FAQ: The Book Proposal

The following FAQ is based off the Q&A conducted between Caroline Cheung and Rob Tempio in the video above and Laura Portwood-Stacer’s The Book Proposal Book: A Guide for Scholarly Authors.

What is the book proposal and what should it do? Who will read the proposal and how will they use it?

The book proposal is a way for an editor to evaluate whether or not a project fits with what the publishing press is doing. It is a pitch document that should give an editor a clear idea of the topic and methodology, the author and their qualifications, and how the book fits amongst the competing titles out there.

In addition, the book proposal is a one-stop shop for different people and departments to get a handle on what the project is. This will vary among presses, but the proposal may also be read by other editors, editorial directors, sales, marketing, publicity, designers working on the cover for the book, the editorial board, and in-house publications committee and faculty board.

What information should an author include in a book proposal?

The proposed Table of Contents should include chapter titles (even if it’s subject to change) and brief descriptions of the chapters to give a sense of the book’s overall structure.

The Manuscript Specifications includes those technical details such as manuscript length, images (e.g. number of images, color or black/white, etc.), and other concerns that might relate to its presentation, such as in e-book form. When explaining the manuscript length, use word counts (inclusive of footnotes and bibliography) as opposed to number of pages. These details give publishers a sense of how much they need to pay to print the book. Another consideration is making the book open access, which is becoming an increasing issue as more universities require their faculty to make their publications open access. Note that many presses have policies that make that a bit of a problem.

The Manuscript Status section explains how close the book manuscript is to being ready to be submitted. If this is your first book, you will want your manuscript to be nearly complete (if it isn’t already) when you submit; that is, essentially ready for peer review.

For Writing Samples, you can naturally submit a chapter from your book manuscript, but the sample does not necessarily need to come from the book. If you’ve done crossover writing (meaning more general interest publications) or book reviews, you can submit those. The sample should ultimately showcase the kind of writing that you’re capable of and signal that you have a public writing presence.

The Author Info section should give a sense of the author’s qualifications and what their future career might be. You may list awards or other relevant details from your life story, and give a sense of your social media presence and platform (e.g. number of twitter followers). It is good practice to include your CV even if the publisher doesn’t require it. Many publishers are looking for an author staying in the academy, since that helps with the promotion and long-term success of the book, and so having a good postdoc or faculty position is sometimes a good signal for editors to accept a proposal more readily.

You can also add to the proposal a List of Potential Peer Reviewers. Editors generally know the field and have a list of reviewers on hand already, but it is helpful to hear from the author who they think might be a good reviewer for the project. Feel free to list 5-6 people. If you’ve already participated in a book colloquium or workshop, mention that in the proposal and who the readers were.

When is a good time for an author to work on a proposal? And to send it to an editor?

It is never too early get started on a book proposal, since you’ll be that much closer to being ready to submit! Working on it as early as you possibly can is good practice, since the working draft of the proposal can be a useful outline and tool for writing and revision, serving as a touchdown you can go back to regularly. Even if the book changes direction as you continue working on it, you can continuously revise and revisit the proposal simultaneously. It is also useful to have a proposal on hand to share at a conference where you might meet with an editor!

The timing of when you submit book proposal may depend on your publishing history or book contract. But a general principle is that if it is your first book, wait to contact a publisher until the manuscript is already pretty far along, such as nearly ready for peer review. For those converting their dissertations for book publication, take some time to develop it further as a book first. If you are participating in a book colloquium or workshop, it might be useful to simultaneously submit your book proposal to a publisher so you can synthesize all the reviews at the same time.

How do you submit a proposal to an editor?

There are several ways you can initiate the process of submitting a book proposal to a press. A publisher might reach out to you to commission a book on a topic, or you might have preliminary contact with an editor to pitch your project, but it is quite common to submit an unsolicited proposal via email.

With an email submission, you should include a cover letter, which can be embedded in the email itself. The message should introduce yourself and include a brief description of the project (no more than 350 words), including the motivating issue behind the book and its larger import within the field.

While you can submit a proposal unsolicited, it does help to have a preliminary connection, such as through an in-person meeting at a booth at a conference or through a mutual contact. Don’t be afraid to ask a friend or colleague to help set up the connection.

If you get a meeting with an editor at a conference, remember that it’s not a job interview. Be relaxed about it. They may not make a decision then and there and they might prefer to wait to see more. Don’t try to describe your project to the editor at the booth unsolicited, since they may be between meetings and are often in a hurry for the next thing. The initial contact time at a booth might be better spent introducing yourself, finding out who the editor is, getting their card, asking if they’re looking for books on a particular area and if you can follow up. But editors might also have time; follow their lead. If you’d like to ensure a meeting with an editor at a conference, email publishers ahead of time and ask if they have time for meetings at the conference. Bring your book proposal with you!

For more specific advice about getting the most out of a meeting with an editor at a conference, check out the WCC’s resource page on conferencing and this Guide to Pitching Your Book at a Conference on the SCS blog. This same post provides a selected list of Acquisition Editors and publisher information for Classics, Archaeology, and Ancient History.

Still struggling with what to ask or say to an editor? Check out this additional useful cheat sheet!.

How do you choose where to send your book proposal? Should authors submit proposals to only one press at a time, or can they submit to multiple presses simultaneously? What is the general timeline?

Pick a press by looking at books they’ve published recently in your subfield (within the last 5-10 years) or books whose promotions you’ve liked, since that gives a sense of the activity the publisher will potentially put into your own book. You can also look at series within presses to see if your book fits with their theme, but you don’t have to submit a book to fit in with a specific series.

If you’d like to get a sense of the range of presses available for you to shop your book, check out the Association of University Presses Directory (AUP) for subject areas in which each press has a particularly strong interest.

You can send to multiple presses at a time (it is not like a journal submission where articles must be reviewed by only one journal at a time). Don’t send your proposal everywhere; send to a handful of publishers where you think your manuscript would be a good fit. Be clear with the presses that express interest in your project about the fact that it’s under review. Some presses might ask for an exclusive (i.e. ask that your book not be under review at another press). Give publishers a reasonable enough time for their review processes to play out before they make an offer. Keep in mind that just because you’ve emailed your proposal to a bunch of presses does not mean that it’s officially under submission with them. It’s official only once they get back to you and agree they want to do something with it.

For a manuscript of about 80-120k words, expect 8-12 week (about 3 months) timeline for peer review. Build into that period the time it takes for the proposal/manuscript to get on an editor’s desk, be discussed with colleagues, find reviewers, send to reviewers, synthesize reviews, etc. Factor in 6 more months. The author will be asked to respond to reviews, after which point the editor will bring the project to the editorial board at the press. Note that reviews from publishers are often only the critical section, not the compliments section of the review, so don’t be disheartened. On average you can expect 3-5 pages of comments, which is only a little bit more than what you might receive for an article. After the review, you’ll be asked to write a letter response to the review. This is ALSO a marketing document. Focus on the positive things and respond to the criticisms.

The time from book review to publication process is anywhere from a year to 2 years, generally about 18 months. (Supply chain issues during the COVID-19 pandemic may have lengthened the entire process.)

How are readers/reviewers for the book chosen?

Editors may ask the author who they think might make (or not make) for good reviewers. For example, you might not recommend X since they come from a different perspective and so it wouldn’t be a good match. Feel free to list potential reviewers in your book proposal.

Sample Book Proposal

Sean Gurd (Tangent Publishing)

Sean Gurd, an editor at Tangent Publishing, shared this sample book proposal with WCC members to illustrate the clarity, brevity, and sections that editors generally like to see in book proposals.