The mission of a good publisher is to connect authors with readers. The advice in this guide hopefully facilitates that, but a conversation with the relevant editor is often a vital stage to bring together your subject expertise with their publishing expertise.
From the perspective of the editor, such conversations can be key to sharpening your proposal in a few key areas:
1. Title: The main title of the book should position it clearly without reference to other bibliographic information and should be as short as feasible.
2. Length: Often book proposals are just a few pages in length, supplemented in some cases by more information on authors and/or a sample chapter.
3. Review: The review process is a tool to ensure that a resulting book finds its audience.
4. Data: Quantifiable data on citations, course sizes, and other areas can be very helpful.
5. Presentation: Take the time to check spelling and grammar. Use simple formatting and traditional fonts and provide it in Word, not as a PDF.
6. Format: If your book is open access, make this clear in your proposal.
Having provided you with the key tips, it’s perhaps useful to reflect on the publisher’s perspective when it comes to features of book proposals that tend to sound alarm bells. Here are a few examples:
"I have not researched the market." "There is no market for my book."
"The book will be read by nobody."
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