Book Proposals
Your prospectus should include the following:
1. Brief Description
In one or two paragraphs, describe the work and its rationale, approach, and pedagogy.
2. Outstanding Features
Briefly list what you consider to be the outstanding, distinctive, or unique features of the work.
3. Competition
Consider the existing books in this field, and discuss their strengths and weaknesses, individually and specifically. This material is written for reviewers and not for publication, so please be as frank as possible. You should describe how your book will be similar to and different from the competition in style, topical coverage, and depth. If significant books are now available, you should explain why you chose to write another book in this area. Please mention all pertinent titles, even if they compete with only a part of your book.
4. Audience
For whom is the book intended (the lay public, professionals, students, etc.)?
In what discipline or disciplines is your audience?
Is it primarily descriptive or quantitative, elementary, rigorous, etc.?
Are there any reader prerequisites (such as a certain level of mathematical competency)?
5. Market Considerations
What kind of person will buy the book, and why? What new information will the book give them? What is your estimate of the total market for the book?
If you are aware of professional organizations, or if you have contacts that would be useful in promoting the book, please mention them.
6. Status of the Book
What portion of the material is now complete?
When do you expect to have your manuscript completed?
What is the planned length of the book (double-spaced typed pages)?
How many and what figures (drawings, half-tones, charts, etc.) do you plan to include?
7. Annotated Table of Contents
The purpose of this table of contents is to help readers understand the structure and content of the manuscript. Please include a paragraph or two (or a detailed outline) describing each chapter.
8. Sample Chapters
A proposal to be sent out for review should give reviewers a general sense of what the book will cover and the writing style. Sample chapters are often a good way to accomplish this. Chapters need not be in final form, but they should be relatively polished and free of grammatical errors. If you are submitting multiple sample chapters, they need not be in sequence. Many authors include the introduction and a body chapter in their sample.
If preparing one or two sample chapters is not possible, please provide more details about each chapter in your annotated table of contents. You may also provide a previously published paper on a similar topic as an example of your writing style.
