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Member only guide to the Australian book industry.
A non-fiction author will tend to sell their book project on the basis of a proposal — a lengthy pitch document, supplemented by sample chapters, which is sent to prospective publishers and literary agents. The ultimate goal of a book proposal is a publishing contract supported by an editor who shares your vision for the book and its audience.
It might seem that work on a proposal comes at the cost of time spent developing your manuscript, but the proposal pays additional dividends to its author even before it is distributed to others. Writing a book proposal will help you to clarify your book’s central concept and its contribution to a public conversation.
Crafting an impactful non-fiction book proposal is a skill that requires an understanding of the essential proposal elements, from expected industry standards to the required materials and their content. You will also need to know how to position your work to stand out from the crowd and demonstrate market potential.
Over 2 one-hour sessions, award-winning author Rebecca Giggs will detail:
Whether you’ve been submitting without success and want to identify the areas of improvement in your materials, are new to the genre and want to know what publishers and agents look for, or you’re planning to start pitching your non-fiction concept in the coming months, Rebecca’s expert guidance will equip you with the tips and knowledge you need to craft compelling book proposals.
There will be time for questions from the audience in each session.
At the conclusion of the first session, a detailed handout document will be provided via email to all registered participants.
Pitch Perfect: Non-fiction book proposals will set you up for success when submitting your book proposal to publishers and agents in written form and attending pitching events, such as those hosted by organisations like the ASA and by writers’ festivals. You can find a list of publishers, literary agents, and their submission guidelines in the ASA’s Book Industry Directory here.
We strongly encourage all members who intend to pitch a general non-fiction proposal at Virtual Literary Speed Dating to attend this course prior to pitching their work. Plus, Pitch Perfect attendees gain priority booking access to Literary Speed Dating events for three years following their booking.
At the conclusion of the first session, a template of the essential components of a typical non-fiction book proposal will be provided via email to all registered participants.
Rebecca Giggs is an author from Boorloo, Perth. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The Atlantic, Emergence, Granta, and in anthologies including Best Australian Essays and Best Australian Science Writing. Rebecca’s non-fiction focuses on how people feel towards animals in a time of technological and ecological change.
Rebecca’s debut book Fathoms: The World in the Whale was awarded the Mark & Evette Moran Nib Literary Prize, the Royal Society’s Whitley Award for Popular Zoology, and the Western Australian Premier’s Prize for an Emerging Author. It was also shortlisted for the Stella Prize. In the US, Fathoms won the prestigious ALA Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, and in the UK, the book was ‘Highly Commended’ in the shortlist for the Wainwright Prize for Writing on Global Conservation. Fathoms has been translated into several languages, including Korean, Italian, Mandarin, Slovakian, and Spanish.
No problem! Everyone booked in to this event will be emailed a link and passcode to access the recording afterwards. This recording will be available to view for 10 days after the live session. This also means that if you wish to revisit the session after attending it live to take further notes, you can do so!
After 10 days, the link will expire and the recording will no longer be available to view.
Yes! Our Pitch Perfect courses always precede our Virtual Literary Speed Dating events.
The Virtual Literary Speed Dating event following this Pitch Perfect course is scheduled for Wednesday 21 and Friday 23 October 2026.
Stay tuned to our events newsletter for updates.
