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.
Q&A: What is the first step in launching my idea for an academic book project?
Q: I have an idea for an academic book. What is my first step in launching this project?
John Bond, Publishing Consultant, Riverwinds Consulting:
“Whether it be an academic monograph, textbook, or other type of book, the first step is to solidify ‘The Idea.’ This process has several components. My recommendation is approach this in a stepwise fashion:
Ethics International Press seeking proposals
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.
Most useful textbook and academic posts of the week: April 30, 2021
Alexandra K. Trenfor once said, “The best teachers are those who show you where to look but don’t tell you what to see.” Life, especially in academic settings, is about seeking knowledge, exploring possibilities, and making our own unique discoveries. Textbook and academic authoring provides an outlet for us to share those discoveries with others to fuel their own journeys.
In this week’s collection of articles from around the web, we have some things worth looking at to see where they may fit your current and future needs as an author.
Crafting compelling and purposeful titles: A five step process
Although the old adage states “you can’t tell a book by its cover”, in academic writing it is crucial that the title of an article or book “tell” the essence of the work. The title is the first critical decision point for a reader. Its goal is to invite the reader to peruse the abstract, read the article, and, hopefully, cite your work.
The title does a lot of work for your manuscript, and there are many good reasons to pay attention to crafting short, content-rich, and engaging titles. First, for you, the author, spending time crafting a title forces you to distill your detailed, multi-page manuscript into 10 to 15 words, a daunting task.
Project management: Two free tools to increase efficiency in your writing projects
Project management was originally developed for civil engineering, but even if you are writing a book instead of building a bridge, there are useful approaches to borrow that will improve your work flow. In a previous article, I described that within project management, tools can be roughly divided into “project definition tools” and “implementation tools.” Project definition tools are those that help you determine the scope, the tasks, and the budget (i.e., time), whereas implementation tools are those that help you conduct the work. Here, I focus on the latter, and present two tools from the lens of project management for writing.