How to write a popular science book (part III): A sneak peak at our original book proposal

Issue 118: We share a summary and PDF of our original book proposal (simply click the PDF link at the end of this newsletter).

This is Part III in our series on “how to write a popular science book proposal”. In Part I, we described how to go From an Idea to the Proposal. In Part II, we described The Auction, Writing, and Promotion aspects of the process. In Part III, we thought it might be fun to give you a sneak peak at original book proposal for The Power of Us.

This will provide a real example of a book proposal for those of you who have aspirations of writing your own popular science book. It will also allow people who have read our book to see our original ideas and observe how much they evolved through the writing process. Most people never get to see how a book is written, so this offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at that process.

The title of our book, at that time, was “THE POWER OF IDENTITY: How identity shapes our actions and how we can shape identity”. One of the first lessons we learned as book authors is that we did not have complete control over the title—the publisher does (although we got some input and there were countless discussions).

By the time our book was published, our title had changed to include more business/self-help lingo: “The Power of Us: Harnessing Our Shared Identities to Improve Performance, Increase Cooperation, and Promote Social Harmony.

Our proposal includes an overview of the book, a brief biography of the authors, a description of related books (and how ours was different), a detailed marketing plan, the table of contents, the introduction section of the book, a sample chapter (chapter 1), and detailed description of all the other chapters. In all, the entire proposal was 55 single-spaced pages long!

Below we share the Overview and a link to a PDF of the entire proposal for paid subscribers. Note that we will also be reaching out to paid subscribers to set up summer meetings with Jay & Dom. So update your subscription now if you want an invitation to join those discussions.

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Overview

Most of us believe that our identity is stable. In fact, our identity is constantly changing – often outside our conscious awareness and even against our wishes – to reflect the interests of the groups around us. That identity has a powerful influence over our feelings, beliefs, and actions.

This book will revolutionize how you think about identity. Once you understand how identity works, you will be able to resist its pull and harness it to influence others.

The most selfishly oriented people exhibit the greatest increase in cooperative behavior when they identify with a group. The same identity motives that lead to discrimination and conflict can bridge ancient divides and inspire personal and social change.

In The Power of Identity, psychologists Dominic Packer and Jay Van Bavel integrate their own cutting-edge research in psychology, neuroscience and economics to explain what identity really is and show how to harness its dynamic nature to:

• Increase productivity

• Improve physical and psychological health

• Overcome prejudice

• Unlock altruism

• Break political gridlock

• Galvanize others to solve controversial but persistent global problems

Along the way, they explain such seemingly unrelated phenomenon as why men cry at football games but not funerals, why the history of slavery in U.S. counties is one of the best predictors of current day racism, and why Canada keeps a national reserve of maple syrup.