A college textbook proposallike any book proposalshould be thought of as a sales tool. The core of the publishing process is the book proposal. Add a bio including a professional resume and platform, i. This form contains a summary of the book, its aims, its goals and main features. You want to leave the one who reads your proposal wanting to read the rest of the book to find out what happens.
Although this is an academic textbook, the proposal demonstrates the basic requirements of a successful pitch for any nonfiction book, including an excellent chapterbychapter summary. A book proposal for an academic press has seven basic components. Overview of proposal and contribution on your first reading, you should be aiming to form an overall impression and understanding of the book proposal and any. A book proposal argues why your book idea is a salable, marketable product. Feel free to check each template as one or two may be what you are currently looking for. Begin by describing in under 500 words the essence of your. Writing a college textbook proposal is a vital step in getting a textbook published. You should prepare the content of the overview with two things in mind.
It acts as a business case or business plan for your book that persuades a publisher to make an investment. Your proposal requires the consideration of the timing and potential for sale as well as its potential for subsidiary rights. Think of book proposal forms as similar to work proposal forms. Enclose a sample of 1525 pages, perhaps of the introduction and a sample chapter, which shows your writing style in the book. This helps the publisher get a birds eye view of the book, and it will keep you on track as you start to write the book. This is normal with academic book proposals, and also hugely helpful. May 28, 2017 a book proposal argues why your book idea is a salable, marketable product. Nonfiction book proposal outline ted weinstein literary. Overview describe your book in two or three paragraphs 500 wo. Not counting your two to three sample chapters, your nonfiction book proposal should be no longer than 1015 pages. The first thing you as an author should do is to prepare an outline proposal for. Dissertations online dissertation proposal, phd dissertation. In the world of book publishing, it is difficult enough for known authors to get their books. Writing a college textbook proposal the balance careers.
Email the form, together with any supporting material, e. Book proposal, 4th edition by michael larsen to create strongest possible proposal for your book. Dear pamela, memoir advice about your book proposal. By the age of thirty, he had graduated from university in rwanda and. Looking back at my own documents, my project descriptiona sort of template book proposal that i then modified to conform to publishers.
Below is a sample of a complete and exhaustive book proposal for a christian nonfiction manuscript. Umor is home to a variety of diverse interdisciplinary research units that span topics ranging from human development to energy to mobility transformation, and research units like the business engagement center bec and techtransfer. It is by david sanford, a published author, editor, and literary agent for more than 300 books who now serves on the leadership team at corban university. In this proposal, the outlines of what will go in each chapter are quite brief. Now, this guide and the book proposal template complement one another. Our book proposal guidelines can be found in the form. Writing academic books can seem like a mysterious dark art to those. Every proposaland you can find examples in a nanosecond by googlingshould contain the following sections. Ive read various places now i cant remember where, of course that you shouldnt use this chapter explains or this chapter will cover etc. Writing academic books can seem like a mysterious dark art to those who havent done it, but there is lots of help available.
Author submits a book proposal and sometimes sample chapters or a full manuscript to the commissioning editor at a publishing house. Ive been reading a ton of your articles as i write my book proposalthanks for the great content. For example, do you think it would be useful for the book to be supported with a. Now you can go in more detail by showing the synopsis of each chapter.
If you are about to draft your academic proposal, consider some more points as detailed below. When i was struggling with my own memoir proposal which seemed harder than writing the darn book, eric maisel, author of the art of the book proposal, suggested i write a miniproposal. Therefore, were uncovering in this post what goes into a book proposaland what itll take to get an agent or publisher to notice 1 the overview. Various academic proposal templates are made available in this post, and each template has its own image sample. These should be pages that are typical of the book as a whole, especially critical to your argument, potentially controversial, or that give a good overview of the book. Think of a book proposal as a business plan for your book. This section will be a tool for the editor, too, when she tries to persuade others in the publishing house that this is a book they must publish. The reality of writing a good book proposal the chronicle. Make sure that you still have more than enough time to tackle your research efficiently. A book proposal has a title page also called a cover page, a table of contents for the proposal, and several sections. Aug 23, 2016 when i was struggling with my own memoir proposal which seemed harder than writing the darn book, eric maisel, author of the art of the book proposal, suggested i write a mini proposal. Sure, some parts of psychology and economics and other fields are not book. So in summary, the book proposal proves that you have valid ideas.
The most important aspect of this onepage description is the argument you will set forth. Ideas for books are as varied as the books themselves. In particular the template and notes regarding the book proposal and an infographic overview of the stages of publishing with them. While there are entire books on how to write a book proposal many of them excellent, here is a short version. The sad fact is that university presses are dropping. Jul 29, 2011 there are several books available on writing book proposals. If youre writing your book proposal, hopefully youve already nailed down the summary that will go on the back of your book jacket. A strong book proposal will not only help you sell your idea, but it will also help you sell the book when it finally makes its way to market, whether you traditionally publish or selfpublish.
How to write a good book proposal, the sequel the chronicle. Give a fairly brief summary of your book here, using a few paragraphs. How to write a nonfiction book proposal with template. Procedure your proposal will be read by the appropriate subject editor. How to write a nonfiction book proposal become a writer today. For full and real sample proposals, we recommend checking out. Quite likely you reach that publisher via a literary agent, so the first pair of eyes on your work will be those of an agent, but either way, your final target is a publisher. The author uses the proposal to sell the idea of the book to a. What is the ideal length for a nonfiction book proposal. I got four sets of comments on this proposal, and was able to make it significantly stronger as a result. Procedure your proposal will be read by the appropriate subject editor at oup, who is likely to discuss it with colleagues. It needs to include an outline of approximately one paragraph to one page of prose larsen 6 as well as one sample chapter to showcase the style and quality of. You are also welcome to listen to free audio recordings of teds book proposal bootcamp and other workshops and media appearances.
When you selfpublish, you dont need to write a book proposal. I like this one because it contains ten reallife proposals that sold. Here is a basic template for a book proposal, which many of our clients have used successfully. Guidelines for a book proposal for an academic book. So this book proposal template is meant to give you a birdeyes view of the process.
The journey of my cup bookheres the sample book proposal i. How to write a chapter synopsis for your book proposal. Thus far the outcome of this proposal was a contract for a second book. Prepare a query letter include a book overview, target audience, usp, writing cv, and motivation for writing. How to write a book proposal that agents will love. Sample proposals are completely written sample business proposals, business plans, rfps and other business proposal templates designed to assist you in writing your own.
Andy warhol, saint apollonia suite 1984 for all of these reasons, quite a mouthful will make a perfect gift for any general interest nonfiction reader. Write your overview as though youre writing the copy of your book jacket. Please give a brief account of your present academic interests and position, with a list of any recent book publications and any other information you think might help us. How to write a book proposal that agents will love jericho. Though its written in place of an actual book, it should build a complete argument for the book idea. Aug 15, 2018 the book proposal is a 1550 or so page manuscript that a writer uses to pitch a nonfiction book to publishers. Specifically, also highlight key accomplishments in your academic and professional career that qualify you as an expert authority on this topic. Your pitch offers the publisher the opportunity to acquire a nonfiction book, authored by you. The overview is the place to put this back cover text. Book proposal accelerator for academic authors manuscript works.
If work proposal forms suggest the type of job an employee will be doing and how theyll be doing it, then a book proposal form suggests what an author is going to write about and how long it should take him to go about writing and revising the drafts. Posted in book proposals and contracts, landing your tenure track job, promote yourself. All templates, however, are of similar formats as that of a proposal for clients, which you may need for studies regarding business. Select the sample academic proposals pdf in the media box above to download this file and read examples of proposals for conferences, journals, and book chapters. Provide a proposed table of contents for the book chapter with subheads down to the third level if necessary. The editor performs an initial check of the submitted materials to ensure that they include the necessary information. All of these sample proposals are included in proposal pack and proposal kit. First, you must establish what your book will be about. My book, book title will be a genre work which will center around the topic of book topic. Mar 22, 2011 in this blog post, i provide generic suggestions for what should go in an academic book proposal, and then suggest a method for writing such a proposal.
Select the sample academic proposals pdf in the media box above to download this file and read examples of proposals for. Consider this sample outline as a guideline to creating a persuasive book proposal that could make the difference between industry decisionmakers selecting your project over others. Overview, endorsements, length and delivery date, competing and complementary books, target audience, about. Jul 02, 2015 how to write a book proposal posted on july 2, 2015 by karen kelsky you all know that the book proposal is the cornerstone to a successful tenure track career in most areas of the humanities and social sciences. Example of a book proposal about the author section. For example, the proposal for the research ethics book im currently. Only after you finish your proposal can you provide the following hooks for the first page of your proposal. Cup expects a general outline for the book, explaining rationales such. In a column last february, i described the six main elements of a book proposal. The literary agents guide to writing a nonfiction book proposal by andy ross. To work with a traditional publisher, you are in effect asking them to invest a lot of money into your book. You will grasp enough knowledge about how the paper should be formatted without making any flimsy errors and how many pages and words should be in the paper like word essay.
Your book proposal should include the following elements. Easytofollow samples range in length from 4 to over 80 pages. We pride ourselves on employing only the very best writers in the industry, so you can be confident that the writer we assign to your dissertation will have the necessary experience and academic qualifications for your subject and that the customised dissertation they research and write for you will be of the highest academic standard. Example of a book proposal competing books section. Ive written before about how to succeed in writing academic books, but i didnt say anything in that post about the. You do not have to necessarily do the steps in this order but this order works well in most cases. Instead of writing the entire book, then trying to interest an editor or agent which is how it works with novels, you write the proposal first. Youll also need to send sample chapters, book outline, and introduction.
A research proposal sample that has been previously downloaded may help the student by giving information such as. What follows is a brief description of what the editors in the higher education department might expect of a proposal for a new textbook and how they will consider it for publication. The university of michigan office of research umor aims to catalyze, support and safeguard um research. Keep in mind that even academic publishers expect you to adhere to several basic elements of a book proposal guidelines as follows. In this blog post, i provide generic suggestions for what should go in an academic book proposal, and then suggest a method for writing such a proposal. They arise in all sorts of different situations, but generally a book concept is written down into a proposal form. The journey of my cup bookheres the sample book proposal i promised. I promised to share the book proposal for the cambridge university press. Sample book proposal from a professional literary agency. A book proposal is usually no longer than 10 pages. The sample proposals were created using proposal pack. A thorough book proposal evaluates the audience for the work, how it will stack up against the competition, and why the book will succeed in the.
Author submits a book proposal and sometimes sample. How to write a winning academic book proposal enago academy. Include any subhead or taglines that your books title may contain. Provide a proposed tableofcontents for the book chapter with subheads down to the third level if necessary. Consider utilizing the following headings in your book proposal template. Aside from checking sample proposal templates or consulting a writing proposal template. I think my next move is, after your suggestion, to write a couple of papers from my thesis, write a book proposal too, and just sit on the book proposal for six months of so, tweaking it.
There are several books available on writing book proposals. Within those 1015 pages, you must convince an agent, editor and publishing team that you and your book deserve a place on the shelf based on several key factors. It should include a brief cover letter addressed to the appropriate editor, followed by a clear, concise description of the project and a rationale for its publication meaning its scholarly significance, its appeal to both specialists and generalists, and any qualities that distinguish. Submitting a textbook proposal to oxford university press guidelines for authors we are very pleased that you are considering writing for oxford university press. Hook invite the reader into your proposal with an interesting anecdote or some surprising data, paragraph 2. You all know that the book proposal is the cornerstone to a successful tenure track career in most areas of the humanities and social sciences. Your proposal on a page you will write the first page of your proposal last. How to write a winning academic book proposal enago. These should be pages that are typical of the book as a whole, especially critical to your argument, or that give a good overview of the book. Dear pamela, memoir advice about your book proposal memoir. Though this book was published in 2001, it gives you an idea of ten actual proposals that worked. This means that you need to briefly put down the major ws that will guide the rest of your proposal. This ones short and tothepoint, and the last time i.