I imagine that a document with graphics, imported text, bullets, footnotes etc would have the potential to be buggy as hell.

Sobs.

IOW Yup.

Question - if you do chapters in seperate documents, how do manage cross referencing on end notes?

how do manage cross referencing on end notes?

umm...I don't have end notes. I imagine that would be a pain.

Man. I can't believe how much Word blows.

However! I have a new poll:

[link]

Question: you can send out multiple queries correct? But if they ask for a book proposal (not yet), then one publisher at a time, cause evaluating a book proposal is major work for editor and publishing staff - true?

TB, yep - that's the way it works in fiction, at least.

Our basic is, initial query can be multiple, but if they want to see more or ask for an exclusive, the rules change.

This blog is mostly about fiction, but answers a ton of questions about dealing with agents (and some about publishers, too): [link] I'm not trying to sell a book, just obsessed with advice columns.

That link aalso says that synopsys in a query should be single spaced not double spaced. The refererence work I own on how to write a book proposal say everything should be double spaced, but I do see how the synopysis could be an exception. So the question is where to I go to get a really reliable guide to proper formatting for a book proposal. I gather that there is not absolute rule; that there are varietions. Still is there some way I can get less of the marketing 101 more of the basic mechanical formatting as "no more than x words" , x format. Right now I'm just doing everything double spaced 12 point Times Roman font 1 inch margins. Anything besides the synopis that should be an exception to this? Anyplace that is a good nuts and bolts source for this?

Also this articles says skip the query, go right to proposal. I'm guessing that may be one of the differences between fiction and non-fic.

I think most people you're going to submit to will have submission guidelines available, no? The real rule seems to be, follow that. And don't do anything wacko, and you should be OK. My impression is that the proposal is the query, for non-fiction.

For non-ficition the way most books suggest is a one page query letter explaining why they should look at your proposal in a few paragraphs.

Based on this you can hope for a request for a proposal that includes an extensive synopsis, sample chapters and a bunch of marketing stuff. All the reference books mention that some agents suggest skipping the query and going straight to the book proposal.

Ah, I didn't realize the proposal would be so long and detailed. I would just make sure you know what the specific agent you're going after wants.