The Hay House Writer's Contest
As a book proposal editor and ghostwriter in the transformational non-fiction book world, I’ve had the great privilege of helping dozens of aspiring authors prepare and submit their book proposals to the Hay House Writer’s Contest over the last several years.
This article is meant to share more with you about what this contest is all about and how to prepare a book proposal for traditional publishers such as Hay House.
I’m delighted to say that some of my clients have been selected as winners or runners-up in this contest. It’s a joy to work with clients who want to contribute their meaningful messages to the world through traditional publishing. (I also love Indie publishing too!)
Who is Hay House?
Hay House is a traditional book publisher that was founded by author Louise Hay in 1984. Headquartered in Carlsbad, CA with offices around the globe, Hay House has been run for several years by Reid Tracy, who hosts the Hay House Writer’s Community and Writer’s Workshop, which help people with their book ideas and contest book proposals.
Hay House publishes books in the mind-body-spirit realms of self-help, personal growth, consciousness, alternative medicine, and some esoteric topics, such as astrology, past lives, spirit guides, angels, and more. They have published major book authors such as Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, Sylvia Browne, and Marianne Williamson.
What is the Hay House Writer’s Contest?
First, in order to be considered eligible for the Hay House Writer’s Contest, you have to become a member of the Hay House Writer’s Community, which was founded in 2020. It is not open year-round but you can join the waitlist or join if enrollment is open here.
This community is a membership platform where you receive access to different resources the publisher provides about the authorship journey, from start to finish, much of which is similar to what I teach and share with my book coaching and proposal writing clients all the time.
The writer’s contest usually runs a few times a year, but the dates are always changing, so you’ll want to join the membership if you want details on the contest.
I would recommend that you give yourself between 3 and 6 months to write your proposal, especially if you are wanting support in your book proposal writing process, which we’ll explore more below.
Essentially, hundreds of aspiring Hay House authors submit book proposals to the contest each time it is held. For each contest, one person is offered a Hay House book deal with a $10k advance to write the book, and two runners-up receive packages with Hay House’s self-publishing arm, Balboa Press, ranging from about $4k to $9k in services.
What do you get if you win the book contest?
If you are the lucky author chosen for the Hay House publishing contract, you will receive the following support in addition to your $10k advance to write the book.
Full Hay House editorial support, including developmental work, line editing, copy-editing, and proofreading
Professionally created cover and book interior, with expertise of various Hay House teams
Access to Hay House’s Author Hub, a resource to help you grow your platform
Your book sold on HayHouse.com and other online retailers worldwide
Hay House sales team book promotion to wholesale retailers, physical bookstores, specialty boutiques, warehouse stores, and more
International translation, distribution, and licensing opportunities
Potential* to be promoted on Hay House social media pages and newsletters
24 free author copies, and discounts on all orders of your book
Five reasons to enter the Hay House proposal contest
Here are five good reasons you might want to consider the Hay House Writer’s Contest worth your time and investment.
First, you are wanting to publish a spiritual book, a self-help book, a consciousness book, or a book about other healing and personal well-being topics.
Second, you really love Hay House, feel it is aligned with your vision for this book, and want to try to traditionally publish. You’re willing and excited to go through the process of Hay House membership and the contest process to be considered for this method of book publishing.
Third, Hay House is a publishing house that typically accepts agented proposal submissions only. With the contest, you get a chance to publish without an agent through Hay House. (Check out my online course Choosing your Publishing Path to learn more about the difference).
Fourth, most traditional publishers expect you to have a really large platform in order to be considered a viable potential author with their house. With the Hay House book contest, you don’t have to have a large platform in order to be considered. This helps some authors get their feet in a door that might not otherwise be open to them.
Lastly, having a deadline like this – and specific instructions about what the publisher is looking for – gives emergent authors focused accountability that motivates them, much like signing up for a marathon gives a runner something specific to train for.
What is a book proposal?
A book proposal is a 20 to 60-page document that presents the case for why a publisher should offer you a book deal. Most Hay House proposals I have worked on average about 35 to 50 Microsoft Word pages (between 9,000 and 15,000 words).
Book proposals are fairly structured and similar across the board, no matter the publisher you are seeking. This is great news if you want to write a single proposal and modify it slightly to submit to different publishing houses. Writing a proposal for Hay House will also prepare to you submit to other publishers if you are interested.
Regardless of your publishing path, writing a book proposal can be really helpful to your process. Writing a book proposal can help you:
Get crystal clear on your WHY—why you, why now, why this book
Get clear on your concept for the book
Focus your ideas and make sure you have a viable, marketable idea
Get clear on the commitment you’ll need to make to complete the book (time and energy)
Be certain you want to commit to this book project
Create more clarity about your books structure, organization and flow
What goes in a Hay House Proposal?
The Hay House Proposal template includes the following sections of the proposal, which you’ll write if you want to submit for this contest. They include:
Overview: this is a few pages that make a high-level compelling argument about why the publisher should publish your book. Why does your book matter and what needs is it meeting in your audience? Why do we need this book in the world now? What are the highlights and strengths of your book specifically?
About the Author: this is a page or two about you, showcasing your strongest and most relevant experience and background.
Market Analysis: this section talks about your primary audience and makes the case that there is a large, hungry audience waiting for a book like yours to buy.
Promotion: this is where you explain in detail how you will help to promote the book, it is also where you might talk about your current platform, such as your web traffic, mailing list subscribers, social media followers and the like. Do you have any contacts for speaking gigs, promotion, foreword or endorsement writers?
Competitive Analysis: here, you showcase other books that are similar yet different from yours, making the case for the niche your book fits into and how your book is different from what is already out there.
Book Table of Contents: just what it sounds like, the planned chapters of your book in order, as best you know them.
Chapter Abstracts: this section goes chapter by chapter giving a brief high-level summary of what you will do and say in each chapter and how that will benefit the reader.
Sample Chapters: you’ll likely choose 2 or 3 chapters (5000 to 10,000 words total) you want to write and showcase in your book proposal. They are often the first chapter (not the introduction) and a middle chapter. You’ll want to share your strongest writing while giving your proposal reviewers a good glimpse into what they can expect in your book.
The contest often also requires a cover letter and a video of the author. You’ll want to check the latest contest rules to get the specifics.
Hay House Writer’s Contest Proposal Help
If you want to write the most compelling and competitive proposal for the contest, you might consider getting support in planning, writing and editing your proposal.
A book proposal coach can help you refine and finalize your book outline or table of contents, what will be in each chapter, and help you choose, write and refine your sample chapters.
This is where I recommend most people start when writing a book proposal, as you’ll want a good sense of your book and how it's put together before you write the rest of the proposal.
From here, you’ll want to complete the rest of the sections, as outlined above. A good proposal coach will know the best practices for each section to help guide you to writing the most relevant and strongest case for each section.
I recommend writing the overview last, since it is really the high level summary that introduces your book and the rest of the proposal. You might want to make some notes for this overview as you go, noting the strongest and most unique aspects of your book project that you want to showcase here.
Then, I recommend getting a developmental editor who has experience in book proposals. Even better if they know Hay House proposals and this contest. (I am one such proposal editor myself!) You may or may not want to also get a copyedit and proofread for your proposal. These will ensure your writing is strong at the sentence level and there are no errors in your work.
How I can help with your book proposal
I am currently offering two packages to support proposal writers, for the Hay House contest or otherwise.
In one, I offer two coaching sessions to support you as you write your proposal, a full developmental edit with an editorial letter, and a follow up call to go over your steps to strengthen your proposal.
In the second service option, I offer a more collaborative approach to the writing, where you write and I write parts of the proposal together. This is a much more co-creative proposal writing process, whereas the first is more you writing and me coaching and editing.
I’ve had great success and happy clients in both of these packages.
Here are what some of my past clients have said about working on their Hay House proposal together:
I cannot begin to explain how influential Jaime was in the process of me putting together my book proposal. I’m extremely grateful for everything she has done through this journey to help me!!! She really guided me and coached me through the trials and tribulations by being transparent, providing inspiration and motivation, top notch expertise and tools, encouragement, and was extremely collaborative. I couldn’t have done this proposal without her and I’m forever grateful and would highly recommend her to anyone who wants to write a book!!
– Christine Ramsey, Founder of Ignite Inclusion and Hay House Proposal Contestant
I really enjoyed our session last week and found it really valuable.
Your feedback was methodical, clear and really made sense, with easy fixes that will immediately improve what we are trying to say. You’re skillful in handling a Zoom conversation, which we know is not easy.
I liked your relaxed manner and felt as if we were chatting with a supportive friend.
It was such a great start to our process of working together, and we are grateful to have you on our team!– Chris Caruthers, PhD in Integrative Health and Hay House Proposal Contestant
Let’s Connect
If you would like to speak further about your book proposal project, please feel free to write me here, or schedule us a free consult call here.
