SAMPLE #2:
WITH ANNOTATIONS BY EDITOR MICHELLE HOWRY
A Proposal for:
Hope for Your Addicted Teen
A Step-by-Step Guide for Parents1
By
Deborah Cipolla
Address
Phone
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Overview
Hope for Your Addicted Teen
A Step-by-Step Guide for Parents
About 2 million children aged 12 to 17 need treatment for a substance abuse problem. But only about 150,000 get the help they need.2
There are many reasons for this gap, but perhaps the biggest is that many parents don’t know all of the options to help their children and are too emotionally wrought to do effective research in the midst of crisis.
Hope for Your Addicted Teen will provide parents of children suffering from substance abuse problems with a unique and comprehensive look at their options --- shared by a mother who discovered many of them through personal experience. This is the first book that gathers information about various treatment options for teenaged substance abusers in one place. The finished manuscript will contain approximately 35,000 words, or 140 pages,3 as well as at least a two-page bibliography, an index and a table of contents.
At the point when parents realize their child has s substance abuse problem, the pain and panic can be almost paralyzing. Unfortunately, when parents must deal with this most daunting problem, they often have the fewest resources.4 The parent in that situation will find Hope for Your Addicted Teen packed with vital information.
This book will help them:
- Learn how to discern whether their teens are abusing drugs or alcohol.
- Find out how ongoing abuse will affect their teens, long- and short-term.
- Get information about available options for help, and how to evaluate them.
- Gain an understanding of what to expect during the recovery process.
- Have a list of resources to begin their search for answers for their teens.
- Receive emotional and spiritual support in sidebars in each chapter.
Hope for Your Addicted Teen is written by a parent who has been through this experience with her own teenaged son. As someone who had to put aside her own confusion and emotions so she could educate herself quickly about the issue and help her child, her perspective and experience offers readers both empathy and no-nonsense information. This book will provide a parent with a comprehensive look at their options, found in one place -- avoiding the need for frantic parents to spin their wheels gathering information from a myriad of sources.
A special feature of the book will be the author’s interviews with her son, other boys who have been in recovery programs, and their parents.5 These will be written as brief vignettes and interspersed throughout the book.
Markets
The book will be aimed primarily at parents who suspect their teenaged child has a substance abuse issue, and secondarily at medical and therapeutic professionals the parents might consult with about their child’s problem.
The Teen Drug Abuse Market
Who will read this blog6 and this book?
The parents of the 2 million teens cited above who are abusing alcohol and drugs.
Grandparents and other concerned relatives and friends of the family who see the problem and are trying to help.
Members of Al-Anon and Nar-Anon who go to meetings because of their children; there are more than 13,000 Al-Anon groups in the U.S and more than 1,500 in Canada, according to a 2003 survey of Al-Anon members, and more than 25% of the members attend meetings because of their children’s substance abuse.
Psychologists, therapists and other professionals specializing in children’s substance abuse.
Publicity and Promotion7
Ninety percent of drug and alcohol addictions begin during the teenage years, according to The Partnership at Drugfree.org. A report issued by the group in 2012 showed “heavy” marijuana use among teenagers is up 80 percent from 10 years ago, with one in 10 teens reporting that they use the drug at least 20 times a month.
A National Institute on Drug Abuse survey last year found a rise in marijuana smoking in high school from its previous survey: 6.5 percent of high school seniors smoke daily, up from 5.1 percent five years earlier. The survey also found that nearly 30 percent of adolescents have consumed alcohol and 15.5 percent have smoked marijuana by the time they reach 8th grade.
With these rising numbers of children using drugs and alcohol at an earlier age, Hope for Your Addicted Teen offers valuable information at a critical time.
Promotion Plan
On publication, the author will travel to the following major markets to speak:8
- San Francisco
- Boston
- Dallas
- Seattle
The author will use the services of ExpertClick.com during the first three months after the book’s release.
The author will purchase a three- to six-month advertisement with Radio-TV Interview Report and/or Best Guest Digest to generate television and radio interviews to promote Hope for Your Addicted Teen.9
The author will send press kits to local media in cities where she is scheduled to speak, or will hire a publicity firm to do so.10
The author will promote the book’s release via her blog with posts and announcements.11
The author will promote the book’s release via her social networks with status updates, book giveaways, etc.
The author will seek out media opportunities such as:
Television news and talk shows (Good Morning America, Today, CBS This Morning, Dr. Oz, Katie Couric, Dr. Drew)
Feature articles in newspapers and magazines (print and online), specifically parenting publications
The author will arrange a virtual book tour.12
The author will send out information using social networking media already in place.13
The author will offer essays and articles to e-zines and print publications in exchange for a promotional bio.
The author will contact the following opinion-makers for book endorsements:14
- Dr. Mehmet Oz
- Dr. Drew Pinsky
- David Sheff (author of Beautiful Boy and Clean)
The author’s promotional and publicity efforts will be coordinated with those of the publisher.
Competing Books
Books on the topic of teen substance abuse fall into the following categories: anecdotal parent’s perspective (Beautiful Boy), anecdotal teen’s perspective (Tweak, Go Ask Alice), and various medical/social/psychological perspectives (Healing the Addicted Brain).
Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction, by David Sheff (Mariner Books, 2009, 336 pages, paperback, $14.95). Very personal and wrenching account of how a parent dealt with his son’s methamphetamine addiction; doesn’t include resources for dealing with teenage substance abuse, other than those the author sought out.
Tweak, Growing Up on Methamphetamines, by Nic Sheff (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2009, 352 pages, paperback, $10.99). Powerfully written first-person account of methamphetamine addiction; doesn’t include resources for parents or teens.
Adolescents, Alcohol, and Substance Abuse, Reaching Teens Through Brief Interventions, by Peter Monti, PhD; Susan Colby, PhD; Tracy O’Leary, PhD (The Guilford Press, 2004, 350 pages, paperback, $42). Covers a range of approaches to prevention and treatment; more suitable for clinicians than parents.
Hope for Your Addicted Teen will differ from these books by including aspects of both the first-person narrative and the clinical, subjective approaches. 15
About the Author16
Deborah Cipolla is a journalist (Associated Press, Los Angeles Times and other publications), public relations and marketing professional (IBM, Siemens, Barnes&Noble.com) and mother. She has written extensively on a wide range of topics, and has been published in newspapers throughout the U.S.
She called upon her journalism experience as she conducted her research to find answers to her son’s substance abuse problems, and interviewed therapists, school officials and consultants.
In an effort to give meaning to what she and her son went through, she wants to share her knowledge and experience with other parents, to help them through one of a parent’s worst nightmares.
Author’s Platform17
Social Media
- Facebook (143 friends)
- LinkedIn (38 connections)
- Twitter (currently building)
- Google+ (currently building)
- Pinterest (25 followers)
Launched a blog where she has been blogging her book to promote it and gain potential readers. Has participated in groups and forums on those sites and will comment on related blogs and articles. She will publish her blog on Technorati.com and Blogcatalog.com and will participate in bloggers’ networks for reciprocal linking and posting agreements.
The author participates in online parenting communities CafeMom and iVillage, which have discussion forums on parenting teens. She also will create a website for her blogged book, with articles, links, and additional resources.
Published Articles18
The author has published hundreds of articles in newspapers and magazines in her years as a journalist at the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times. She has reported on a range of serious topics, including:
Presidential, gubernatorial, and other political campaigns
Mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana
Immigration issues
Airline crashes
Business issues
She also has written many lighter feature articles and profiles, including pieces on:
Gloria Steinem
Hugh Hefner
Tournament of Roses Parade
Nude beaches in Los Angeles
International Flat Earth Society
THE OUTLINE
List of Chapters19
Introduction
Is It Addiction or Normal Experimentation?
What Other Factors Contribute To Addiction?
How Does Addiction Affect My Child?
Is My Child’s Addiction My Fault?
What’s the First Step to Recovery?
How Do I Choose a Rehab Program?
Can an Educational Consultant Help?
Can I Really Send My Child into the Wilderness?
How Do I Choose a Therapeutic Boarding School?
What Are Transitional Living Programs?
What Happens When My Child Returns Home From a Recovery Program?
Are 12-Step Programs the Answer?
Additional Resources
Chapter Summaries20
Introduction
The author will give a quick overview of her experience with her son’s substance abuse, explaining her desire to save other parents from reinventing the wheel as they face similar issues. 21
Is It Addiction or Normal Experimentation?
Too often, teen drinking and drug use is considered a rite of passage. Many kids will experiment with substances without becoming addicted, but there are far too many whose full-blown addiction is dismissed by their parents, especially if the parents experimented themselves as teens.
What Other Factors Contribute To Addiction?
The National Alliance for Mental Illness says as much as half of the mentally ill population also has a substance abuse problem. Children who have attention-deficit disorder or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, anxiety or bipolar disorder are more susceptible to addiction than the rest of the population.
How Does Addiction Affect My Child?
MRI studies cited by the Science and Management of Addictions (SAMA) show that the development of the prefrontal cortex and outer mantle of the brain continues into the early twenties, and may not be complete until the mid-twenties. We’ll address the neurological effects of early and prolonged substance use.
Is My Child’s Addiction My Fault?
Addiction is truly a family problem. Addiction can be genetically handed down from a parent. Or a parent’s style of child-rearing might be one that doesn’t foster good decision-making or self-confidence. This chapter also will address how the parents most likely will change and grow as a result of their child’s recovery process.
What’s the First Step to Recovery?
Recognizing and accepting that your child has a problem that must be addressed is the parent’s first step. Then they must determine what type of program or therapy is the best for their child.
How Do I Choose a Rehab Program?
Sometimes parents will make this decision alone, or they may consult with a physician, therapist, or other professional. This chapter discusses what a parent needs to know before choosing.
Can an Educational Consultant Help?
It is an educational consultant’s business to know and visit wilderness camps and therapeutic schools. They can tell you about various options and help you match one with your child’s issues and temperament.
Can I Really Send My Child into the Wilderness?
What goes on at a wilderness camp? We’ll discuss where they’re located, how they’re structured, and what your teen will learn there.
How Do I Choose a Therapeutic Boarding School?
There’s a wide variety of approaches and techniques at various schools. We’ll look at the focuses and priorities of schools.
What Are Transitional Living Programs?
After your child completes the program at a therapeutic boarding school, it may still seem too risky for his sobriety to bring him home. A transitional living program can bridge the gap between boarding school and home.
What Happens When My Child Returns Home From a Recovery Program?
It will be a whole new person returning home and yet the same person. This chapter addresses how to set boundaries and agree on terms of living together again.
Are 12-Step Programs the Answer?
12-step programs aren’t for everyone, but they can provide a solid structure and support for the teen in recovery and for his/her parents.
Additional Resources
This will be an extensive listing of organizations, websites, books, blogs, and professionals who can help a parent with a teenaged substance abuser.
1 A strong title and subtitle. The title offers a positive spin, and the subtitle clearly spells out what the book is and who it is written for.
2 I like to see statistics like this, identifying the scope of the problem/issue and showing the need for a book. I can use these stats in my own marketing materials for my publishing team, too.
3 This is pretty short—most books I’m looking at in this category are at least 50,000–60,000 words. Is there a reason this one is so short?
4 One important thing to address, either here or elsewhere (in Marketing section) is how you will find your audience at this critical time.
5 This is an interesting editorial addition, but a few things to keep in mind. Why all boys? There should be a mix of genders/geographical locations. And whenever including stories from real people on a sensitive topic like this, be sure that you get releases and/or that you change identifying characteristics if necessary.
6 Why the reference to the blog here? Confusing. Hopefully, you already have a blog and the book will be an outgrowth of that. If so, then one of the markets you can outline below would be: “The XXXXX readers of my blog, _____.” Perhaps reference comp titles here, too? (“Readers of successful memoirs of substance abuse, like Beautiful Boy [which was on The New York Times bestseller list for XX weeks], want a more practical, action-oriented guide written from a parent’s perspective.”)
7 The stats below are interesting, but they don’t inform the publicity discussion—this info belongs above, in the “Teen Drug Abuse Market” section. In the Publicity section, I’m most concerned with how you are going to promote your book.
8 I need more information on this—why these markets? Does author have a connection to one or more of the markets? Where will she be speaking—is she invited somewhere, or will she just seek out a speaking venue? It’s very difficult to travel to a city where you don’t have any family or professional connections and try to book an event “cold.” I encourage authors to focus on events in places where they have friends/family/professional contacts, and where they can guarantee a good turnout. If you do have these connections here, say so. If not, omit.
9 I’m unsure of how useful this really is. Perhaps money will be better spent on a freelance publicist.
10 If you plan to hire a freelance publicist to help you, say so clearly—don’t hedge.
11 For an author whose expertise lies in her personal connection to a topic (rather than in her professional credentials, like a doctor), social media is a hugely important factor. I’d expect this author to have a robust blog and social media presence … and to talk about that earlier in the proposal. Any stats about the blog’s traffic and exposure?
12 You need to elaborate.
13 Seems repetitive—isn’t that the same as “The author will promote the book’s release via her social networks …” above?
14 Does the author have pre-existing connections to any of these people? If not, it seems pretty unlikely that they will respond. Including these kinds of names in a proposal without a personal connection can seem inexperienced. I’d suggest that she dig deep and find other, more accessible authors and experts in this field—doctors, authors, and other parents who have written books on this topic. Contact them. Getting blurbs of praise from well-credentialed experts and authors can actually be more meaningful to an editor than chasing after A-list names that are unlikely to come through.
15 This proposal needs more comp titles. As an editor, I’ll need to provide at least 6–8 strong comp titles to my team, and I’d prefer if the author could help me out with those. Also, there are stronger comps to be found. Beautiful Boy is a wonderful book, and it should be here, but it’s narrative, not prescriptive, so it’s not really the best comp title. Think about books that would actually be shelved in the same section of the bookstore. (In fact, go to a bookstore and look in the parenting/self help/recovery sections.) Look for practical, prescriptive books offering advice for parents who want to keep their kids off drugs or that offer advice on how to help them once they’ve become addicted. And then tell why each book is different from the one you are proposing.
16 Author’s previous work experience is impressive. Please flesh out this bio and really detail your writing and reporting experience. This is relevant experience, and it makes a difference to an editor reading your bio.
17 These social-media stats aren’t impressive, so rather than calling them out in this separate section, I’d suggest that she delete the discussion of how many followers she has on these individual platforms. Instead I suggest folding the blog discussion into the previous section on publicity and promotion—that’s what this is really all about.
18 Rather than pulling this out into a separate section, I’d rework it and fold it into your author bio.
19 It’s redundant to have an unannotated table of contents, followed immediately by an annotated table of contents—I’d delete this.
20 My advice is to be sure to filter all this information through the lens of a parent—that is what’s unique here. Remember, there are other books on this topic written by well-credentialed physicians and experts, so you don’t need to compete with them. The author needs to think about what she brings to this topic as a parent—what kind of information and perspective only she can offer.
21 Overall, I think this author brings a lot of passion and firsthand experience to this material. But she needs to acknowledge what a competitive and highly published category she is entering—it’s not going to be easy for someone without medical credentials and deep experience in the field to crack this category. If she feels strongly that this is a book that she is meant to write, I would advise the following:
- Play up her unique qualifications and perspective as a parent—this is what she has going for herself here, so really emphasize it.
- Demonstrate a deep knowledge of the category—really dig deep into her comp-title research, find out what else is out there, and work hard to make a strong case for why her book will be different/better. I think she still has some work to domake that case.
- Establish herself as a go-to parenting authority on this topic online. Blog, chat, give advice, and connect with others online. If you can show that you have a substantial online audience who cares about this topic and thinks of you as an authority, that makes you more marketable.