spective of why you’re the perfect person to write this book for your audience. So yeah, you will talk a lot about yourself, but only in the context of the book. You can probably skip over the things you’ve done in your life that have nothing to do with the book, (unless they are really impressive, like winning an Olympic medal). This is not a place to brag or carry on needlessly about yourself. That sends a negative signal to the editor that you aren’t spending enough time worrying about the reader and their needs. 3. MARKETING PLAN This is it, the section that makes or breaks almost all book proposals. Lemme explain the dirty little secret about why this section—that didn’t used to be very important as recently as thirty or forty years ago—has become so utterly crucial to book proposals: Traditional publishing companies do not know how to sell books to readers, and they now rely on the author to do that crucial task. This is why the marketing plan is so important. The problem is that traditional publishing companies spent 100 years with one customer: bookstores. But the world changed, and they did not change with it. No traditional publisher (with a few notable exceptions, like Hay House and Rodale and a few others) has any ability to sell directly to their readers. They don’t have meaningful email lists, engaged social fol- lowings, or any set group of people waiting to buy books they publish. Because of this, the editors that work at traditional publishing houses are in a tough spot. They have to rely on the author to have an audience waiting to buy their book. 354 · ThE SCriBE METhOD