Did you resolve way back in January that THIS would be your year to sell your nonfiction book? If you don't have a book deal yet, these tips can still help you scuttle under the finish line just in time!

1) Have a great proposal. Nonfiction books are sold EXCLUSIVELY by proposal. Even if you've already written the whole book, you'll STILL need to write a proposal to convince the publisher it's a money-making idea.

2) Get great representation. If you tried more than 30 agents this year and got rejected by us all, only one of TWO things is wrong: Either your query letter fails to capture the brilliance of your idea OR your idea, um, well, needs a little more thought. All reputable agents (like us!) work on straight commission. We clamber for the few good projects that show up each year. If a good idea floats by, there's little chance any of us would miss it. Fix your problem NOW. There's still time to get sold by Christmas!

3) If you're nowhere near ready to get an agent or even write a proposal, here's a tried-and-true trick for at last organizing your book: file folders. A best selling author we know does this. He figures out what the top 10-12 topics are underneath the general subject of his next book. Then he literally labels those folders with the words that describe the intended chapter content. He sifts through the Internet and "competing" books and makes notes. He shoves all his data, research, notes and tips, quotes and ideas into those physical file folders. After a little digging, voila! He's got enough to write the outline for his book!

4) Some people just CANNOT do it that way. They have to start writing Paragraph One, Page One and take it from there. 60,000 words later, they'll know what they want to say. If you're one of those people and haven't started much typing, or if you got lost around the third chapter (which usually happens with this method) you could perhaps benefit from Wendy's proposal-writing course. Go to our website and click "products." It's the first thing that comes up. Otherwise, hire a developmental editor to get you back on your horse. Those are really the only ways to extrude a book from your brain in a timely manner.

5) Buzz a Bookstore. A decade plus ago, some guy sent this agency a query for a book he wanted to call, "Men are from Uranus, Women are from Pluto." No kidding. When a staff member called him to suggest that then-best-seller John Gray had a very, very similar book, the man denied ever having heard of it! He said he never read books because he didn't want to later accidentally plagiarize. Chances are good, he's still not published. If you want your book sold, you need to know who else at Barnes and Noble is going to be trying to edge you off the shelf. Scour the store. Buy any books you think compete. Do the same on Amazon - that's a shocker! Find out how well the books you are most similar to are selling (look at Amazon's sales ranking for help). Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to write a "killer proposal" that features an idea that is fresh. You want to offer the publisher something New, Different, Better or that gives the reader More than all your competition. Hope this was encouraging, invigorating and motivating for you!

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Meanwhile - WRITE! Writers write. If you're a writer, go write ahead.