If you’re writing a nonfiction book, the proposal is the document that sells it. Before an agent reads a page of your manuscript, and long before a publisher makes an offer, your proposal has to prove there’s a market, an audience and an author ready to reach them.

That’s exactly why so many writers are now asking AI to write one for them. And it’s exactly why so many of those proposals never make it past the first read.

This week I shared a warning on LinkedIn, and the response told me it needs to reach more writers. So here it is, with a little more detail.

Please don’t send book proposals generated with AI.

This has become a widespread problem for our agents, especially those who receive a steady stream of business and practical nonfiction submissions.

I understand why it happens. You want to get this right, and the internet offers a free template in seconds. But the best information rarely comes free. And what the internet is handing you is a form that gets passed on almost immediately.

The four tells we spot first

  1. The word count is off. The manuscript is listed at 20,000 to 40,000 words. That isn’t market standard for most business and practical books, which typically run [50,000 to 70,000 words].
  2. The proposal is too thin. Around 10 pages, when a strong proposal needs far more room to make its case.
  3. Critical sections are missing. Real proposals show us the audience, the competition, your platform and a clear chapter plan. AI versions skip or skim these. Even the headings sound generic.
  4. The formatting gives it away. The same bullet patterns, bold phrases and structure we now see many times a week.

Here’s the painful part. Your sample chapter might be wonderful. It might be entirely yours. But we often don’t get that far, because the proposal has already told us you haven’t done the market research a publisher will expect.

What to do instead

  • Use AI, if you like, to organize your thinking. Don’t let it write the pitch.
  • Study what a professional pitch contains, and develop your agent strategy and author toolkit. Chapter by chapter, Get Signed walks you through it.
  • Get expert eyes on it before it goes out. A strategy session is just the beginning of what we offer at Lucinda Literary and it can save you months of silent rejections.

I say all this with tough love, because I want you to have the best possible chance of being seen. Your ideas deserve a proposal that sounds like you.

The bottom line

AI can be a useful thinking partner. It can’t do your market research, define your readers or explain why you’re the one to write this book. Those are the things agents and publishers are actually buying.

So take the extra time. Build a proposal that’s as strong as the idea behind it. When it lands in an agent’s inbox, you want it read all the way to your sample chapter.

Not sure if your proposal is ready? Take our free quiz to see where your book stands. Then join the Lucinda Literary Insider for weekly guidance from working agents. And if you know a writer who’s about to pitch, share this with them first.