyst proprietary book proposal template
- Story Catalyst proprietary outline template kit
- Customized review of 4,000 words per session
- Developmental edit for narrative flow, voice, structure, pacing, clarity, with margin notes and a 6-8 page editorial letter
- One 50-minute consultation to discuss next steps
TIER 2 + BOOK PROPOSAL WITH THREE ROUNDS OF EDITING
- Four 50-minute coaching sessions to develop the proposal
- Story Catalyst proprietary book proposal template
- Story Catalyst proprietary outline template kit
- Customized review of 4,000 words per session
- Developmental edit for narrative flow, voice, structure, pacing, clarity, with margin notes and a 6-8 page editorial letter
- One 50-minute consultation to discuss next steps
- Line editing for grammar, spelling, punctuation and style
- Final polish editing resolving all issues, big and small
SPECIAL DISCOUNTS THROUGH SEPT. 3, 2025
BOOK PROPOSAL WITH DEVELOPMENTAL EDIT
This package normally goes for $3,300, but it’s on sale for $305 off to the first THREE writers who sign up.
That’s $2,995, and the good news is, you can make a deposit, then pay in three installments.
BOOK PROPOSAL WITH THREE ROUNDS OF EDITING
This package normally goes for $4,650, but it’s on sale for $500 off to the first THREE writers who sign up.
That’s $4,150, and the good news is, you can make a deposit, then pay in three installments.
HOW WE WORK TOGETHER
One week ahead of our meeting, you’ll send me 4,000 words plus your updated working outline each time.
I’ll send you love notes, prompts, specific areas for development—and resources customized to your book and your craft.
We’ll meet for 50 minutes to discuss the next steps. We’ll do this for four sessions to develop the proposal.
My goal is to get your manuscript ready for a full developmental edit.
I’ll turn around the developmental edit in four weeks, delivering an edited proposal manuscript with margin notes, using Track Changes, and a six- to eight-page editorial letter.
We’ll meet for 50 minutes to discuss next steps.
If you chose the Tier 2 package, we go on to the next two rounds of editing.
If you chose the Tier 1 package, we can add on more rounds of editing at a reduced price.
SUPER-SWEET BONUSES
If you purchase this package, you receive my Story Catalyst starter kit for free, as well as membership in the growing Story Catalyst community on Mighty Networks; access to monthly group calls; discounts on specialized Story Catalyst craft classes.
This link takes you to where you can pay your deposit and book your first call. Upon booking, I will send you a Project Greenlight email with instructions for how to begin, resources that will guide you, The Story Catalyst Starter Kit and a proposed meeting schedule for our four sessions.
SEE WHAT BOOKS MY AUTHOR CLIENTS HAVE PUBLISHED
WRITE A LETTER TO YOUR FUTURE PUBLISHED SELF HERE
Tell me why you’re ready. Or tell me how you’re getting ready. Write a Letter to Your Future Published Self here. If you give me your email, I’ll send you a note two years from now.
OTHER SERVICES I OFFER
Maybe you’re not ready for this one. Maybe this is making you realize that you need to make sure your manuscript is an absolutely “yes.” Here are some of the other services I offer to help you get there.
- 1:1 book coaching and development
- Idea-to-Outline coaching
- Chapter Draft Support coaching and editing
- Developmental Editing of full manuscripts
- Path to Publishing Package – Find Your “Right Fit” Literary Agent
- Editorial assessments and revision plans
- Contemplative and generative writing retreats in settings such as Ireland, Taos, Scotland and Utah canyonlands
- Story Catalyst writing craft classes
- Story Catalyst community
- Uncommon Hours classes in designing and de-stressifying the writing life with leading-edge time management hacks and practices of mindfulness and creative visualization
- Uncommon Hours community
- Brand Catalyst branding and content creation that helps you engage your audience, raise visibility and build a thriving author platform
- Social media consulting on strategies for garnering media attention and audience engagement and development of coherent, captivating content marketing that builds your audience
- Creativity coaching about living a flourishing writing life
- Abundance coaching
- The Fire: consultations about agent query letters, targeting literary agents; consultations about publishing “companion pieces” in mainstream news outlets and magazines, literary journals to make the case for your book; consultations about publishers and other places to submit your work
- Consulting on leading retreats for writers, creatives, wisdom teachers and body-mind-spirit healers
START WRITING WITH PURPOSE NOW!
Let’s live the life written
LET’S WORK TOGETHER
LET’S HAVE A VIDEO CALL
TELL ME ABOUT YOUR PROJECT
AUTHOR SUCCESSES
“A tale of resilience and grace, Little Sister chronicles, in riveting prose, a surreal childhood and does so without rancor or self-pity.”
~Amazon
PATRICIA CHADWICK
Little Sister
Post Hill Press, 2019
In this memoir, Patricia Chadwick writes about growing up in a Catholic cult, where children were separated from their parents. She gives an interview on CBS to Dana Jacobson. (Patricia came to me through kn literary, and it was an honor to help her finish this book!)
A change at the cellular level. Part travel memoir and part spiritual guide, Cleanse Your Body and Reveal Your Soul is one woman’s transformative quest with Ayurvedic Panchakarma (a fivefold detoxification treatment involving massage, herbal therapy, and other procedures) and the profound shifts that led to some sustainable, substantial life changes. Dissatisfied with a mainstream psychiatric practice, Dr. Pentz heads to India, where she undergoes an ancient, rejuvenating cleanse.
In his memoir, David Sorensen explores his identity as a coda, or a child of Deaf adults. He describes his experiences with the roles often placed on codas at a young age, such as interpreter, confidant, and decision-maker. His story reveals a person seeking acceptance and belonging while straddling the Deaf and hearing worlds, and shows how he found reconciliation within himself and with both worlds.
As a British citizen of Nigerian ancestry, Ade Anifowose had lived an invisible life—until he found a home in Atlanta with his American wife. One day on a Greyhound bus near the border of two countries, at a border patrol checkpoint in Las Cruces, New Mexico, officers stopped his bus. “Are you an American citizen?” they asked. Down the row, he heard, “Sí, sí, sí.”
He could not answer yes. He had been living and working in the United States for over 25 years, but…it was complicated. The moment of truth had come. “You’re going to have to step off the bus,” the officer said.
In one moment, the trajectory of his life changed unalterably. My Invisible Life is a narrative memoir that kicks off with his deportation from the United States of America, after living most of his adult life with his wife and family, friends and a large network of community. When he first moved to Atlanta in 1993, he had been on a search for belonging and found that he could be more African in Atlanta than in England. Now, he had been told that I did not belong.
PUBLICATION NEWS COMING SOON!
Have you ever wanted a way to bend the ear of the Universe – that is, the loving energy behind all creation? Yes, that Universe, the one that renders absolute and perfect manifestation. Know that the Universe hears what is in your heart. It hears exactly what you want for your greatest life.
Can your life be so crazy that it ends up making you functional?
If crazy can be influenced by a life beginning in rodeo and functional can be influenced by a profession as a therapist, then the answer is easy: You decide.
What it is to be “crazy” and what it is to be “functional” are relative to the individual. Sometimes, it takes a lifetime to distinguish between the two. And sometimes, it takes a book filled with a lifetime’s worth of experiences. Even those considered crazy.
OCD? It’s in there. Anxiety? In there. Trauma? Take a number. Substance abuse? All depends on how you define “abuse.”
Yet despite the titillation from the full-frontal crazy, the heart of this story is in resilience. And if you think resilience can only come from positivity, enlightenment, or deep breaths… think again.
We’re suffering.
We suffer individually and collectively. We suffer from an epidemic of worry. An epidemic for which we’re desperately seeking solutions, the perfect medicine for what ails us.
And we’re so connected. Yet, more disconnected than ever. Disconnected from our essential nature. Disconnected from our place in it all.
In our striving, we suffer. And in our striving to find solace for our suffering, we suffer.
All of this, Patricia A. Muehsam, M.D., understands.
In The Do-Nothing Cure: A Physician’s Tales, Teachings and Tools for Finding Your Way Home to Health, Muehsam, an extraordinary physician, teacher and thought leader, presents the antidote to suffering. Drawn from her years of exploring the heart of health, The Do-Nothing Cure presents Muehsam’s path out of a modern world that is frenzied and disconnected and into a realm where suffering does not exist and health resides. Living at the Guest House is how we find our way home to Absolute Health.
Forthcoming in 2021 from New World Library