So, you’ve decided to write a book but are not sure how to acquire the interest of a publisher so that your hard work can be enjoyed by readers in your discipline. You’ve heard that book proposals and query letters are the professional tactics for introducing a new book to a potential publisher, but what exactly are they looking for?
In his recent webinar, publishing consultant John Bond shared his insight on what publishers are looking for as they evaluate your proposal or query letter.
Writing a book takes hours; perhaps a thousand or more including the research and editing. Needless to say it is a major commitment that authors expect will have a payoff of peer recognition, dissemination of ideas, and (gasp) maybe even a royalty payment. But how do authors know the marketplace wants their book?
All textbook, book, and monograph authors need a platform to help sell their idea to a publisher and their work to buyers and readers. Gone are the days that an author can ignore marketing.
What is an author promotional platform? Why should you care? How do you create one? And how do you keep it going? These are the central questions answered by publishing consultant, John Bond during his 2021 Textbook & Academic Authoring Conference presentation.
The Query Letter and Book Proposal are the go-to means of communicating an author’s ideas to prospective publishers. But how do publishers assess Book Proposals? When they read a Query Letter, how do they evaluate the idea, the author, and the market? In this TAA Webinar, available on demand, Publishing Consultant John Bond examines these common author documents and then uses a publisher’s magnifying glass to look at them through their eyes. By reviewing Query Letters and Book Proposals for the publisher’s wants, the author will be better equipped to create more attractive projects that will secure greater attention and possible publishing contracts. John shares best practices for creating these documents as well as the do’s and don’ts.
Ethics International Press is seeking proposals for English-language academic books and edited collections in several writing fields including philosophy, religion, law, business, environment, and politics.
Proposals should primarily be for scholarly books, including text/reference books, but they are also accepting adapted Doctoral theses and collections selected from conferences. View the book proposal form.
You’ve found your dream publisher, and you’re ready to pitch your book. You just need to write a proposal that will convince them to publish it.
Just like journals, every press has their own guidelines for authors. Find it; it will tell you exactly what the editors want in a proposal. Most proposals ask for the same basic things, so in this article, we will review each and look at what the publisher expects to see in those sections.
