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The key elements of the proposal

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Title and subtitle

Include keywords in your title and subtitle to help readers discover your work. Think about the words people might use in search engines like Google Scholar to find your book. The 2 or 3 most important keywords need to appear early in your title: this makes the difference between your book appearing on the first page of search results or languishing somewhere on page 12.

So yes, this does mean your publisher is almost certainly going to ask you to lose that pun you're so proud of. We're not being mean, we just want your book to be found by as many potential readers as possible.

Summary

Summarise your book in clear language. Talk about the content, not the context; focus on what you say, not what has or hasn’t already been done in the field. Don’t use the passive voice or lots of jargon.

Key features

If you are asked to provide key features, don’t list lots or make them really long – 3 to 5 is plenty. These should focus on what’s really important about your book. This is a good place to list things like:

  • Case studies: how many? On what?
  • Primary material: what did you look at? Where was it from?
  • Interviews: with whom? When? About what?
  • Key thinkers or theories you’re engaging with: which thinkers? Which theories?

Competing/comparable titles

‘None’ is the wrong answer here! We assume that you’ve written a new book that is different to all of the other books. Comp titles help publishers to sell your book into bookshops and libraries, as well as helping the commissioning editor decide if your book is a good fit for their list. Here are some tips for thinking about comp titles:

  • Which books will the people who will read your book have read?
  • If your book presents a new theory, which books presented the old theory?
  • Which books do you engage with and build upon in your book?

While you should certainly list any older classics in your field, also include books from the last 2–3 years. Sales reps and buyers will look at how those books sold in order to gauge interest in yours.

Talk in generous terms about comparable titles – say how your book is different but don’t suggest that what has gone before doesn’t have value. This shows that you view your research as a collaborative process where you build on what has gone before (plus, you never know who will be reviewing your proposal...).  

Market and readership

Be realistic about who you are writing for. The ‘interested general reader’ has something of a unicorn status for most academic publishers! It’s far more useful to know which academic disciplines, universities and courses will be interested in your book.

Peer reviewers

If you are asked to suggest possible peer reviewers, choose people who are working in the field whose opinion you would value. Don’t worry if you’ve never met the people you suggest, as the publisher will be the ones making contact (and they should remove your list of suggestions from your proposal before sending it).

Your publisher is looking for suggestions of suitable people in your field, not people who will wave through your proposal without a balanced review. So don’t suggest anyone from your institution, your PhD supervisor or examiners (if your book is based on your thesis) and certainly don’t list your friends!

Sample chapter

It is not unusual for publishers to ask for a sample chapter. The proposal guidelines should tell you this, but ask the commissioning editor if you’re unsure. This chapter should be as close to possible to what you’d intend to publish. Avoid sending anything that’s in a very rough form. Don’t send a complete manuscript until you’re asked for one.

If your book is based on your PhD, don’t send a chapter lifted straight from your thesis. You want to show you know what’s needed in order to make the change from thesis to book; a revised sample chapter is a great way to do this.

CV

Provide your email address, current position, date and title of your PhD thesis, the names of your supervisors and examiners, and peer-reviewed publications near the top. These are the key pieces of information a commissioning editor will need.

A final check

Your book is being judged on this proposal, so make sure it’s in good shape. Before you submit, proofread everything. Ask a colleague or two to read it and give you honest feedback. And remember the non-academic specialists who will read your proposal: ask someone who’s not an expert to take a look and tell you if it’s intelligible to them.

Where to now?

The key elements of the proposal | Edinburgh University Press