What is Book Proposal

This chapter describes the stages of preparing a book proposal and offers practical strategies for dealing with securing a publisher, receiving and responding to feedback, and making revisions. There are three stages typically involved in submitting a book proposal to a scholarly publisher. The first is to overcome one's sense of impostorship, the feeling that books are written by “real” academics with startlingly original things to say. The second is to write the proposal itself. This involves describing the genesis of the idea for the book, establishing a strong rationale as to why the book ought to be published, and summarizing its succinct purpose. The meat of a proposal is the chapter-by-chapter outline that provides a clear description of the book's contents. Proposals typically end with an analysis of competing texts currently on the market, a schedule for writing the book, and indications of how a web presence might be created to support the book. The final stage is to select and then approach a publisher. Through multiple examples drawn from accepted book proposals, this chapter delineates successful, real life ways to manage these challenges and processes.